The Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection (DECO) released a statement today saying it would be filing a lawsuit against Apple over its AppleCare policies. DECO alleges that information on the Apple site misleads customers into buying the add-on AppleCare Protection Plan. The decision to move forward with the lawsuit comes after trying to work with Apple since March on changing the allegedly misleading wording on its website.
A past similar case involved an Italian Antitrust Authority claiming that Apple allegedly encouraged buyers to purchase AppleCare even though Italian law requires companies to offer a minimum of two years of technical support. Apple lost and the court fined the company $1.2 million. Similarly to Italian law, Portuguese buyers automatically get a two-year warranty for product defects despite the standard Apple warranty being limited to one year.
It’s presumed that any defect found on a product within two years after purchase was also there at time of delivery, according to Portuguese law. But Apple’s allegedly misleading warranty reads as if it only applies to defects found at the time of delivery, suggesting that support isn’t offered past that point. Although the products are indeed covered for the whole period as required by Portuguese law, DECO doesn’t believe that it’s been outlined clear enough to customers, thus leading them to believe that they need to purchase AppleCare.
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is written by Elise Moreau & originally posted on SlashGear.© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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