Apple Agrees To $53 Million Settlement Over Water Damaged iPhones

You may recall that years ago, I posted an account of an ordeal over a relatively new iPhone that stopped functioning. When I took it into the store, they promptly informed me that I got the phone wet and refused to repair or replace it. When I told that that it was impossible that the phone had been “submerged” or saturated as they claimed, they opened the phone and confirmed that only one of two indicators showed water damage but still said that it voided any obligation of the company. Though I eventually got a new phone, my posting attracted many people around the world who said that they had the same experience. Well, Apple (without admitting guilt) is now agreeing to a settlement in a class action for people who were told they had such water damage. As suspected, it appears that the water damage indicators were defective.

The settlement will allow people who brought in iPhones and were told that they voided their warranties due to the water indicators.
It turns out that the company that makes the “Liquid Indicator Strips” now admits that their product may have been responsible for the problems. Yet, Apple owns the patent on the strips. Maker 3M says that humidity and not water contact could have turned some of the white stickers pink.

What concerns me is the approach of Apple for hundreds of thousands of users. For years, Apple dismissed these complaints and never indicated that there was in fact a problem with the strips. I was never told that there was a slightest concern over the strips or that there was a pattern around the world of hundreds of thousands of customers reporting the same problem. I am a lifetime Apple user and like the products. However, this irresponsible approach undermines customer faith in the company and challenges Apple’s carefully maintained image of an enlightened and more human company.

Apple is still not admitting any fault. However, I have no interest at all in this dispute. What I can report is that there was zero chance that my iPhone3 was ever wet before it failed. Even though my school would replace the phone, I was incensed by the attitude of the “Apple geniuses” at the store that simply dismissed my claims that the phone never left my side and was never wet — even when one of two indicators did not show water damage.

The new settlement will only affect older versions of the iPhone. (I actually still use my iPhone3). I will remain an Apple user (I have had virtually every Apple computer from the very first model). However, the company does appear to be changing into the very thing that it caricatured in its first commercial of the Big Brother company:

Source: Daily Mail