Re: AUGD: Why are Australians & New Zealanders 2nd Class Citizens
Re: AUGD: Why are Australians & New Zealanders 2nd Class Citizens
- Subject: Re: AUGD: Why are Australians & New Zealanders 2nd Class Citizens
- From: Anthony Caruana - President iMug <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 23:42:32 +1000
- Thread-topic: AUGD: Why are Australians & New Zealanders 2nd Class Citizens
Greg
I called two different Apple Centres and had two different responses.
The first centre told me that I had to leave the battery with them and that
they'd arrange for the replacement. I suggested that a portable (apple don't
make laptops by the way) without a battery wasn't a portable. They were
quoting 4 - 6 weeks.
The second simply took my PowerBook's serial number and the battery's serial
number. They'll call me when the replacement is in stock and I'll swap it
over when the replacement arrives. No visit to the store - all done in a
single phone call.
It's important to note that Apple does not have any stores in Australia -
only licensed resellers and they are at Apple's mercy. The ability to do an
on-the-spot swap in an Apple store in some countries comes about because
it's Apple's store. Also, I doubt that much stock is held in Australia.
On the point that Apple should be contacting its customers, I wholeheartedly
agree. Apple should be paying for all the shipping. Interestingly, I believe
that the FAQ on Apple's Australian web site stated this for a time but was
amended. I didn't take screen caps (why would I?) but I'm reasonably sure of
it.
I'm not sure that your other point of conversion rates is all that big a
deal. US prices, as stated on Apple's web site don't include local taxes
whereas the AU price includes all taxes. That means that the US prices are
often understated. Perhaps some of the US folks on this list can elaborate
but that's my understanding.
For example, the current US price for a MacBook is $1099 USD. If I add the
7.25% tax for California, that becomes $1179 USD. The current exchange rate
is $1 AUD = $0.75 USD so the MacBook ends up being $1572 AUD. The base model
MacBook in Australia is $1749 AUD - a difference of $177. Given the sales
tax (GST) here is a little higher and the increased cost of shipping here I
don't think the difference is huge. It's be nice if they were cheaper but
they're not massively different.
Incidentally, using 10% for the tax (Aussie GST) instead of the 7.25%
California state tax takes the difference down to $137 AUD. The local/state
taxes in the US vary (looks to me to be between 4% and 12% depending on the
state and other local jurisdictions based on http://tinyurl.com/gmhwk), In
an area with 12% tax, the difference is down to almost $100.
I'm not trying to incite a flame war but life here isn't all that bad ;-)
Anthony Caruana
President - iMug
email@hidden
www.imug.com.au
On 31/8/06 11:06 PM, "Greg Sharp" <email@hidden>
wrote:
>
> Just about everyone has heard the stories of exploding Sony batteries in
> Dell laptops. Unfortunately a number of Macintosh laptops use the same
> batteries and last week Apple announced a recall on over a million of these
> faulty batteries.
>
> It's great that Apple is going to replace these faulty batteries, but after
> hearing how Apple Australia has organized the exchange it is clear that
> Australians & New Zealanders are being treated as second class citizens.
>
> Macintosh owners in the USA, Great Briton, all of Europe along with Japan
> are being treated much better than us. For these people Apple is posting out
> replacement batteries and providing a return paid envelope for their
> customers to return the faulty batteries. This is the way it should be done.
> Dell is contacting each and everyone of its affected customers personally to
> handle the exchange. Again great service.
>
> How is Apple Australia handling the exchange?
>
> Firstly NZ customers are being told that all returns must be sent back via
> Trackable Courier only (preferably via CourierPost). Customers must keep a
> record of the Courier Tracking details for their old battery. Customers will
> not be sent a new battery until the old one is returned to Apple Australia.
> The reason that Apple Australia will not ship replacement batteries (in New
> Zealand) without getting your old battery back first is that Apple Australia
> requires New Zealand resellers to send the bad battery back to them within
> 10 days of them shipping the replacement. If they don't receive the battery
> within that time frame, they will then charge the service provider the full
> price of the replacement battery (about $150NZ). New Zealand resellers
> refuse to be held at gunpoint with these ridiculous time frames and
> requirements. These resellers did nothing wrong so why should they be held
> financially responsible.
>
> Apple's Australian customers are classed with those of "other" third world
> countries and Apple Australia expect its customers to get their battery to
> their service provider and pay for petrol, parking and/or postage and
> packing as well as their valuable time even for customers living hundreds of
> kilometres from their nearest AppleCentre. Customers have to first drop in
> the battery to a service centre in person and then, when a replacement
> arrives, go back again and pick up the new battery. This means 4-8 weeks
> without being able to use their laptops as a mobile solution. Why the
> different level of service, considering the extra we Aussies pay above the
> conversion from $US and GST?
>
> Apple Australia might consider this to be reasonable but from what I'm
> hearing on every forum I visit as well as every local MUG mailing list I'm
> subscribed to, the way Apple Australia is handling this exchange is not
> reasonable and everyone affected is very angry with being treated as 2nd
> class citizens. The following is just one example of how this mishandling of
> the exchange program is affecting real world customers.
>
> John Willcock College in Geralton, WA has a renowned 1:1 iBook program for
> all their students. Currently every iBook is locked away - over 700 of them
> - waiting for replacements, due to duty of care and safety issues. This is
> just one school so you can begin to see how big a deal this is.
>
> Apple Australia implemented a recall on the MacBook Pro's battery a
> fortnight or two ago. This was less public then the iBook/ PowerBook recall.
> All customers had to do was fill out the form on the Apple website. The
> batteries were delivered by overnight express within 3-5 days at most &
> Apple picked up the old batteries the following day. If this was good enough
> 2 weeks ago why the change of policy now?
>
>
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