Europe gets one year warranty. 3 years with Apple care. No idea where you heard the opposite?
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How does apple set its international iMac prices
- Thread starter Alistair.nz
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Europe gets one year warranty. 3 years with Apple care. No idea where you heard the opposite?
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargai...=487339&in_page_id=53954&in_advicepage_id=131
"So how does the EU rule change things?
The EU directive in question is 1999/44/EC. The full wording is contained here (open the word documtent and scroll to page 7) but the important bit is this: 'A two-year guarantee applies for the sale of all consumer goods everywhere in the EU. In some countries, this may be more, and some manufacturers also choose to offer a longer warranty period.'
As with UK law, a seller is not bound by the guarantee 'if the (fault) has its origin in materials supplied by the consumer'. But the EU rule does not require the buyer to show the fault is inherent in the product and not down to their actions.
The EU rule also says buyers need to report a problem within two months of discovering it if they want to be covered under the rule."
So as a definition EU law enforces 2 year warranty on all consumer goods.
Well, tell it to Apple. They are selling their products explicitly with one year of warranty. Its on their website and its what they tell you when you ask. I'd find it a bit strange if they were indeed charging extra for the two-year warranty while claiming to provide one year only.
Glad to have the four year of AppleCare out of the air. Also, to my best knowledge, AppleCare > warranty, I thought there was more service included. Even if it was two years of AppleCare instead of one, combined with the sales tax, I still find the price gap big.
However, a quick visit to amazon.com and amazon.de tells us that Xbox 360 (and the version with kinect as well) follows the same pricing policy.
However, a quick visit to amazon.com and amazon.de tells us that Xbox 360 (and the version with kinect as well) follows the same pricing policy.
Wrong..Come to the Uk and buy a Mac..You get 1 year. You want applecare? Certainly sir, thats an additional £142. If Applecare is included for 4 years why is it avaliable to buy @ checkout?
It's not, In fact it's got nothing to do with applecare whatsoever and if Apple were claiming that they have to charge more because they give a longer warranty then they would be in court before the ink was dry!
All apple products still have a 1 year warranty in europe.
In Spain we get the standard 12 month guarantee, you still get offered applecare when you buy, in fact I just got back from a store and there are stacks of apple care boxes next to each product.. (probably gives the wrong impression!)
Spain is covered by the same rules as The Netherlands (and pretty much all of the rest of europe including the Uk with the exception of scotland, which has a 5 year period) and believe me it's difficult to get anything changed after a year.
Has anyone in the Uk managed to get their mac replaced after 4 years?? £ years?? 2 years? I'd be surprised if anyone answers yes and yet they have the same laws as the Dutch.
So the 4 year Dutch guarantee period is a bit of a red herring..
It's just applying EU Directive 1999/44/EC
That doesn't mean that you can get a replacement up to 4 years, it takes a lot of proof and effort to even get anything after 2 years.
Ask yourself how can you prove that a logic board or hdd is designed to work 24/7 for 4 years? Can you prove you switched it off every day? All apple has to do is to claim that it's designed for a normal use and if you look at a warranty in any country thats what it says.
Phew... I need a beer after all that lot....
Couldn't agree more with above post. Whilst you may find documentation supporting a two year theoretical warranty. I have NEVER seen one offered , anywhere. EVERY new product comes with a ONE year warranty and trying to change product within that period is hard enough. With the exception of the trade of goods act in the UK I can only see Apple protecting themselves by using this international pricing policy. It at best is, woefully overpriced to any country ,other than the US.
Here is a quick comparison with GBP prices on the low end iMac.
iMac Cost = 1,020 GBP
Subtract VAT = (1020/1.2) = 850.00 GBP
Current Exchange Rate: 1 GBP = 1.6465 USD
Price in USD = (850 x 1.6465) = 1,399.53 USD
The same iMac costs $1,199.00 USD. That is a mere $200 difference.
That $200 provides apple with a built in hedge against fluctuating exchange rates. If the GBP drops to 1.53 USD (as it was in late December), then the cost in USD would only be 1,300.50 USD. That 11 cent change drops Apple's revenue by 100 USD.
The rest of the difference can most likely be attributed to local laws regarding warranties and labor, and shipping costs.
iMac Cost = 1,020 GBP
Subtract VAT = (1020/1.2) = 850.00 GBP
Current Exchange Rate: 1 GBP = 1.6465 USD
Price in USD = (850 x 1.6465) = 1,399.53 USD
The same iMac costs $1,199.00 USD. That is a mere $200 difference.
That $200 provides apple with a built in hedge against fluctuating exchange rates. If the GBP drops to 1.53 USD (as it was in late December), then the cost in USD would only be 1,300.50 USD. That 11 cent change drops Apple's revenue by 100 USD.
The rest of the difference can most likely be attributed to local laws regarding warranties and labor, and shipping costs.
What makes you think that there is no equivalent VAT in the US. Also you have no subtracted the import tariff.
I dont know why you guys are complaining about. Here in Brazil the current high end iMac 27" is R$ 7.799,00 something around 4.986 USD but anyway I'm going to get one ASA they are refreshed. 
But the huge difference in the iMac's prices it's not only Apple's fault, our import taxes are something around 75~80%
Remember yourself: there's always someone in a worse situation than you.
But the huge difference in the iMac's prices it's not only Apple's fault, our import taxes are something around 75~80%
Remember yourself: there's always someone in a worse situation than you.
No, before taxes it's 2180 (from full price 2400).
That extra 180 can likely be explained through import duty (5% of whatever the cost price is), shipping costs, etc. As well as some "buffer" for whatever currency fluctuations there may be...
The US doesn't calculate taxes into the price. It is added at the register.
As for the import tariff, you are only enforcing my point. I am not aware of the tariff laws in that country, so that's why I didn't include them. So, that tariff is built in. Only less of a reason to complain about price parity...
You are right, but to a limited extent. People can now buy products overseas, so it has to be made sure of that the price differences can't be manipulated by various buyers and sellers.
A lot of it has to do with simple hedging. They don't want to lose money on currency fluctuations.
About 6 months ago a base i7 iMac was AUD$2,599. Then after several emails to Steve Jobs ( I was but one of many) reminding him that the exchange rate was near and is now over parity with the USD, the price was lowered to AUD$2,399 . A win for us Aussies!
This is one of the most misunderstood EU directives. The Directive 1999/44 does not enforce a 2 year warranty on consumer goods (you can read the actual directive here). It is much more complex than this. To add more confusion, EU directives are not directly binding, they are an instruction to member states to implement a law to that effect, so people need to find what law their country introduced.
Apple's one year warranty is in addition to statutory rights. A warranty (which is what Apple offers) is not required at all by law, technically speaking.
However, the idea that people in the EU shouldn't need to buy AppleCare is broadly correct. Take the UK for example, where the Sale of Goods Act 1979 states that all products must be of "satisfactory quality", of which durability is a factor. Using this, I have had success getting things repaired out of warranty (although not with Apple as nothing has gone wrong yet!). It takes persistence, but I think it is worth saving the money!
The price difference between US and UK is ridiculous, why are the US prices significantly cheaper?
On the Apple UK site the iMac i7 BTO I want costs £2339.94 GBP, that's $3905.70 USD!
If I do the BTO on the Apple US site with the exact same specs it comes up to only $2734.95 USD, that's just £1638.53 GBP!
Nearly 1K in difference!
UK costs £701.41 GBP ($1170.75 USD) more!
Why is this!?
On the Apple UK site the iMac i7 BTO I want costs £2339.94 GBP, that's $3905.70 USD!
If I do the BTO on the Apple US site with the exact same specs it comes up to only $2734.95 USD, that's just £1638.53 GBP!
Nearly 1K in difference!
UK costs £701.41 GBP ($1170.75 USD) more!
Why is this!?