The Superior Court of Quebec has just authorized a class action against Apple. The lawsuit contends that Apple broke the rules of the Consumer Protection Act.
Poor battery life and ignoring legal warranty
In late 2017, Apple publicly admitted that it was receiving complaints about the poor battery life of some of its devices. Following that, a class action was filed against Apple.
The class action also concerns the extended warranty sold by Apple called AppleCare. The lawsuit contends that Apple did not tell its customers about the free legal warranty that applies in Quebec. Under the Consumer Protection Act, companies are required to provide this information. According to the class action, AppleCare is no better than the free legal warranty.
Thousands of people affected
Two groups of people are concerned by the class action:
- All consumers who bought an Apple product since December 29, 2014, including an iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, iPod and/or a MacBook with a rechargeable battery.
- All consumers who bought “AppleCare” and/or “AppleCare+” since December 20, 2015 for an Apple product including an iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, iPod and/or MacBook and who were not told about the legal warranty.
The class action asks for $300 per person in punitive damages (an amount of money to punish bad behaviour). It has now passed the first stage of the process, which is getting a judge’s permission for the case to go forward and be heard in court.
Class action: strength in numbers
A class action is a court case started by one person on behalf of everyone in a similar situation.
There are many class actions before the courts right now. We looked at a few of these in January. Maybe you are involved in one of them.