Q: Significant light leakage, few light botches on sides/corners  - defective?

Guess what Martin? Us yanks also have Best Buy brands for TVs and such. However, as usual with your failure to understand how things REALLY work, Best Buy and I assure you, your Tesco and Dixon chains DO NOT MANUFACTURE THE KIT. It's basically rebranding a generic item. Apple designs, manufactures, ships, and sells from start to finish. It's not a product designed and made generically and then branded with the Apple brand like those TVs and what not that you are referring to. Apple controls their product supply chain. Any finished apple product is handled entirely by Apple. The rebranded generic TVs you allude to are basically that, generic items which are branded. It's the equivalent of buy USB keys with my company's logo and info on it. It's my USB key but let's face it, apart from having my logo on it and needing to support it (if the thing came with a warranty and what not), it's really not my product. Basically, IT'S A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SYSTEM. On top of that, I assure you that the Best Buys, Tesco's, and Dixon's of the world do not receive 50+ units PER DAY PER STORE and sells out of them daily. Rant? Nope. Just a fair reaction a your ridiculous assumptions. As you have shown, you do not have any idea how things really work. You can't even comprehend the things that are right there in front of you yet you are attempting to argue points based off of wild assumptions.

>> why is Apple obligated to give you a brand new unit to replace something that you've used for 3 months?

Because it's the law. And liability can extend to six years depending on the value of the item.

>> and they're giving full refunds outside the 14-day window.

Again, that 14-day window has no force under UK consumer law.

>> Best Buy and I assure you, your Tesco and Dixon chains DO NOT MANUFACTURE THE KIT

Neither does Apple. They're made for Apple, to a design from Apple but they're not made BY Apple.

I notice you excluded my Sony Centre example out of your response. Like Apple they design the kit and sell it via a network of owned and authorised retailers. Unlike Apple they don't 'brown box'.

Either way, unless Apple can prove the brown box items are brand new, no UK shopper is required to accept them. Whether y like that or not is ultimately unimportant, it's the law of a nation Apple chose to do business in.

Under your laws they have to give you a new unit. They are apparently giving brown boxed replacement units. They have yet to be sued and I GARANTEE you that they will not be sued for it in the future in the UK. What does this all point to? Brown box replacement units are indeed brand new and not refurbs. Look Martin_UK, give it up with your senseless ramblings. If you suspect the replacements, get a refund. Simple as that. At this point you're just so set on your suspicions that the brown boxed units are refurbs that you're just trying to win an argument more or less. I've supported my arguments yet you've done nothing more than make more wild assumptions and compare the situation with VERY DISSIMILAR situations. In other words, you have yet to substantiate your points. Give it up.

You have jumped from Tesco's to Sony Centre. Show me a Sony Centre where I can walk in and get my TV serviced please. I would like to see that. Stop making apple and oranges comparisons.

As I've already said, Of you read carefully you'll see I've made no claim about what's in the brown boxes.

I did however respond to someone wbjohnson who believes they're refurbished and stated - factually - that UK consumers do not have to accept refurbished items. His assertion that they're refurbished may or may not be correct but there's little point  having a pop at me for someone else's assertion that brown box - refurbished.

The onus on proving anther the brown box items are new or not is Apple's. If they are unable to satisfy a UK consumer that they're new they are entitled to insist, by law, on a retail box item.

>>You have jumped from Tesco's to Sony Centre.

actually I've not 'jumped', I mentioned Sony Centre's in my earlier post, you chose to ignore that fact.

>> Show me a Sony Centre where I can walk in and get my TV serviced please

Not quite sure what that has to do with the discussion at hand p, think you're the one jumping about now TBH.

I have no idea what in-store servicing Sony offers as I don't buy from them, I do know the Apple Store in Brighton hasn't always done in-store repairs. I mention this as in-in-store servicing seems important to you.

"Under UK law, buyers in England and Wales can get a partial refund or full repair up to six years after the purchase was made (five years from discovery in Scotland). The refund should take into account how much use the customer has already had of a product. Ultimately, a county court would decide this.

However, the likelihood of getting such a refund is dramatically reduced after just six months. The reason is that for six months after the purchase, it is up to the retailer to show that a fault on an item is down to the actions or misuse of the buyer, rather than an inherent fault in the product.

After six months, the burden of proof switches to the buyer and it is they who must then show a fault is due to some inherent problem, something that can be almost impossible in all but the most straightforward cases."

you're going on and on about UK consumer laws and obviously you're misunderstanding them. PARTIAL refund or repair, that is Apple's policy already. if they can't repair the item they will offer a refurb. it sounds like you need a court to actually supersede the company's policies.

and if your Sony TV takes a crap on you, they're going to send you to an authorized repair center and pay for the costs. they're not going to just give you a brand new TV.

according to what i posted above, in the UK or USA or anywhere else, Apple doesn't have to hand over a brand new iPad just because you're within warranty. they can repair it or give you a refurb or (in the UK apparently) give you a partial refund.

Yes, of course far into the ownership you'd not get a brand new item, however we're not talking far into the ownership of an iPad 2, they've not been on sale in the UK for 2 months yet - well within the 6 months where it's up to the retailer to show that a fault on an item is down to the actions or misuse of the buyer.

"PARTIAL refund or repair" doesn't cover the first six months and certainly doesn't cover going home, finding a screen issue and returning the item to the store within short period.

"it sounds like you need a court to actually supersede the company's policies."

You don't.  You call your local trading standards office who contact the retailer and suddenly the retailer abides by the law. It's very effective and, best of all, free.

Nothing - in any country - supersedes the law. Not even Apple's policies. Sorry you have such a  hard time accepting that.

Here's the thing Martin_UK. Everybody else including Sony Centres are going to have you ship the item back and ship you back a replacement unit. It may or may not be in retail packaging but it is new. Apple Stores operate differently as they will replace yours with what appears to be a brand new unit apart from the difference in packaging (all the tells points to them being a brand new unit, the folks who say they've asked the Apple employee about it being a refurb or not never got a 100% correct answer due to the fact that outside of a few departments and group of individuals, the store employees and customer reps on the phone really DO NOT KNOW FOR SURE and usually assume things just as you are right now). You're essentially complaining about not receiving a replacement in a retail box which I assure you that your UK laws will not cover. If it did cover it and this was indeed an issue, Apple would have had a law suit on their hands by now since the iPhone 4 issue at launch was pretty widespread and the iPad 2 situation is obviously tremendously widespread. The fact that Apple has not yet been sued for such things is proof that they are not encroaching on any UK laws thus reason dictates that your reasoning has been flawed from the start.

Look sir, if you don't like it, don't buy it or return it and get a refund. Nobody is stopping you. You spreading your assumptions as if it was the gospel truth is what bothers me. Completely non-substantiated and even though I can't substantiate my views 100%, taking into consideration the facts that one can research, my views would logically be more reasonable and to this point more likely to be on point than your wild claims. Your claims are as absurd as those who initially claimed that the screen issue was a glue not drying properly issue akin to the iPhone 4 launch which is simply bat droppings insane as the two manufacturing processes for the iPhone 4's display and pretty much every other display on the market including iPad 2 is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

Is there someone who can help you read this thread? They might be able to help you understand that I've not on e claimed brown boxes contained refurbished items, I simply replied to someone else who did.

I'm sorry you have such an obvious difficulty understanding that difference.

>> Everybody else including Sony Centres are going to have you ship the item back and ship you back a replacement unit. 

I don't know why you make such sweeping statements. In reality, you walk in with your defective item and, if they have it in stock, you walk back out with the replacement. Why do you think it helps your case to pretend otherwise?

>> You're essentially complaining about not receiving a replacement in a retail box which I assure you that your UK laws will not cover

Again, in really I'm not complaining about a brown box, the discussion has centred around the fact that unless Apple can prove the contents are brand new no-one here has to accept them.

>> the store employees and customer reps on the phone really DO NOT KNOW FOR SURE

And if they don't know for sure the consumer doesn't have to accept one. Why is this s painful for you ?

>> The fact that Apple has not yet been sued

Proves nothing. Consumers in the UK rarely have to sue retailers because their local trending standards resolve things for them.

>> Look sir, if you don't like it, don't buy it or return it and get a refund.

A refund for what? Where have I said I have an issue with my iPad?

Based on your repeated use of capitals you seem very angry about this, you do understand it's ok for people to criticise Apple don't you?

Hi All

Took my 16GB black iPad 2 in with this issue on Friday (13th). Store had no stock to replace it with, so I've been put on the list for a replacement when they arrive.

Just wanted to check: are people finding that the issue doesn't exist in the brand new stock?

Thanks,

Sam

Hi, Sam.

Well, as I reported in https://discussions.apple.com/message/15203625#15203625 I got mine yesterday, and the SoftBank person swears there is no reported light leakage problem here in Japan. And sure enough, my screen seems to be perfect.

I have not been able to determine when mine was built, but I believe all the stock here is new because shipments and sales were greatly delayed (until just the last couple of weeks) because the 3/11 earthquake.

doug

Hi,

As far as I know all refurbished items get a new S/N which is written on the back of the device (it aslo appears in the settings under "information"). This is the only way to certify whether an iPad or iPhone or whatever is new or refurbished.

Hello Doug,

Could you post the first 5 letters of your s/n?

Olive,

Yes, it's DLXFM. If you can glean anything from that, please let me know. I'm curious.

It did come out of the box with iOS 4.3.2 installed if that helps.

doug

It's replacement stock. Contrary to what people believe, iPad 2 replacement stock is brand new without the retail packaging. Refurbished units do not appear until much later in a products life cycle. iPad 1st gen returns I believe didn't start appearing until the end of life for the 1st gen iPads which is to say close to the iPad 2 launch. This would indicate that iPad  1st gen returns may actually be dead stock being sold as refurbs.