1st Gen Nano Recall Notification

@cndrawtson25, the concerns in your post have all been addressed in this thread, and some of them I just cannot agree with. The best way to respond is to take them one at a time:

All I can say is that I am really disappointed with how Apple is handling this situation and their solution.

The fact that Apple is recalling a 6-year old product at all gets you a refurbished Nano, when before you heard about it, you had your old one. It's your choice if you want to particpate or not.

If they are sending out refurbished 1st generation Nano's then shame on them.

If Ford recalled your 6-year old car to replace a potentially unsafe part, would you expect a new Ford?

According to a site that covered the Nano recall it states that Apple will be replacing the 1st generation for the newest Nano model. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2062147/Apple-iPod-Nano-recall-ea rliest-model-If-new-free.html However reports from people are stating that they recieved a refurbished Nano. This is either false representation from Apple or poor reporting from Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail is a tabloid, akin to the National Enquirer in my opinion. Did they cite their source? Did they quote anyone from Apple? Have you found that most or all other tabloids, newspapers, websites and blogs are telling us we're getting new Nanos? Didn't think so. Like I said before, don't believe everything you read in the papers. You answered your own question: poor reporting.

I would add that the reference to charging up to $100 for diagnostics be just an oversight from Apple when emailing the customers who are involved in the recall. It is poor business to consider charging customers fee's because of their faulty product. To take it a step further $100 can pretty much get you a new one. I had purchased 3 Nano's at the same time. Two of them worked fine to date and the other one just died (probably having something to do with this recall). When I saw the fee's associated with repairs I decided to replace mine with an Itouch. Which is horrible considering I threw my broken Nano away after two years of it lying broken in a junk drawer.

Several of the posts in this thread have established/shown that the fee language is standard language included with routine product repairs. I personally feel that they should have not included this boilerplate language, but they did, and there have been several rational reasons posited as to why they would include the language. It has also been established that, through subsequent communitcations from Apple during the recall process, that the recall is classified as a warantee repair, and Apple explicitly states that there will be no charge (see my above post quoting Apple's email on this).

The bigger question I have is how long did Apple know about this?

I have no idea. Maybe they've said. It is known that they conducted a recall for the same problem in Korea. If Apple did something wrong in handling this regionally, or delaying the U.S. recall, then that's for them to explain.

Maybe they were hoping that of all the models out there that people either upgraded or simply threw away their broken Nano's. Seems like there was the possibility of replacing them with newer Nano's until they realized how many they might need to replace.

Maybe. Maybe not. Speculation that, quite frankly, serves no purpose other than to stir up cynicism and suspicion.

Because let's face it that they knew by the seriel numbers that these Nano's qualified and it shouldn't take 6 weeks to replace it.

It has already been positied that the 6-week day is likely the time needed to refurbish units as they're returned. Many companies in my eperience cite a 6-week turnaround time for replacements, returns, etc., but the issue/product return is handled in much less time. Under-promise and over-deliever is good strategy, and hopefully most will get their replacement Nanos in much less time. But 6 weeks seems reasonalbe to me if they are indeed refurbishing them in lots.

Heck they recieved one of my Nano's the next day in the mail. If you buy something at a store and it breaks they don't give you a refurbished replacement.

It depends; you either get a new one or they replace it. But you're talking about new. Apple no longer carries the 1st-gen Nano, so the only option is to refurbish. If you take a new product (as opposed to a 6-year old product) in for warranty repair, they refurbish the one you gave them. Repairing is refurbishing. If you had needed a battery when your Nano was under warranty, they would have replaced only the battery. You would not have also gotten a new case and whatever else they are replacing to make these units warrantable for 90 days, as they are doing.

They give you a new one of that model or a new similiar product if they no longer carry the product.

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't; it depends on the company, the nature of the repair, product availability, etc.

The true answer to what kind of customer I am going to be with Apple will be defined when I get the replacement in the mail. If it's a new one I will applaud their company for holding true to good business practices. If I get a refurbished one (USED) then I will never purchase another Apple product again and encourage my friends and family to do the same.

Be whatever kind of customer you want to be. My opinion is that recalling a 6-year old product for safety reasons is good business practice. Replacing it with a newer model would be unusual at best. You already own a "USED" Nano, and you are getting a refurbished (improved) one in return. I know you want more than what your getting, but without this recall, you'd be getting nothing. You are not entitled to more, in my opinion.

I normally don't respond, but this is about as dumb a post as I've seen. Someone else already pointed out many illogical ideas in the paragraphs, I would just like to ask cndrawtson25: "What exactly is good business practices in your opinion?" You don't seem to have any business acumen at all. You just sound like an unsophisticated consumer complaining about something you have no idea of. Tea bagger of Apple?...

Agreed cndrawtsn25 is flaming without reason. The product has a fault and 6 years old is an antique in electronic terms. No wonder they are having to re-work them on a separately established production line. I bet most responders had to dig their nanos out from the back of the drawer in order to send it off for a relied battery. In other circumstances once the rechargeable battery had given up it would be just another bit of electronic junk in the drawer. It wil be interesting to see how many suddenly appear on EBay !!

Max, that's exactly what I had to do. Mine was in a "junk drawer" where everything that you don't have a category for ends up eventually.

Haha, yes, beware of eBay adds that say, "1st generation iPod Nano - NEVER USED! $100" :-) I'm sure they'll be showing up there, and I'm curious to see what people will be willing to pay for them (as opposed to what sellers will ask).

Ya, mine failed a while back due to high temperatures in a steam room (ok, not the wisest move, I know). I was trying to have my cake and eat it too.

Sounds like this jacka** cndrwatson25 wants to have his cake, eat it, and then have Apple send him a new cake.

I for one am thrilled to be getting a refurb or anything else: it'll make a nice little gift for someone (I don't need it, now that I have my 4S).

I'm in the UK and sent my 1st gen back under the recall program. When I checked, it said:

Step 3 Return

November 17, 2011: Product replacement pending

Has anyone else in the UK received a replacement for their 1st gen Nano yet? I'm really looking forward to using it again - the battery had pretty much died (I guess most 1st gen's had).

Also, has anyone done a teardown of the replacement 1st gen nano to find out if they are (1) reconditioned, (2) new-old-stock or (3) newly built?

I had a black 4GB nano and still got it's original box. Sell on EBay?! What could I get? Lol

I thought about that but the serial on the box won't match the refurb!

'The true answer to what kind of customer I am going to be with Apple will be defined when I get the replacement in the mail. If it's a new one I will applaud their company for holding true to good business practices. If I get a refurbished one (USED) then I will never purchase another Apple product again and encourage my friends and family to do the same'.

I've registered especially to reply to this and say I think exactly the same.

Only inverted.

If Apple return me 2 nice new shiny refurb 1st gen nanos, then I'll applaud them and use their products again and encourage my friends and family to do the same. To balance out your idiocy.

Just wanted to update on my delivery/return status:

Received my UPS bag in the mailbox 2 days ago along with a padded envelope. Placed my nano in the envelope and then in the UPS bag (big enough to store 4 iPads in it lol), put the UPS sticker on and called UPS Sweden to appoint a pick-up. Went really smooth, the UPS truck arrived within 2 hrs and took my ipod. The bag I received had "Quick delivery" or something alike printed on it, and it was to be shipped to Holland and from there I don't know if it's being replaced there or shipped to the states.

I'm really impressed how Apple is dealing with this, prepaid pick-up and quick delivery bags, not bad. I don't wanna see the total price tag haha.

It's been a week since I sent mine off back to apple but the repair status still indicates "Empty box shipped."

Same here. Checked the UPS status and it said they delivered it 5 days ago. So Im slightly worried that Apple could cancel my repair and i have no way to contact them....

Seriously Apples communication practises are pretty bad: no response, when i applied for the recall, first email when they sent the box (7 days later), dead silence til now. And how am i supposed to contact them? No email address to specifically contact them about my repair, only a hotline, nothing.

I expect better from a company like apple.

So are we to thank Apple for replacing a possibly dangerous product they sold us 6 years ago, today? Especially when this issue was brought up years ago in Japan (and even in the United States, but the legal battle was won in Japan first).

Apple just would not admit to the issue until prices of the nano were driven down enough for them not to lose as much money as they would have if they fixed the issue earlier. But of course, fanboys, will claim otherwise and state that Apple did all they could to fix the issue (yea....6 years after the fact). Whether or not I get a "new" iPod (highly unlikely), I am disappointed with the way Apple handled itself in this recall.

Just think about it. Japan's Ipod Nano's were recalled in 2008, so why weren't all of ours also recalled then? They knew the prices would drop as time went by, and they stalled for as long as they could....and now here we are, 3 years later, when the price of this model is a joke, and it costs them next to nothing to repair (vs. the potential cost 3 years ago---the same time they recalled Japan's nanos).

Oh yea, thanks Apple!

Ha.

@AliEasy, according to an article in MacWorld, the recall is the result of an investigation which began three years ago in Japan, after an iPod nano began sparking during the charging process. After Apple investigated, at the request of the Japanese govt., it found that the problem was extremely rare (0.01%), and involved only one particular battery manufacturer. It then instituted the recall in Japan. That was three years ago, not "6 years after the fact," as you say in your post.

The language in the MacWorld article suggests that the investigation that began in Japan three years ago continued after the Japan recall, although the details aren't clear. One finding is that the liklihood of failure increases over time. This suggests an additional finding since the Japan recall, which may have been what prompted the current recall in the U.S., although I don't know how soon the current recall was initiated after this finding was made... and neither do you.

Your post is riddled with unreasonable speculation and conspiracy theory with no facts to support your assertions. Did you post just to stir things up, or are you going to contribute something productive to the discussion? By the way, it is not only unlikely that you will get a new iPod, it has already been established in this thread and in countless other online discussions (including reports by those who have already received their replacment Nano's), that the replacement will be a refurbished 1st-Generation Nano. Did you not read the thread before posting?

I read and understand that everything here is just speculation (because no one in the U.S. has received their replacement ipod yet). So, you trying to discredit my post with speculation from other companies/websites or other people on this forum is beyond ridiculous.

Also, I mentioned that Apple did not do anything 6 years ago because my iPod had battery issues within 9 months of owning it, which was about 5-6 years ago, and they told me I was out of luck and out of warranty (since the battery wasn't covered). Sooooooooo now that they acknowledge the mistake, I can thank them for making me wait so long, right?

I did not post to "stir" things up. Just to notify folks as to the timeline of these things. I also never thought you would receive a new ipod (hence my highly unlikely statement). So if you're going to try and argue with me, maybe you should address my points, rather than try to pick them apart unsuccessfully.

But you seem not to care about logical arguments, and to be a loyal Apple fanboy who is ready to defend the company, despite their many flaws. So yea, good for you.