You should not have paid this. No matter what Apple says, Australian consumer law says otherwise. I have had a $3200 macbook pro for 2.5 years. It has begun having problems and I wont be paying apple to repair it. If they refuse to fix it I will be taking them to court:
On January 1 this year the new Australian Consumer Law (ACL) came into effect.
It is largely based on the old Trade Practices Act but, for the first time, unifies most consumer law across the states and territories, and clarifies many of the old provisions it replaces.
One of the key provisions is s54 of the ACL, which is a statutory guarantee of acceptable quality enforceable against the suppliers of goods (i.e. retailers, dealerships, etc.), as well as manufacturers.
This section of the law requires that goods be fit for the purposes they are commonly used for, acceptable in appearance and finish, free from defects, safe and durable, all according to the standards of a "reasonable consumer".
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's chairman Graeme Samuel says this means that many goods come with a statutory guarantee against the supplier that lasts longer than the manufacturer's warranty.
"Sometimes you'll see manufacturer's warranties that may only be for three, six or 12 months in total, whereas the retailer's guarantee under the consumer guarantees can sometimes extend beyond that, having regard to the nature of the product and its intended use," Mr Samuel told ABC News Online.
In determining what is an appropriate period for a guarantee to apply, the law forces courts to consider the nature of the goods, the price of the goods, and statements made about the goods either on the packaging or by the supplier or manufacturer.
In layman's terms, that means a consumer can expect a longer legal guarantee to apply for goods that generally last a long time, that are relatively expensive, and where any claims are made about the quality and/or durability of the product by either the salesperson or manufacturer.
For example, if consumers generally buy a television with a reasonable expectation for it to last five years, then they may have a statutory guarantee against the retailer that lasts substantially longer than the one year manufacturer's warranty.
If the TV is a more expensive brand, especially one that makes claims about its quality and durability, it will be held to a higher standard of quality and durability under the ACL than a home brand that is half the price and does not make similar claims.
Obviously, the law does not protect consumers if their attention was drawn to the fault before the sale (either by spoken words or by a written notice), or they inspected the goods and the fault should have been obvious in that inspection, or the consumer causes the fault through misuse.
