Apple stores in Beijing sued for selling refurbished iPhones as brand new

After clamping down on fake Apple stores in China, Apple is now on the receiving end of a new lawsuit, and this time it’s being delivered by a well-known consumer rights advocate in China. The complaint? Apparently Apple has been passing off refurbished iPhones as brand new devices and selling them at full price to consumers.

The scheme was discovered when some consumers who purchased the iPhone registered their phones online only to discover that their device warranties were less than the 1-year that they were promised by Apple. This has led them to believe that they were being sold refurbished units that have been passed off as brand new units.

When they made complaints at the Apple Stores, some of them were offered new iPhones, while others were given the chance to extend the date of their warranties. Now there’s no telling if this was just a case of an error in the system or a real scam, but it’s definitely bad news for Apple. If consumers aren’t guaranteed new devices from official Apple Stores, who can they turn to? At least those fake Apple stores sold brand new iPhones right? Let’s hope this case clears up soon.

 

George Wong
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: Apple Inc, apple store, China, iOS, iPhone, iPhone 4, lawsuit