Apple’s Warranty Policy in Hot Water Again
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The question of what Apple’s water resistance ratings truly mean is once again being put before the courts, with a new class-action lawsuit in Quebec, Canada, insisting that Apple’s claims of water resistance compel it to repair water-damaged devices under the terms of its warranty.
As reported by Montreal’s CTV News (via AppleInsider), Quebec law firm LPC Avocats is implicitly accusing Apple of false advertising by failing to uphold its warranty terms for devices that come into contact with liquid.
The case, for which LPC Avocats is seeking class-action status, is being led by lawyer Joey Zukran, who is representing an unnamed 19-year-old college student whose iPhone “came into contact with water near a pool” during a trip to Mexico.
While Zukran doesn’t explicitly say the student dropped her iPhone into a pool, he points out that Apple advertises that the iPhone can “fall in a pool and be fine.” Yet Apple refuses to fix these devices, he says.
The lawyer notes that his client’s phone “immediately stopped working” as soon as it came into contact with water, despite being only eight months old. When she took it to an Apple Store Genius Bar, Zukran says, she was told “she was excluded due to it coming in contact with water.”
So the warranty says that it does not apply the data liquid contact, which is completely ridiculous when you look at the marketing that Apple uses. How can you exclude liquid when you advertise that it can fall in a pool and be fine? (…) In the case of my clients, and many people who contact their office, they’re not fine. Apple refuses to fix it, and the only remedy is to buy a brand new phone.Joey Zukran, LPC Avocats
Apple’s ‘Contradictory’ Policies
Under Quebec law, a company’s marketing is considered to create an implicit consumer contract, and, as Zukran notes, “declarations made by the representative of a company also form part of the contract.” This creates “two contradictory clauses” in the contract between Apple and its customers, Zukran argues, since Apple markets it as coming out of a pool undamaged. At the same time, Apple’s employees say that liquid contact voids the warranty.
The class action lawsuit asks the courts to nullify the “liquid contact” exclusion in Apple’s warranty policies and reimburse all those who have paid to have their iPhones fixed due to water damage while still under warranty. It also asks for a payout of $500 for each class-action participant.
As CTV News notes, Zukran won a class-action lawsuit against Apple in 2018 under Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act based on its failure to warn consumers of that Province’s warranty rules and guarantee its batteries for a reasonable amount of time. A Quebec Court of Appeal upheld that ruling in 2021, requiring Apple to pay $6 million (CAD) to affected customers.
It’s difficult to predict how this case will go, particularly since it’s under Quebec law, which differs significantly from the legal systems of even the other Canadian provinces, much less the US.
A similar 2022 lawsuit in New York was dismissed for insufficient evidence to support the plaintiff’s claims; however, it never ruled on whether Apple was obligated to repair water-damaged devices under warranty, merely that the case couldn’t prove that their iPhones were damaged by any liquid contact that Apple had promised they should be able to withstand.
On the other hand, Italian regulators hit Apple with a $12 million fine in 2020 for failing to inform consumers of the nature of its water-resistance claims and failing to live up to its warranty obligations. This wasn’t a fine from Italy’s competition regulator rather than a class-action lawsuit.
iPhone Water Resistance and Warranty Policies
Apple claims that the iPhone 12 and all later models except the iPhone SE can withstand immersion in up to six meters of fresh water for at least 30 minutes. However, you’re still out of luck if water does get past the seals, as Apple clearly states that it won’t cover an iPhone under warranty when there are signs of water damage.
Service for liquid damage to an iPhone or iPod isn’t covered by the Apple One-Year Limited Warranty.Apple
That’s perhaps because it could be anything from legitimate equipment failure to improper use — it’s impossible for Apple to know how it happened. However, Apple concedes that some customers may have rights under consumer laws in some countries.
A failure of Apple’s water-resistant seals should undoubtedly be covered under warranty. However, Apple has also long said that water resistance isn’t a permanent condition and can deteriorate over time — even in the first few months of ownership. Plus, water-resistance ratings apply specifically to fresh water; all bets are off if your iPhone takes a dip in a heavily chlorinated pool or ocean salt water, and Apple explicitly recommends against exposing it to soaps, detergents, or other chemicals — all things that can wear down the waterproof seals.
Nevertheless, we’ve reported many stories in which the iPhone’s water resistance has far exceeded Apple’s claims. For example, an official test took the iPhone 12 into 65 feet of cold salt water, bringing it back virtually unscathed. We’ve also seen various iPhone 11 models, which are only rated to four meters rather than six, survive a year in a Taiwanese lake, six months in a frigid Canadian lake, and several weeks at the bottom of a Disney lagoon.
Is this simply a matter of luck? Not every iPhone is created equally, and it’s certainly possible for some folks to end up with a unit that might not be as water-resistant as it’s supposed to be. It’s arguably not very consumer-friendly for Apple to effectively assume that anyone with a water-damaged iPhone must have done something wrong, and it would be better for them to give customers the benefit of the doubt in such cases.
However, unless Apple changes its policies, this is a good reason to opt for AppleCare+. Water damage still won’t be covered for free, but it will be considered an incident of accidental damage from handling, and you’ll be able to get it fixed for only $99, which is far less than the out-of-warranty repair cost.
