MOSCOW, October 29 (RIA Novosti) — Apple is being sued by owners of MacBook Pros due to a graphics defect, with customers complaining that Apple’s response to the fault has compounded the issue.
According to the lawsuit, the 2011 MacBook Pro “was described by many as a dud and defective from inception,” and alleges that in addition “Apple has surprisingly ignored the claims of the thousands of customers who, in many cases, complained directly to the Apple CEO Tim Cook and paid for the out of pocket repairs when they failed to gain a response from Apple.”
The class action has been brought to a Californian federal court on behalf of three plaintiffs, Zachary Book and Donald Cowart from California, and John Manners from Florida, and if successful, will allow computer owners in these states to recover damages from Apple.
The defect is claimed to stem from the lead-free solder used to connect the AMD Graphics Processor to the laptop’s logic board, or motherboard, which is less reliable than solder with lead. In 2003 the EU Commission restricted the use of lead solder in electronic equipment, along with other substances it named as hazardous. The lawsuit alleges that Apple in consequence decided to use solder made from a combination of silver and tin across its products, including those not intended for sale in the EU.
The weaker solder is described as liable to crack under stress, causing the graphics defect and eventually, according to the litigation, total failure of the computer. Apple stands accused of knowing about the problem but failing to fix it, or inform customers of its magnitude. Instead, the firm issued software updates and offered to replace the logic board with one equally defective.
The storm over the 2011 MacBook Pro has been brewing since last year. A thread on the Apple Support Communities Forum started in February 2013 has 1.8 million views and today had 626 pages, while a Facebook group dedicated to the problem has 5,800 members. One user on its page commented that “when you pay premium prices you expect premium goods,” and another complained: “when I pay more than $3,000 for a laptop, I expect that machine to work reliably.”
A petition on Change.org which demands that Apple “replace or fix all 2011 MacBook Pros with graphics failure” has been signed by more than 23,000 people. The petition states that “this issue has made a $2,500 investment a piece of junk in 2 years,” and continues to complain that Apple “are making money” from the issue by offering replacement logic boards, which cost upwards of $300 to replace. The company itself has so far refused to comment on the issue.
