80gb iPod Classic bought in April 08 now defective

Vini123

My girlfriend bought an iPod Classic (80gb) on the 20 April, 2008 at 03:58 PM to be precise (we have the receipt). Unfortunately the iPod refuses to Sync more than 12gb of Data to the Hard Disk. This unit hasn't been used that much and it's rarely left the house, so to have a £160 iPod become defective after only 17 months is a little disheartening!

Now I'm fairly technical, heck it's my job, so I've done all I can to check that there are no bad sectors and that the drive is ok. I've restored the device under iTunes 7/8/9. I've restored it under Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, aswell as under Leopard and Snow Leopard. I've tried the lot. I've tried syncing automatically, I've tried manually managing the music.

We booked into the Apple store for the 'Genius Bar' to take a look at, and the guy said that he couldn't see a problem and it all checked out ok. Understandable as it appears to be fine, until you get to the 12gb mark. I asked him to restore it and try and copy enough data to replicate the problem, unfortunately he didn't have enough music to do so. So he restored the iPod and set it to Disk Mode. He did this under Leopard though, so when we got home, my Girlfriends XP machine wouldn't read it! Quite lucky that I have a mac and was able to communicate with it! Anyway, I tried to stick 70gb of Music onto the unit and again it sticks at 12gb.

Unable to replicate the issue in the Apple store, and unable to argue the law (as I don't really know it) I was wondering what options we have! I don't really see 17 months as "fit for purpose" when you've hardly used the item and it's cost you so much!

Colliefrog

Is your mac a laptop? Could you take it into the store to prove your point? How is your music stored at home? If it's on an external hard drive, could you take that with you?

Vini123

Colliefrog wrote: »

Is your mac a laptop? Could you take it into the store to prove your point? How is your music stored at home? If it's on an external hard drive, could you take that with you?

Mac's not a laptop, and yes music is on an external.

Yes I could take it in, but should I have to... I've no problem with doing so if it was guaranteed to get the unit replaced, but given their stern approach previously I can't see that being the case!

Vini123

Apple_Store_(Meadowhall) wrote:

I'm very sorry to hear you have encountered issues with your 80gb iPod
Classic.

You are correct in that if goods do not match their description or
they break, customers are entitled to a remedy under the Sale of Goods
Act (repair, replacement or refund, depending on how long the customer
has owned the goods).

The "two year" period referred to recently in the press is a European
law which refers to the minimum amount of time customers have to be
given to bring a legal claim for breach of contract if goods do not
match their description or break. In fact in the UK customers have
six years in which to bring a legal claim, which is much longer than
the EU minimum.

Warranties are rights which manufacturers give in addition to
customers’ statutory rights. At Apple our standard warranty is 1 year
which is perfectly legal in the UK.

In order for us to be consistent with all our customers, unfortunately
whilst I do sympathise with your situation, your iPod is out of
warranty and as a result we are unable to facilitate an exchange other
than what our Genius has previously discussed with you.

Kind Regards,
David Hall
ASM Apple Meadowhall

I'm not quite sure what they want here, the email doesn't really explain much. They say you have 2 years within EU law, to make a legal claim for an item that does not match its description, or breaks. Well we've emailed them after 17 months, regarding a broken ipod?

4743hudsonj

Vini123 wrote: »

I'm not quite sure what they want here, presumably proof that it was faulty from "day 1" which it probably wasn't! It's a hard drive! And those in the know, will realise hard drive's can just fail!

im afraid you have answered your own question here pretty much.....

past experience tells me you have no hope whatsoever, best you can do is negotiate discount for a repair or a new hard drive if your capable of a repair yourself (dont know what sort of techie you are...)

Vini123

I'm more than up for replacing the drive, but

a) a new 1.8" drive is almost as much as the 'refurbished' ipod replacement (£50-60 as opposed to £90)
b) this is an ipod thats rarely been used and well looked after
c) i bloody hate big companies that screw people

Roz_V

Hi - the girlfriend of Vini123 here! Just wanted to add that the item was purchased on a credit card - does that help me in any way seeing as the unit was over £100?