Apple Tries To Silence Owner Of Exploding iPod

London Times:

Apple attempted to silence a father and daughter with a gagging order after the child's iPod music player exploded and the family sought a refund from the company.

Read the whole story: London Times

Comments

[thebeautyoftheburst]

08:10 PM on 08/03/2009

Apple needs to get smacked.

[Meggie]

06:04 PM on 08/03/2009

Their new iPhone has an overheating problem already. Can't wait for them to cover up those damages next. Why do companies do this? Admit there's a problem, fix it, and move on. The coverup does not change what happened, and you know it's going to come out!

[i5kfun]

09:01 PM on 08/04/2009

Its not usually that easy to "fix it" ... you would assume if it was an easy fix - and a simple issue to observe like heating up - that they would have fixed it in the design phase of things.

If they are just noticing the problem now they are doing a quick calculation on how much it will cost to fix, then figuring out how much it will cost to pay for court damages / lawyers fees and deciding which way to go.

[chevlikis]

04:20 PM on 08/03/2009

nice job apple, you have already re-invented American customer service - and not in a good way with your army of stand-arounds in the stores, your communist-style lines waiting for ipod bread motif and your horrible return policy.

for the most part you have a great product but your office people really really such it.

free speech - or you feel my CHE.

[quasar]

11:08 AM on 08/03/2009

the real forbidden fruit.

[RustyPatina]

08:21 AM on 08/03/2009

This is what happens when you let the lawyers run your company. True customer service goes out the window.

[Dennis]

08:21 AM on 08/03/2009

Not to worry; For only $59.95 Apple will sell you a groovy iBandage (With logo) to wear while your iBurn heals. Apple fans will insist that the iBandage is easier to use and heals you twice as fast as regular bandages.

[kareemachan]

10:26 AM on 08/03/2009

LOL

[natalypj]

03:15 PM on 08/03/2009

Ha!

[Nivekian]

06:49 AM on 08/03/2009

No wonder apple hasn't payed, it sounds like it was a rip-off product, just like the "exploding" PC's from a couple years ago...

[amdezurik]

10:52 AM on 08/03/2009

uh, you might want to actually READ it, they will pay as long as nobody else gets a warning, now it will probably go to court. and they will pay a lot more for their attempt cover this up

[nubret2008]

02:46 AM on 08/03/2009

An exploded iPod is still better than Microsoft Zune

[maxbianco]

05:43 AM on 08/03/2009

Welcome to heaven.
here is your IPOD
welcome to h3ll.
here is your zune
by the way, i know this is a little off topic but.... whats a zune??? or is it zoon???
hahahhaha
see ya real zoon at the apple store!!:-)

[xstevejx]

03:51 PM on 08/03/2009

I love the Family Guy ep where Bill Gates is at a party at The Pewterschmidt's and Mr. Pewterschmidt says Hi to him and asks if he can help him with his Zune. Then he says, "Oh, that's right! I have an iPod...like EVERYONE!" and walks off.

By the way, gag orders are very commonplace in lawsuits, so I'd hardly call this one being inherently sinister. The wording "tries to silence" is more inherently sinister, sounding like they might be trying to kill them.

[Anastasia]

01:02 AM on 08/03/2009

Good for them, for not taking the money and going public.

[FHTB]

02:03 AM on 08/03/2009

I have never bought into the Ipod craze or to the Apple mystique among the hobnobbing Starbucks cognoscenti...this is a good reason why.

[Cacaoatl]

12:46 AM on 08/03/2009

It might not have been a real iPod. There has been a huge influx of knockoffs from Asia that are almost identical in every way except they are a little thicker and don't come with the same high quality battery as real iPods. Its the battery that can leak chemicals and cause an explosion.

[kareemachan]

10:29 AM on 08/03/2009

Or the Apple batteries are doing the same thing. We had to replace my kid's laptop battery when that recall happened - I wouldn't be surprised to hear that these might need replacing as well. And I'm willing to bet that the iPod batteries are made in China, too.

[amdezurik]

10:53 AM on 08/03/2009

then why would Apple have made the offer in the first place?

[jumperpin]

11:52 PM on 08/02/2009

C'mon. It can only kill you once.

[MrVee]

11:44 PM on 08/02/2009

A gagging order?? The heck is a gagging order? Is that what it's called in the UK? So is a "order of protection" a visit to the local drugstore for condoms? lol.

[ecotopian]

12:26 AM on 08/03/2009

It's a gag order. They can't say anything if they took the money Apple offered.

[MrVee]

08:36 AM on 08/03/2009

Thanks Capt. Obviously. The "lol" was my attempt at humor.

[amdezurik]

10:54 AM on 08/03/2009

well if you are putting a "gag" on someone you ARE "gagging" them so it is at least as valid use of English as what you may be used to.

[MrVee]

05:38 PM on 08/03/2009

Hmm.. Jokes don't translate well for some on Huffington post. Got it.

[i5kfun]

11:15 PM on 08/02/2009

Can you imagine something like this happening in an airplane? A lot of people use their ipods during flights, imagine one of those suckers blowing up in the middle of the flight. If it doesn't pop a hole in the plane then the toxic vapors recirculating through the cabin would cause a nice little health scare. I wonder if Apple would agree to refund everyone's plane ticket provided they sign a non-disclosure form?

[nycvagabond]

06:39 AM on 08/03/2009

oh come on.. get real.. a popping (exploding) ipod would never be able to blow a hole through the side of an airplane.. sure it would scare people for a second, but to think it would do damage to a plane is pretty ridiculous

[GreyWolfSC]

09:16 AM on 08/03/2009

Airplanes are enclosed and fly quite high in the air. A fire on-board would be a bad thing.

[amdezurik]

10:55 AM on 08/03/2009

and do you think thoise toxic gasses released in that enclosed space would be good for anyone?

[1sparrow]

11:01 PM on 08/02/2009

yellow screaming zonkers. the incredible exploding bla bla machine. the human meat grinder- it's not that i have a million of them. there are a million of them. first-- if i get your attention--- i make a million. 2nd-- i avoid paying attention to the commercial smashed into my face. it's like fighting for air.

[rollingrock]

10:06 PM on 08/02/2009

So it exploded because the father dropped it?? What do you expect when you drop an electronic device on the ground? Of course its going to break!

[Sing Out and Slap Iron]

10:44 PM on 08/02/2009

Break? Maybe. Explode? No.

And Apple did as much as they could to hush this up.

[Changeling]

11:24 PM on 08/02/2009

"What do you expect when you drop an electronic device on the ground?"

Are you kidding?

Ummm...back when I had PS2 many moons ago I fell, bumped it and it fell to the floor.

Guess I should be lucky it didn't take out a city block, eh?"

Just wow.

[jynx]

12:00 AM on 08/03/2009

My iPhone is indestructible. I've dripped it smack on the concrete more times than I can count and it works like new.

[Changeling]

04:30 PM on 08/03/2009

Good thing you've proven that Apple is incapable of making a faulty product just because your s seems ok.

Insecapable logic, that.

[Gover]

05:10 PM on 08/03/2009

Guarantee I can break your iPod in under 3 seconds.