Apple’s presence in China has been riddled with a lot of problems. While the company is being accused of offering an ‘unfair’ returns policy for customers in China, it has been discovered that Apple was being scammed by employees in a given store who exploited its returns policy.
Apple has a policy of replacing defective parts when they are returned to the company while the warranty is applicable. Apparently, the employees in a store used this opportunity to hand over fake parts to Apple and get real parts in return. They would then assemble the rest of the iPhone and sell it for a profit of $160 per unit.
These scammers returned fake BAND pieces to Apple, BAND being one of the major parts in an iPhone. After having their fake BAND pieces replaced with original ones, the scammers would buy original back cover, battery and other parts and build an iPhone 4S from it. They would then sell it for a significant profit.
Apparently, this scam was being run by a shop engineer and her girlfriend in a store at Wenzhou, China. Interestingly, at the same time, Apple is currently being criticized by state media in China for offering an unfair returns policy. When replacing iPhone units in China, Apple didn’t replace the back covers so as to avoid the extension of warranty.
As the criticism gathered momentum, Apple has come out and apologized for it, reassuring that it will be expanding the scope of warranty it offers to its Chinese users.
Courtesy: The Register
[ttjad keyword=”iphone”]
