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Apple support company sues customer for a complaint

Posted by at January 2, 2011, 7:09 pm in Apple, News | 31 comments

Apple Authorized Support Company Sues Customer for Complaint Online

An Apple authorized Service Provider called System Graph is suing a customer who complained online about poor service from them. The customer Dimitrios Papadimitriadis took his iMac to them because he was seeing gray spots on his LED panel.

The Greek company System Graph recommended a full interior cleaning of the iMac and performed the service for Dimitrios. He then got his iMac back and noticed moisture behind the screen and that it still did not work properly and took it back to the repair center. System Graph then told him that they needed to keep his iMac to replace the LED screen and he would be without it for another week.

Dimitrios was now angry and demanded that his iMac be replaced pursuant to Article 540 of the Civil Code and section 5 of Act 2251. System Graph refused saying they were not the original retailer that he purchased the iMac from.

Dimitros has posted the entire story on a forum (Google Translated) and is now being sued by System Graph for 200,000 euros which is approximately $267,000 USD for slandering their good name. He has already gotten a large amount of support on both twitter and the forum.

What I don’t understand is what the company System Graph expects to get out of this suit. They will not be clearing their name by suing a customer, and what will Apple think if one of their Authorized Service Provider is suing an Apple customer. With the explosion of this news all over the web it will undoubtedly bring more attention to the company than they ever wanted.

VIA: Cnet, Image Credit: TechCrunch

Learn more the author of this post:

Matt Jurek
I was a Computer and Information Technology student at Purdue University. I have always wanted my own website and have been fascinated with technology my entire life. So here I am, what's next?

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention Apple support company sues customer for a complaint | TekGoblin -- Topsy.com

  • http://twitter.com/magnoware magnoware.com

    Apple support company sues customer for a complaint http://bit.ly/dVNBfq #tech #news

  • http://www.facebook.com/roblimo Robin Miller

    In other words, “don’t buy Apple products.” And if you DO buy one, and the local service center fails to fix it, don’t complain. Okay. No problem. I won’t buy Apple products, which are usually kind of expensive, anyway.

  • http://www.tekgoblin.com Sanity

    I agree with the company in denying replacement because it was not purchased there, but what I do not agree with is the fact that they are suing him for speaking his mind online.

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  • Anonymous

    They’re going to lose Apple. They’re going to lose business because of the suit..What fucking idiots.

  • http://technokyle.com kyle

    company is right to not replace the device the wrong move is that he’s suing the customer. totally lame

  • Someone

    Um…quit kneejerking, people. There’s no way to know if this is justified. Why? Because he’s thrown a tantrum about this to just about anyone within earshot, and we have no idea what was said to other parties. Why he expects the shop to refund him when he did not buy it from them is beyond me, but from the amount of butthurt flowing from this guy, I’d say it’s entirely possible that he’s said some less-than-true things elsewhere. There’s no way to know.

  • dude

    cause they are an authorized apple Representative, therefore they repersent the attitude of apple corp

    or is that too difficult to understand?

  • 8bitjay

    Not saying it justifies the action, but doesn’t this happen more than we think as a way of scaring customers into keeping their mouths shut?

  • http://twitter.com/Jappleng Jappleng

    A few hundred bucks versus a major client like Apple. Way to go, this is how businesses gets ruined overnight. Good night sweet prince!

  • Rex

    I think it’s too early to blame Apple for this. The company in question is an authorized service center, not a subsidiary of Apple itself. What remains to be seen is whether and how Apple reacts to this.
    They should intervene on behalf of their customer, either by getting the support company to stop on pain of terminating their contract, or by helping him with his legal fees. It would be a massive PR win for them if they did.

  • Rex

    Apple Corp cannot afford to ignore this incident – they have to address the issue either way.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7SU3MBZFRWDYAQ2SJ4YTPWO7VM Liming

    Bad move. Classic PR disaster.

  • Away

    Apple has 3 authorized service providers in Greece and he took it to two of them. He also took it to the authorized distributor and the retailer that he bought it from and noone wanted to replace it (which is mandatory according to Greek law). One of them even asked for a written application and then wouldn’t take it.

    It doesn’t matter where he bought it. If you have a problem you take it to the service center (not the retailer that is not even able to test it properly). If they cannot fix it and you ask for a replacement they should just replace it, not send you around in circles.

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  • Anios

    Hello i am ashamed… i live in greece .. and i don;t seem so suprized from the companies “System Graphs” action… Greek IT’s company service sucks .. There main goal is to make as much profit as possible over Prising there hardware or retail hardware they sell. The prices are much MORE cheaper over the net if you compare, as for the service you get the feeling that they don;t want to help you but trick you into paying more than you should to get your hardware/software fixed….

  • http://twitter.com/bigbluetaurus BigBlueTaurus

    funny thing is that he bought it from another store and was asking system graph to change it with a new one! It doesn’t make any sense! :/

  • http://twitter.com/pascalbrax Pascal

    Awesome! Now i see why Apple customers are so HAPPY about their stuff.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah because this lone company…in Greece…is typical of Apple…which isn’t even the company in question…

    Okay, seriously, you’re going to have to tell me what I’m missing here.

  • http://twitter.com/pascalbrax Pascal

    What you’re missing is called irony… No, not iRony.

  • Leonidasgeorgiou

    That’s like if i complained on your forum about something and you came along and sued me :P
    It’s retarded.

    But at the same time so is the guy who asked for a screen replacement from a different Mac depo than the one he got his from.

  • http://www.tekgoblin.com Sanity

    I see what you did there

  • Jon

    Hello Streisand Effect!

  • Someone

    Riiiiight. They’re an Apple authorized repair center. They do not represent the attitude of Apple. They’re a locally owned shop. Think before typing.

  • Someone

    WRONG. So very, very wrong. Apple authorized repair centers are NOT Apple. They are locally owned. If Apple has not authorized the replacement then they will NOT be reimbursed for it, period. Why should they have to eat that cost just because someone had a problem? It DOES matter where you bought it. Why should Target give me a refund on something I bought at Fred Meyer? Just because they both sell that product doesn’t mean that one is responsible for the other. Try actually learning about this stuff before typing.

    If he wanted it replaced then he should have talked directly to Apple, not people who have zero authorization to replace his computer. If he was beyond the return period for the retailer, then why should they also have to eat the cost? Apple has the final say in this. If he didn’t talk directly to them then he’s a moron.

  • Devil Doll

    Unfortunately, it wasn’t really irony, it was sarcasm.

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  • http://twitter.com/eanbowman Ean Bowman

    Except it wasn’t valid sarcasm. You were making a point about Apple sarcastically, but that point is made from a false premise. Which makes the whole exercise useless.

  • Jeffrey A. Williams

    seems to me this fellow had a reasonable reason to complain.

  • http://twitter.com/interfuzed InterFuzed

    First off, just because this company is an Authorized Service Center does not mean that they represent Apple. It means that they repair Apple products and passed some sort of certification process. Saying that what they did (or allegedly did) represents Apple’s policies is just ridiculous anti-Apple propaganda.

    Having said that, I’ve had my share of Customer Service issues with Apple DIRECT support in the past, which (sadly) outsourced to someplace overseas – most likely India. A simple problem like an iTunes download that fails turns into 6 rounds of emails because the person on the other end doesn’t understand basic English and refuses to forward the issue to someone who does. Even a request to have the issue escalated to a supervisor is flat out refused.

    Ultimately, the most recent time, the support incident ended up getting reviewed by a senior rep a week later, who contacted me personally. He apologized for the incident and even gave me credits on iTunes to compensate for the extra time spent dealing with the idiot rep.

    Apple may have many loyal followers, even fanatics, but just like any company, they always have to work to maintain Customer Service. I should know, that’s a big part of what my company does – consulting with businesses for online customer service. I am certain that many could share multiple experiences just like mine dealing with other companies like Microsoft, Adobe, etc.

    Now, as for this repair company in Greece – who knows why they sued? I am not familiar with slander laws in Greece or the EU – are all of you? What exactly did the customer say? Did he state the facts only or did he go beyond that to say something that actually broke the slander laws?

    Everyone loves to jump to conclusions, push their favorite products/brands and bash the Big Guys. How about focusing on the facts? Lacking real facts, how about waiting to see what they are and limiting discussion to “what might be”?

  • everybodychill

    That would be far, far too rational for the typical consumer.

    HATE HATE HATE! It’s the easiest, most effective way to get what you want!

  • http://hostingindia.org/ Web Hosting India

    I think he is right .

  • ElGreco

    This Syatemgraph company is the authorized reseller and service provider at level 4 (top level). Therefore they act as if thevwere Apple and are online with Apple.

    The shop the guy bought from is a retailer without support services.

    He couldn’t possibly go back to the store and say “hey, apple’s authorized service screwed up my computer at repair, could you pls replace it with a new one?”

    But still, …a lawsuit? What were they thinking.

  • Anonymous

    This company has clearly not learned on of the two most basic things about customer service. “It is alwasy cheaper t make a customer happy than it is to make him angry.”

    The other I teach to people in my seminars is” The quality of any product or service is exactly what the customer says it is.” If a client understood these two things and was prepared apply them in his business, the seminar was a success.

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