Things are fine in Denmark, but they’re rotten in Greece.
Dr. Dimitrios Papadimitriadis (@papadimi on Twitter) was disturbed by some dark spots on his iMac’s display, so he took it to Systemgraph (AKA System Graph Technologies), Apple’s official warranty support provider in Greece. Systemgraph recommended that the iMac LCD panel be replaced, and that the entire computer receive a good cleaning inside and out.
When Papadimitriadis picked up his iMac a few days later, he was dismayed to find that not only was the LCD panel still defective, but there was evidence of moisture behind the screen. The good doctor took advantage of some verbiage in the Greek Civil Code and demanded a refund or replacement of his iMac, which was still under warranty. Systemgraph refused, saying that he had not purchased the iMac from them. Papadimitriadis says he was following Apple’s warranty repair procedures to the letter.
With no help forthcoming from Systemgraph, Papadimitriadis even went to a consumer ombudsman to begin the lengthy process of gaining some sort of resolution. Becoming a bit frustrated, Papadimitriadis posted a note about his experience on a forum (translation here). He didn’t say anything particularly bad about Systemgraph in the forum, but simply described the situation.
The response from Systemgraph? They sued him for €200,000 (about US$267,000), claiming that he had damaged the company’s reputation. The company is saying that now that this situation has begun showing up on Twitter and Apple websites, there’s “an organised attempt to slander and insult” Systemgraph’s name.
After all of the public relations damage that Systemgraph has done to itself, it might be a lot less expensive to just replace the iMac. There’s a hearing on January 19th for the two parties. Good luck, Dr. Papadimitriadis. And Apple might want to take a look at how warranty work is done in those countries where the company doesn’t provide their own support.
Apple’s Greek support provider sues customer for hurting its feelings originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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