TC News: Apple’s Replacement Policy, Suing Best Buy for $54 Million, Wal-Mart Covers Up “M” Rated Games
by Bob Caswell
TechConsumer News is a feature we started out of a hobby of tracking the latest happenings within the consumer related technology sphere. The goal is to provide a concise, compiled overview of the most intriguing stories from the last few days. Feel free to give us feedback or send us tips. If you like what you find, you can subscribe via email or RSS.
Here’s the latest in TechConsumer news:
The Consumerist’s intern Alex Chasick called Apple’s Executive Customer Service line to find out the “official” policy on defective laptops (his had three hardware failures). Here’s what he found: “[H]e told me that the minimum requirements for apple to replace a machine are three completed major hardware failures (for laptops, he said hard drive, logic board, and optical drive-coincidentally what my three failures have been)… but three completed hardware failures apparently means that they’ve repaired it three times, so actually it’s the fourth failure that will get you a replacement.”
Raelyn Campbell is suing Best Buy for $54 million because the retail giant lost her laptop. She admits the amount is ridiculous but then again, so is the amount Best Buy was offering her as compensation for the loss of her computer, data, and time ($900). She wants to teach them a lesson and feels this is the best way (via a lawsuit that has gotten plenty of media attention). The store allegedly lied to her for months at a time about the status of her machine and gave her quite the run around.
Wal-Mart will begin displaying “M” rated games in a black sleeve that obscures 3/4 of the game’s cover, like what you’d see for adult magazines in a gas station. A company spokesperson has the following to say: “It is the responsibility of Wal-Mart to protect our children from potentially damaging content, such as the covers of some video games.”
3 Comments 
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February 14th, 2008 at 11:53 am
I’m sorry, but the uproar over M-rated games is ridiculous. Putting them in sleeves? These aren’t nudie magazines. The thing that just kills me is that you can buy the UNRATED Texas Chainsaw Massacre at Walmart, and I’m sure their is no sleeve.
It is just crazy that content in GTA will cause a stir, but the same behaviors as the game depicts can be seen in TV and movies with no notice. Is GTA worse than the Departed? Nope, but the Departed was nominated for awards… That said, I’m not a fan of GTA.
February 15th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
“It is the responsibility of Wal-Mart to protect our children from potentially damaging content, such as the covers of some video games.”
Wow…just wow. Good to see a retail giant admitting that it’s no longer the parent’s responsibility to protect their children *Sarcasm*. So, anyone know when Wal-Mart will start offering babysitting services? Better yet, maybe Wal-Mart should just ban anyone under age 18. These companies need to get a back bone and start fighting back against this ridiculous crap instead of giving in constantly. It always gets me how parents want to throw around law suits because THEY were negligent.
February 15th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
First thing I thought after your comment? Who in their right mind would trust their child to a Walmart babysitting service? The same people who would get GTA IV for their 5 year-old.
I wonder if Walmart is going to start selling beer in plain brown boxes to “protect our children”. Make no mistake, Walmart doesn’t really care about children in this matter. It is strictly a PR thing.