iPhone and iPod Touch customers once denied warranty coverage over water damage face a looming Oct. 21 deadline for filing a compensation claim with Apple.
Customers are only eligible if Apple denied their warranty coverage on or before Dec. 31, 2009, for the original iPhone, iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS, and on or before June 30, 2010, for the first three generations of the iPod Touch. Apple consumers are eligible if they were denied warranty coverage because Apple based the defect on its liquid damage policy.
Claim forms can be submitted online by Oct. 21 at 9 p.m. PT, or by mail postmarked no later than Oct. 21, according to the Apple Warranty Settlement website.
Owners of the iPhone or iPod Touch who unsuccessfully tried to get their device replaced or repaired under warranty can fill out a claim form online until Oct. 21.
Hundreds of thousands of iPhone – original iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS – customers, and the first three generations of the iPod Touch customers who were denied warranty coverage under Apple's standard one-year or two-year extended warranty, are eligible for a cash payout as a result of a class-action lawsuit Apple settled in May 2013.
Apple agreed to pay a $53 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit for warranties that covered early versions of the iPhone and iPod Touch. The lawsuit, originally filed in 2010 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claimed Apple refused to honor warranties for any issue. Apple did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement.
Payouts are for around $200 and could be more or less based on how many claims are submitted, according to Wired, which first reported the settlement agreement.
Apple has also received criticism for its warranty coverage in China, where customers claimed Apple would only replace defective parts within the faulty product. In other countries, Apple completely replaced a damaged or defective product under warranty.
The loophole led to a revision in Apple's warranty policy and an apology from Apple CEO Tim Cook.
