Apple, the tech giant whose GDP surpasses more than 80% of world countries, including our own. It is undoubtedly the largest tech company in the current era. The Cupertino giant is known mainly for its iPhone devices and MacBook PCs, but it is not just limited to manufacturing mobile devices. It is much wider spread and owns various subsidiaries, expanding its reach towards every tech genre.
So, what happens when you cheat Apple?
I mean that as a serious question. It would help if you literally had strong guts to even plan of cheating against such a big organization. Let’s say your plan of committing a fraud against the Cupertino giant went as planned, and you completed your task. But what happens when apple discovers you? What do you think will be the consequence?
It’s pretty simple, really. You will be fined with Billions of dollars of Lawsuit by the company. One such thing happened with Geep Canada, Apples’ very own recycling partner.
The Cupertino giants lawsuit claims that Geep Canada sold approximately 100,000 iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches, which interestingly were sent to the company to be stripped down and recycled.
Apple is committed to environmental conservation, and its various environmental policies are no joke. The company has been trying every year to increase how much it recycles. The company is even attempting to move the recycling of its products in-house. But for now, it has to depend on recyclers like Geep Canada to carry out the task.
Interestingly, Apple claims of its 100,000 devices being stolen are not denied by Geep, but the recycler has still filed a countersuit to protect itself. In its lawsuit, the company claims that three ‘rogue’ employees carried out the theft without the company’s knowledge.
But, Apple claims that the three in question are the senior management staff at the firm. According to sources, Apple filed its lawsuit in January 2020, while Geep Canada filed its countersuit in July. The case has only been made public recently.
What does Apples suit claim?
Apple claims that it shipped 531,966 iPhones to Geep Canada for recycling between January 2015 and December 2017. Along with it, the company also sent 25,673 iPads and 19,277 Apple Watches.
When the company audited the recycler’s warehouse, some of its devices were being stored away.
Upon discovering that any security cameras did not cover the alleged secret storage areas, the Cupertino giant then checked the serial numbers of all devices it had shipped to the company. It claimed that approximately 18% or 103,845 of all the devices were discovered to be active on carrier networks.
Apple stated, “At least 11,766 pounds of Apple devices left GEEP’s premises without being destroyed – a fact that GEEP itself confirmed“.
What’s Geep’s Stance?
The recycler is reportedly searching for the three employees responsible for the theft. This is to make them pay for damages and costs the company suffered. If Apple wins, Geep needs to pay $22.7 million US, which will be a huge loss for the recycling firm. The company has already lost Apple as its customers, which is a loss in millions of dollars every year. Add the lawsuit fine claimed by Apple on top of it; the recycling firm might be headed towards dark ages.
Our Take
Geeps website states that the company’s mission is to “encourage reuse whenever possible.” But, it’s still not OK to sell resell the devices just because one encourages reuse over recycling. The products belong to apple, they belong to some other company.
Just because products can be sold on the grey market, it doesn’t make them comply with the re-sell policy of apple but of every other device manufacturers in the world. If the resold products are not rebuilt with counterfeit parts, it results in serious electrical and battery defects.
Consumer safety is more important than making profits!
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