Apple representatives yesterday failed to appear at a meeting with the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) to explain a mix-up in pricing on its Web site, leading the commission to demand the company explain how it would address the incident by the end of business day today.
A Taipei City official also issued an ultimatium yesterday.
“Apple has to respond to our order before the end of Tuesday or may face a fine of up to NT$300,000, according to the Consumer Law (消費者保護法),” Law and Regulation Commission Commissioner Yeh Ching-yuan (葉慶元) said.
On Friday, Apple incorrectly priced a computer model on its online store’s local Web site, listing its Mac Mini at NT$19,900, or about 40 percent off the regular price of NT$47,710.
The pricing error was discovered on the Apple Education Store Web site at about midday on Friday.
The error was corrected at about 7pm the same day, but by then the site had received orders for up to 200,000 units at the incorrect price.
Hours later, when customers who placed orders for the Mac Mini at NT$19,900 received their order confirmation receipts, Apple had charged them its regular price without notifying the customers or admitting any mistakes in its pricing.
Apple failed to send representatives to yesterday’s meeting with the Consumer Protection Commission to discuss how it plans to answer complaints from consumers regarding the matter.
Later yesterday, commission section chief Wu Cheng-hsueh (吳政學) said they were able to have a discussion with the company’s regional representatives via tele-conferencing.
“Apple said many factors caused the problem, but they were not specific [about the factors were],” Wu said.
The CPC demanded that the company provide a detailed explanation by today of what caused the pricing problem and how is plans to remedy the situation, he said.
The agency also reached an agreement with Apple that the company would not deliver the computers until a satisfactory solution had been provided.
As a result, customers who placed orders for the Mini Mac when the product was priced at NT$19,900 will not be charged NT$47,710, Wu said.
Dell Computer experienced similar problems with incorrect pricing last year, involving about 200,000 online orders.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
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