Should Apple Fire Employees for cashing in their iPhone credit?
If you’re looking for information on the Fire at Apple’s Cupertino Campus you can click here for more info.
Ars Technica reports that they have heard from two independent sources that Apple has handed pink slips to employees who decided it was a good idea to try and cash in their $100 iPhone credit. Now remember all full time employees, and part-time employees that had been working for Apple more than a year received 8 gb iPhones – FOR FREE.
It seems, however, that 800 or so of these employees just couldn’t help themselves, and decided to cash in their $100 iPhone credit as well, resulting in an $80,000 loss for Apple.
Personally, I can understand Apple’s POV. That’s essentially 800 employees who stole from the company after being given a new Apple product with a retail value of AT LEAST $399. Some might argue that Apple should have been clear that the refund didn’t apply to employees who received iPhones…but you know, the employees should have been able to grasp that one themselves.
Obviously, you’re not owed a $100 credit for something you didn’t pay for in the first place. Apple has recently gone through a hiring phase on the retail level, and it’s possible that a number of those 800 Apple retail employees may not have been contacted just yet.
BUT – if you work for Apple, and you decided to cash in this $100 credit – I’d go ahead and polish up the resume, because you’re probably going to be looking for a new job soon.
Comments
krye
October 17th, 2007 at 9:48 am
Yeh, that’s totally stealing. They are totally taking advantage of the situtation. You can’t tell me that anyone with half a brain would think for a second that it would be “OK” to get back $100 on a phone that they were given for free. That’s just downright dishonest.
kwramm
October 17th, 2007 at 10:21 am
ouch. sounds a bit harsh. I guess those guys weren’t the most valuable employees if they get fired right away instead of getting a slap on their fingers and a warning first, and getting the $100 subtracted from their next paycheck of course.
Art Fuller
October 17th, 2007 at 10:42 am
How obvious can this issue be? It is a perfectly good filter to get rid of dishonest/stupid employees. Let them move on over to Best Buy.
Jeff
October 17th, 2007 at 10:54 am
We live in a society with people who don’t pay income taxes (because their income is low) and yet complain when they don’t get a tax cut. People don’t understand that you shouldn’t be getting a cut or refund on something you didn’t pay (or pay for).
VaughnSC
October 17th, 2007 at 11:17 am
As I recall, didnt employees receive a free _4GB_ model?
David Macdonald
October 17th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Bull! It’s not against the law to claim a rebate on something you received for free. If Apple knew what they were doing, they should have barred all those free phones from being able to claim a rebate. If anything the employees who cashed in should be commended for their resourcefulness.
J. Sheppard
October 17th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Well,Mr. McDonald has demonstrated both his ethics and intelligence (or lack thereof). The rebate offer itsself prohibits employees from taking the rebate(ref: Ars Technica article above referenced). Violation of contract was decided by the Marshall court (U.S. Supreme Court circa early 1800s).
In other words this is clearly theft, those without morals and ethics notwithstanding.
Blair
October 17th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I interview Thursday….. So that’s why….
Brendan Clarke
October 17th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Good, I think Apple is better off without thieves on the team.
alexr
October 17th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
AFAICT, the website knows what phone serial numbers were given to employees and refuses to process the refund.
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Leah
November 14th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
I think its funny…thats what Apple gets for ripping customers off in the first place..KARMA