Apple's iPhone 4 customer service attracts lawsuits

The Californian computer giant apologised at the end of last week saying that the issue was not caused by the antenna as many customers had originally thought but by a faulty software algorithm that caused the device to exaggerate the power of the network signal.

In an open letter to customers last Friday, the firm said it was “astonished to find out that the formula used to calculate the power of the signal is ‘totally wrong’ and that the error has occurred since the first iPhone 4”. Apple added that it planned to release a fix over the coming weeks using a formula recommended by AT&T, the device’s exclusive US distributor.

The apology came only a day after Apple branded an unflattering apparent email conversation between chief executive Steve Jobs and a customer over the issue a fake. Gadget rumour site Boy Genius Report had published the message, in which Jobs allegedly told the customer: “You are getting all worked up over a few days of rumour. Calm down.”

But the vendor – and AT&T - is now facing at least four separate class action law suits, which accuse it of negligence and intentional misrepresentation by knowingly selling faulty products, according to The Hindu.

One of the law firms involved, Kershaw, Cutter and Ratinoff, told the newspaper that more than 1,500 iPhone 4 users had contacted it since it first started an inquiry to investigate the issue on 28 June. The lawyers have since filed an official complaint in the Northern District of California, claiming that customers were not given a fair level of customer support.