Apple says no to smoke residue
Apple just made the news with its policy for smokers: smoke and your product may not be covered under warranty. Apple makes the Macintosh line of computers as well as the Ipod/Iphone line of media players and phones. Several customers were surprised to learn that their machines were not covered under warranty when Apple technicians discerned that there was evidence of smoke. According to the Apple techs, smoke played a factor in the product failing and therefore was considered the fault of the consumer.
This latest new is very interesting and brings forth a potential can of worms. In past years companies have tightened their warranties to cover fewer possible damages that are not caused by human error. For instance, companies no longer cover damages from viruses or human accident. Previously Apple has denied warranty coverage to anyone with products that had evidence of water or moisture damage. Apparently, smoking is a new way to void one's warranty.
The news story was brought to light by the Consumerist Magazine on Friday. Staffers had been trying to reach Apple headquarters for any comments on this policy. According to Laura Northrop, several consumers had been trying to have their Apple computer products serviced under warranty and received letters denying warranty coverage due to smoke. Some of these cases were ongoing and only recently came to light. Reportedly Apple wrote to the consumers stating that these device had evidence of smoking which were then considered a health hazard for its technicians. Therefore they would not fix the devices. Apple has not responded for comments on the warranty cases.
While secondary smoke is a health hazard, the issue here is the residue of smoke on electronic devices or computers. An interesting article can be found on DustX about the problem. Apparently smoking can harm computers and electronic devices, according to the article. Smoke can be considered as harmful as dust which can clog fans and impact cooling devices. Smoke will apparently leave a layer of residue that harms electronics within a computer system, potentially causing damage in the long run. This begs the question then, why did Apple not just say smoking is a human action that damages computers beyond normal defects or wear and tear?
It will a matter time to see if other manufacturers also claim smoking as voidness of warranty. Some feel that Apple is going to far or has an anti smoking agenda. Others feel that smoking causes too many health problems and that even residue from smoke should be eliminated.
Comments
I hope this doesn't apply to Mac users who smoke whitecloudecigoutlet.com.
I wouldn't be surpried to see this at all. In fact, I'm surprised that this wasn't a standard before. We've known for years that smoking around electronics just creates a large tar caovered dusty matt in the units. I can tell who smokes around their PC's just by looking at all the brown tar covered dust that's glued to everything in there. Yuck!
Doug - same goes for cats or dogs - their fur is everywhere. Does that mean that they should void warranty if you have a cat? Lets stop breathing because it causes moisture...
Ehh.. Heh.. HP has denied repairs based on excessive smoking before(Used to work at Best Buy, GS).. Seen it many times.
Now, HP didn't say they wouldn't repair it, just that it would cost because of the excessive damage done by the smoking. Tends to kill the fan and layer everything causing an insulating effect creating overheating issues or can cause shorts.
As a tech myself, I can completely understand Apples stance on the warranty. Apple is NOT the first to deny a claim based on excessive smoking.. Nor will they be the last.. It's simply a nasty habbit that can effect everything around you.. Imagin if that computer is having issues, think of what the lungs of the smoker and those who live with them looks like.. ick!.. Death on a hoof.
As for the comment on cat hair, as a tech, I can emphatically say, YES.. A computer is like a car, you have to do maintenance and have it CLEANED at least once a year. ESPECIALLY if you have animals. I've seen some NASTY systems!
www.squidoo.com/cigarette-smoke-computer-damage
Just one mid-range example.. It gets worse with extreme chain smokers.
While I have had bad experience with dust and hair, I had not heard of smoke as being a cause of computer hardware failure. It makes sense as smoke does have tar and other chemicals. For me I have the most trouble with cat hair. If anyone has a long hair cat, hairs can really damaged a system or even a printer.
I wonder if Apple is refunding the cost of the Apple Care, since they've now stated that it's not valid if the purchaser is a smoker?
Where do i get rid of my (now a piece of s@*t unit) Hey APPLE, you just f'd yourselves out of a ton of holiday sales SEE YA IN COURT
this is the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard of..that being the case..i won't be buying this product..and merry christmas..and in big BOLD LETTERS state on the package this rule to avoid a smoker buying these products also rather than finding down the road that the warranty is useless.
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