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Christmas Diaster

A

amity

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 26, 2007
2
0
On Christmas day, my over zealous three year old cousin managed to spill about 1/4 cup of hot coffee all over my dining room table. Unfortunately, my new and presitine white macbook fell victim to about a tablespoon of coffee. The ports on the left side took the hardest hit and within one minute the macbook shut off.

I have let it dry for about 24 hours. The battery works, the macbook turns on fine and the screen flickers once and then that is it.

What are my options? I literally bought it about one month ago and being a broke student. I have yet to get the cash to by the extended warranty.

HELP! I want my baby back!
 
Apple's warranty doesn't usually cover that type of damage, but if you bought it with a credit card they will often have some kind of warranty.
 
also check with your homeowners insurance they might replace it but you might have to pay a deductible or ask you aunt and uncle to pay for a replacement since their kid was at fault
 
MicBook said:
also check with your homeowners insurance they might replace it but you might have to pay a deductible or ask you aunt and uncle to pay for a replacement since their kid was at fault
Click to expand...

It's not worth it to claim something as small as one laptop repair on your home owners insurance. Yeah insurance is suppose to cover it, but every time they pay out, they put you at a higher risk level, and charge you more, and might deny future coverage.
 
If you paid via credit card - check and see if that card offered extended protection. Otherwise, your best bet is to clean the ports with alcohol on a Q-Tip (to try to get any remnants of the coffee out), clean the casing thoroughly and then take it to an Apple Store or the place you bought it and plead ignorance to the whole thing (DO NOT TELL THEM IT CAME INTO CONTACT WITH LIQUID!!!). If you talk to the right person in the right way, you might even manage to get an exchange. Worst case - it gets sent off to the service center - if the SC discovers that the problem was caused by spilled liquid, you can assess the repair cost and see if it is worth paying.

Also hit up the parents of the little perp. Family, schamily, if one of my cousin's kids spilled stuff on one of my electronics -- said cousin would be paying at minimum half of the repair/replacement fee.

But then, my family is full of lawyers.
 
filmgirl said:
Also hit up the parents of the little perp. Family, schamily, if one of my cousin's kids spilled stuff on one of my electronics -- said cousin would be paying at minimum half of the repair/replacement fee.

But then, my family is full of lawyers.
Click to expand...

The child was three!
 
accident yes, but its still a laptop, and being a student, (s)he'll have plenty of important work to be doing on it!!! :)
just explain that you shouldnt have to pay full repair cost, im sure the childs parents will help out a bit
 
As others have mentioned, Apple Care is going to be a tough cookie, if they find out that there was a spill on the computer.

Best bet- look for renters/homeowners insurance that may cover the cost.
 
Tell that little bugger to pay for a new one! Haha, kidding. Hopefully it'll dry out by another day or so, if not I really don't know what your options would be :(

Sorry man, if my MacBook, or any computer for that matter, died like that (also being a broke student) I'd be so upset..
 
chaos86 said:
yeah lie to apple. jesus would love that.
Click to expand...

Not everyone worships Apple, you know. To a lot of folks, they're just another soulless corporation making useless products with underpaid laborers. None of us are four year olds, and silly guilt-tripping attempts aren't going to fly here.

To the OP, are the parents of the child aware of the damage s/he caused to the laptop? If they know, they might offer to pay the costs without any pressure from you. Besides that, let your parents know, so you'll have their help as well.
 
heatmiser said:
To the OP, are the parents of the child aware of the damage s/he caused to the laptop? If they know, they might offer to pay the costs without any pressure from you. Besides that, let your parents know, so you'll have their help as well.
Click to expand...

Perhaps the OP should not have left a new laptop on a dining room table with a young child in the house? You should have powered your laptop down right away. You should have left it off for more than 24 hours. 48 hours minimum. The blame (and therefore the costs) should be shared.
 
flopticalcube said:
Perhaps the OP should not have left a new laptop on a dining room table with a young child in the house? You should have powered your laptop down right away. You should have left it off for more than 24 hours. 48 hours minimum. The blame (and therefore the costs) should be shared.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree. My point, though, is that if they don't know, they sure as hell aren't going to offer to split the costs, nevermind to pay in full. There's no point in complaining online if A.) he hasn't told his parents, and B.) he hasn't told his relatives. We can't do anything for him; this is a family issue.
 
Don't listen to the flamers, clean it out as best you can, take it in and plead incessantly for them to do something.
If they mention liquid at any stage deny it, good luck.
 
Deduct the cost from the kid's future allowance. And steal his toys.
 
Why was it on the dining room table you ask? Well, I was showing my family photos of my Grandmother's 80th Birthday saved in my iphoto. I am very paranoid about my macbook; it normally stays in my $60 neoprene casing but when granny wants to see photos.... granny will get to see photos.

There is some hope. The screen now stays on to load up the desktop before going to dead so it is making some progress. I love jesus and all, but I am not about to tell Apple to gritty details of my macbook's demise! Not right away anyway!

Thanks for all of your suggestions!

PS: All family members are well aware that the macbook is damaged. They kind of figured so much when I started crying in my bathroom while trying to clean it out with q-tips (I am an 18 year old female if that makes it sound anymore reasonable). They have offered to pay the costs.
 
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