That was my first thought too!! And as an EX smoker, I too hate people that smoke now, in fact I find it more repulsive and disgusting then ever. I'm glad a quit, a few years ago now, and glad it's banned from pubs, restaurants and clubs.
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Smoking voids your AppleCare warranty?
- Thread starter Bafflefish
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That was my first thought too!! And as an EX smoker, I too hate people that smoke now, in fact I find it more repulsive and disgusting then ever. I'm glad a quit, a few years ago now, and glad it's banned from pubs, restaurants and clubs.
I don't smoke. And everybody knows smoke is bad for electricals, it's physicals. Nothing much to do for this...
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I don't like smoke or smokers, but Apple should honour the warranty. Smoking is legal, and smoke doesn't ruin electronics, or at least not with any level of severity.
What's next? Is Apple not going to honour the warranty if you love in a hot climate? Heat is bad for electronics, after all.
I don't like smoke or smokers, but Apple should honour the warranty. Smoking is legal, and smoke doesn't ruin electronics, or at least not with any level of severity.
What's next? Is Apple not going to honour the warranty if you love in a hot climate? Heat is bad for electronics, after all.
I agree: a buildup of cigarette smoke that is disturbed will rise up in a big cloud (cleaned my dad's ashtray a couple times- I don't smoke myself) and it seems that inhaling this smoke is inevitable when you disturb it. Sounds a lot like secondhand smoke that has been fermenting inside a nice, hot environment for a few years. Ick.
I am an ex smoker and a certified technician as well (not apple ) and I can tell you this is not correct. Smoke particles are big enough to damage hard drives and fan bearings and the tar from smoking can stick to everything causing the machine to overheat. As I said, I used to smoke but my machine stayed clean as I kept the room well ventilated when I did smoke. That being said, I have opened machines that looked like they were trapped in a box with thousands of lit cigarettes. It was sticky and nasty.... Those machines should have had their warranty voided and in several cases I refused to work on them as it was just too nasty.
I see a lot of people compare it to dust. Well, with dust you can at least blow out the machine and it is good as new. Tar is another matter all together. It won't come off easily if at all.
Should the warranty be voided? Well, that all depends on what the issue and severity of contamination I guess. As for the bio-hazzard and OSHA remarks that folks claimed were made by Apple, it is only one side of the story so I take that with a grain of salt. If the box was coated with tar, then I am on Apple's side. If the box had a slight smell to it, then it should have been repaired I think
Umm... I have no idea what you are talking about when you say "tar," but I can assure you that tar from smoking is what builds up inside the smoker's lungs. What everyone else is talking about: the smoke particles that are exhaled by the smoker and gets sucked into the computer. These are like especially thick and heavy dust particles, and they do stick to moving components. The difference from cigarette smoke and normal dust is: normal dust has a fluffy, uniform gray color. Cigarette smoke, however, has a packed, dense, and heavy texture to it. This means that the largest threat posed by cigarette smoke to computers is the fouling of moving parts, such as the ball bearings in the fans and the fans themselves. The hard drive and other component are sealed off from the fan area for this exact purpose.
Yep, the problem Apple has is that they do not specifically mention tobacco smoke in either the standard warranty or Applecare.
They do have language vague enough that it could be used to justify warranty refusal if I:
1. live in a home heated with wood
2. live in Texas (and their repair techs suffer from "cedar fever")
3. live in a home with plaster instead of wallboard (dustier)
I'm skeptical Apple's justification would survive even small claims court in my tobacco-friendly state.
Also keep in mind that extended warranties like Applecare are really insurance products usually heavily regulated by your state (for those in the U.S.)
Ultimately each individual state gets to decide if Apple's interpretation on tobacco smoke is valid (at least if Apple wants to keep selling their extremely lucrative Applecare there)
Notice in all the news stories here and elsewhere Apple itself makes NO official comment, as Apple understands they'll need to evaluate (and litigate) on a case-by-case basis.
They do have language vague enough that it could be used to justify warranty refusal if I:
1. live in a home heated with wood
2. live in Texas (and their repair techs suffer from "cedar fever")
3. live in a home with plaster instead of wallboard (dustier)
I'm skeptical Apple's justification would survive even small claims court in my tobacco-friendly state.
Also keep in mind that extended warranties like Applecare are really insurance products usually heavily regulated by your state (for those in the U.S.)
Ultimately each individual state gets to decide if Apple's interpretation on tobacco smoke is valid (at least if Apple wants to keep selling their extremely lucrative Applecare there)
Notice in all the news stories here and elsewhere Apple itself makes NO official comment, as Apple understands they'll need to evaluate (and litigate) on a case-by-case basis.
I support Apple on this one, as I have encountered the "cancer mac" as described here.
http://ungeni.us/section/the_bar/getting_good_service
This is what they mean by biohazard. The amount of crap in the smoke is enough to cause this.
If that crap gets inside, it certainly can clog up fans and fan bearings. Result, one overheated Mac.
And no, I'm not a genius. I used to work in a second hand store. The scrubbing we had to do to a cancer mac (or cancer PC for that matter) to make it saleable wasn't funny.
http://ungeni.us/section/the_bar/getting_good_service
This is what they mean by biohazard. The amount of crap in the smoke is enough to cause this.
If that crap gets inside, it certainly can clog up fans and fan bearings. Result, one overheated Mac.
And no, I'm not a genius. I used to work in a second hand store. The scrubbing we had to do to a cancer mac (or cancer PC for that matter) to make it saleable wasn't funny.
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I don't like smoke or smokers, but Apple should honour the warranty. Smoking is legal, and smoke doesn't ruin electronics, or at least not with any level of severity.
What's next? Is Apple not going to honour the warranty if you love in a hot climate? Heat is bad for electronics, after all.
Yes, and if you live near the beach, because of the salt air you're especially screwed. Maybe they should void warranties if you ever take your laptop out of the house too
Not true... Not all of it will stay in the lungs, much like oxygen.
If you inhale on a cigarette and then exhale through a tissue, you will see a yellow substance. This is tar. It is a mixture of nicotine and other nasty chemicals. The general term for it is called tar.
I don't like smokers much either. Sorry, smokers
What have people who smoke ever done to you?
I smoke. And I respect the law and how other people feel about it, and so do the majority of smokers out there.
Apple do right, why anyone would want to clean up my dirty exhaled smoke is beyond my imagination. Its a good job a rarely smoke while on my mac and that I dont pay for apple care.
I'm an ex-smoker and will be the first to say that's total B.S. Smokers make things very unpleasant for non-smokers and most don't respect non-smokers. If they did they wouldn't smoke at building entrances or inside restaurants and bars. There are quite a number of places my wife and I can't go to because the smoke is unbearable.
I've also come home numerous times with burn holes in my clothes because some asswipe had to smoke in a crowd, burning everyone they brushed up against.
That stereotype you have in your head is the minority. Or at least it is where I come from (UK). I ask people around me if I'm ok to smoke next to them when in an outdoor public area. And if not, I find somewhere else. I don't smoke in an indoor public place because it is against the law.
You shouldn't judge a whole basket, because of one bad apple.
Who said anything about one person? Don't assume the majority are like you. They are not. Smokers are mostly oblivious to the fact of how unpleasant their stink is to non-smokers (and yes, if you smoke, you stink).
I spent a couple of years back working for a computer support company and saw some pretty badly smoke damaged computers. Things such as hard drives are particularly susceptible to smoke. A little smoke won't do much, true. However, 20 cigarettes a day in a small home office room can cause some serious damage. It doesn't help that when a computer user is smoking, they exhale *towards* the computer. It doesn't help either if that computer's a Mac that sits on top of the desktop.
Hard drives and fans are the most susceptible to smoke damage, in my experience. However, fan failure can, of course, also lead to overheating of other parts and cause indirect failure. This is especially true in a laptop where the fans are even more vital.
I never saw any smokers' laptops but I did see a fair few desktops with failed fans and hard drives. The fan failures in desktops meant that smokers tended to buy newer computers more frequently because of "it keeps crashing" style complaints (this was a tech support company so not warranty related) and the hard drive failures cost the users cash for new drives and cash for setting up their computers again. In fact, thinking about it, the company probably lost a fair bit of yearly revenue when the ban of smoking in workplaces came into effect a few years ago!
As far as smokers go, what bugs me the most is that they are oblivious to the damage that smoke can do. Oblivious to the damage to their health, the health of others, their hygiene, their youthfulness, their furniture, their houses resale values, their electronics. They're oblivious to all those yet get angry when any non smoker even suggests the damage's existence. "I don't smell", "smoking didn't make this laptop overheat", "my house isn't worth less, it doesn't stink at all".
Hard drives and fans are the most susceptible to smoke damage, in my experience. However, fan failure can, of course, also lead to overheating of other parts and cause indirect failure. This is especially true in a laptop where the fans are even more vital.
I never saw any smokers' laptops but I did see a fair few desktops with failed fans and hard drives. The fan failures in desktops meant that smokers tended to buy newer computers more frequently because of "it keeps crashing" style complaints (this was a tech support company so not warranty related) and the hard drive failures cost the users cash for new drives and cash for setting up their computers again. In fact, thinking about it, the company probably lost a fair bit of yearly revenue when the ban of smoking in workplaces came into effect a few years ago!
As far as smokers go, what bugs me the most is that they are oblivious to the damage that smoke can do. Oblivious to the damage to their health, the health of others, their hygiene, their youthfulness, their furniture, their houses resale values, their electronics. They're oblivious to all those yet get angry when any non smoker even suggests the damage's existence. "I don't smell", "smoking didn't make this laptop overheat", "my house isn't worth less, it doesn't stink at all".