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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Smoke? Apple Won't Honor Your Warranty

Smoke? Apple Won't Honor Your Warranty

If you're a Mac owner and you're thinking about taking your computer in to have some repair work done, you better think twice is you're a smoker. If recent incidents are any indications, smoking isn't just hazardous to your health, it's also hazardous to your Apple warranty.

Recently, a few Apple customers in different parts of the country were told the company wouldn't provide repair service on their Macs due to the fact that the computers had been exposed to cigarette smoke. Residue found inside the computer was called a biohazard and health risk. In both cases, both customers still had plenty of time left on their official warranties.

Though they didn't make a formal statement, Apple says its stands by the decision and they say their repair centers have the authority to make their own decisions. They even cited OSHA rules which include the dangers of being exposed to nicotine. However, Consumerist.com points out that several computer materials are also on the hazardous materials list, including sucrose, calcium carbonate and talc.

While the policy is certainly understandable, Apple's warranty information says absolutely nothing about cigarette smoke and this seems slightly unfair to customers who assume they will be able to get service on their expensive computers. And as Yahoo.com points out, how much smoke exposure is too much? "If a technician doesn't like cigarette smoke and your computer smells a bit smoky, it probably won't get serviced," the website's Tech department points out and they are probably right.

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