Smoking Near Apple Computers Voids Warranty

This is the first time I have ever heard of something like this. Residue from secondhand smoke in your Apple computer voids your warranty?

The Apple store called and informed me that due to the computer having been used in a house where there was smoking, that has voided the warranty and they refuse to work on the machine, due to "health risks of second hand smoke".

You are joking right? ............right?

That's the most BS thing I've ever heard.

Get a bunch of people together that've been told this horrible excuse and start a class-action. I'd love to see it.

Thats funny as hell.

second hand smoke residue is now dangerous?

God this is funny...

While this is pretty stupid, I feel no pity toward smokers.

Perfectly reasonable. The effects of that nasty buildup on the components would be enough to void a warranty >.>

Originally Posted by jbailey

While this is pretty stupid, I feel no pity toward smokers.

And your pity or non-pity on this matter has what to do with the illegitimate voiding of warranties by a computer giant?

Originally Posted by seithon

Perfectly reasonable. The effects of that nasty buildup on the components would be enough to void a warranty >.>

what about exceptionally dusty houses? if your house is really dusty should your warranty be void?

Originally Posted by falconman

second hand smoke residue is now dangerous?

Only in the State of California

She said the hard drive is about to fail

Why would the hard drive be about to fail? Aren't hard drives sealed?

One of my laptops is clogged full of bird dust. I wonder if thats a hazard too

Call it how you see it, but this is the number 1 reason I don't smoke indoors. It's my choice. I've seen the effects on customers computers, their fans mostly. I see nothing wrong with a manufacturer considering smoking/tar buildup neglect and voiding the warranty.

Is it really such a stretch to consider it fair?

Originally Posted by Steve Jobs

Quit Smoking. Not that big of a deal.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

lol

Originally Posted by falconman

second hand smoke residue is now dangerous?

Actually yes. I forget where I read this...

Originally Posted by falconman

what about exceptionally dusty houses? if your house is really dusty should your warranty be void?

Dust can be easily vacuumed out, but I would surmise to say that yes, a really bad level of dust contamination could possibly void a warranty as well. Lucky for you this can be easily cleaned out, preventing overheating, or cleaned out before sending something in for repair.

Smoke residue, especially as thick and gross as I know is possible since I;ve seen it myself, is a nasty coating on everything. Your PC is air cooled. With Fans. The Fans are sucking this stuff thru the machine and past all the components. It really can do harm to the pc if someone was a really heavy smoker. DVD rom drive lenses for example. Also, the sticky tar coating from smoke attracts even greater amount of dust than a clean component...

If you are a smoker, water cool your stuff. And be prepared to pay to replace your own dvd drives when they fail.

Next they will void your warranty if you sneeze on your computer for risk of Bird Flu contamination.

I've worked on a couple of machines where the residue (tar) had gummed up and subsequently killed fans.
The tar combined with dust made for a very f'd up working environment inside that thing. Not to mention it stunk my whole house. up when I turned it on.

Not sure how secondhand smoke could be called in this story. I could see the warranty issue being valid if the residue was too much.

After working on several macbooks and iMacs that are in houses with smokers, I agree with apple on this claim. Some of that smoke/tar residue is disgusting and makes me gag. I can see it being a health concern for techs. The macbooks that came in from people with sweaty hands were bad as well.

Originally Posted by seithon

Perfectly reasonable. The effects of that nasty buildup on the components would be enough to void a warranty >.>

Perfectly unreasonable. As the article states:

no where in your applecare terms of service can I find anything mentioning being used in a smoking environment as voiding the warranty.

Let's see Apple come out in public and state on the record that use of an Apple computer in a smoking environment voids the warranty.