Advice needed: Denied Magsafe replacement

[migsev]

call customer relations, ask for them when talking to a apple care rep on the phone.

they would have replaced this all ready, they do not screw around with serious stuff like this.

just call and say...this thing blew up...smoke black marks.

enough said.

My service provider took pictures of it and sent it to Engineering. Engineering said the adapter looks to have been accidentally damaged, possibly by water or a surge. The pictures my service center took are the ones I added to the first post. I think they're assuming a surge based on the melting on the plug of the extension cord.

Customer relations was closed when I spoke with tech support so I'm calling again tomorrow.

Pretty pissed already at this point. Non stop issues since October. Its my 4th service request in 4 months.

 

[miles01110]

I rang Apple again and I was told to call back when Customer Service is open. Looks like I've been escalated one level already. The problem with the Philippines is that there are no official Apple stores and therefore no Geniuses either. I have to make a request to my ASP, who then forwards the request to Apple Singapore. Nobody is authorized to perform on-the-spot replacements and everything has to pass through Singapore.

Yeah, the logistical chain is somewhat longer in certain areas of the world like yours, unfortunately. Having dealt with Applecare on three continents, if you are polite and steadfast in what you want (as long as its a reasonable request- such as replacing a magsafe that blew up) you will always get what you want.

 

[rwd hero]

I just got mine replaced, the "genius" tried to tell me it wouldn't be covered under warranty. I was as nice as I could be, and tried to work with him. I guess I lucked out.

 

[m85476585]

It is possible that a small power surge could damage just sensitive electronics like the magsafe ad not affect the air conditioner or the lamp. Some electronics are more sensitive than others, and maybe the iPod charger is not sensitive enough to be damaged.

If it happened when you plugged it in then it's probably not a power surge.

The tip of the plug looks really bad, like the socket was making bad contact and causing arcing other than immediately when you plug it in. I don't know if that could cause the damage you are seeing in the magsafe itself, though.

 

[Jaro65]

I had a power surge on my old (non-Apple) laptop some time ago, and the receptacle looked just like yours. In my case, there was also a black smoke coming out of my machine, which was actually pretty stunning. Amazingly enough, the machine was still covered under Asus' 1-year total warranty and they fixed it all up. I wonder if our Magsafe power adapters have a surge protector built it. If they wouldn't, your laptop would be smoked too.

 

[m85476585]

Here's a theory:
The melting on the plug could be caused if something inside the charger failed shorted. When you plugged it in, the short caused the magsafe to draw lots of current, melting the tip of the plug. The extra current melted whatever was shorted, releasing black smoke.

 

[migsev]

So after numerous calls to both the APP hotline and my service provider, they finally set me up with both a replacement Magsafe and extension cord. There was a bit of confusion as the extension wasn't cleared along with the power adapter so I had to call them back.

The CR rep I spoke to admitted that it was highly unlikely that I plugged the adapter in right as a surge was happening, and that no other items were damaged if there was a surge. And if it was a surge, chances are that my computer would be damaged too.

Nice to finally sort it out though. Parts should come by Wednesday/Thursday this week.

 

[polotska]

It's too bad they made it so difficult, but I'm glad they replaced it for you in the end.

 

[Signal-11]

So after numerous calls to both the APP hotline and my service provider, they finally set me up with both a replacement Magsafe and extension cord. There was a bit of confusion as the extension wasn't cleared along with the power adapter so I had to call them back.

The CR rep I spoke to admitted that it was highly unlikely that I plugged the adapter in right as a surge was happening, and that no other items were damaged if there was a surge. And if it was a surge, chances are that my computer would be damaged too.

Nice to finally sort it out though. Parts should come by Wednesday/Thursday this week.

Was your computer plugged into the power supply when you plugged the power supply into the outlet?

I've seen this happen several times, in several places in the world. Once, directly in front of me. It almost always has to do the electricity supply.

Anyway, this is why you should always plug your power supply into the outlet before plugging your computer into the supply.

 

[Porco]

Maybe look into getting a surge-protected plug extension for it just to be on the safe side? They don't cost much these days.

 

[maflynn]

Good hear that you got it resolved and apple provided a replacement