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MagSafe Cable & Board Burnt Pins - Applecare

D

ddd13

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 17, 2010
22
7
Hi, I am facing an issue with my MacBook Pro. As I mentioned in the title,two pins in the MagSafe adapter cable are burnt and as a result the charging is unstable and the cable becomes extremely hot at the very end,I guess it's like a power leak. Moreover the two same sockets seem burnt in the port of the MacBook.Still I don't know if the adapter left a mark or they are also burnt there. Possibly the first,since I tried a different cable and it worked flawlessly.

My issue is that I come from Greece,where there's not an official apple store,only representatives. And their conclusion is that I have to pay for everything (replacement of port+cable) since they consider it an accidental damage and the AppleCare doesn't cover it.

I am really frustrated. How do they consider it accidental? In the same sockets of my house I have also other computer machines,they didn't have any issue over the years. They can't prove something like that. And when we say that cables are covered by AppleCare what do we mean eventually if not sth like this? It's not a problem that should be covered?

I contacted also Apple abroad,and still waiting for their support,I hope they will do sth. Did anybody have any experiences with something like this? If I wasn't under AppleCare I would bother,but it just feels stupid that I spent so much on it.
 

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ddd13 said:
Hi, I am facing an issue with my MacBook Pro. As I mentioned in the title,two pins in the MagSafe adapter cable are burnt and as a result the charging is unstable and the cable becomes extremely hot at the very end,I guess it's like a power leak. Moreover the two same sockets seem burnt in the port of the MacBook.Still I don't know if the adapter left a mark or they are also burnt there. Possibly the first,since I tried a different cable and it worked flawlessly.

My issue is that I come from Greece,where there's not an official apple store,only representatives. And their conclusion is that I have to pay for everything (replacement of port+cable) since they consider it an accidental damage and the AppleCare doesn't cover it.

I am really frustrated. How do they consider it accidental? In the same sockets of my house I have also other computer machines,they didn't have any issue over the years. They can't prove something like that. And when we say that cables are covered by AppleCare what do we mean eventually if not sth like this? It's not a problem that should be covered?

I contacted also Apple abroad,and still waiting for their support,I hope they will do sth. Did anybody have any experiences with something like this? If I wasn't under AppleCare I would bother,but it just feels stupid that I spent so much on it.
Click to expand...

It should be covered by Apple care, contact Apple directly and get them to organise the repair at a local appl e certified technician for you.
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
It should be covered by Apple care, contact Apple directly and get them to organise the repair at a local appl e certified technician for you.
Click to expand...


Thank for your answer. Do you say that with certainty,or heard of a similar case that was covered? Because in Greece they insist on this "accidental damage" that is not covered.

I managed to talk directly to Apple abroad (Canada) and they told me they will move my issue to the engineering department and I will wait for answer. This is normal procedure,right?
 
@Samuelsan2001

The engineering department of Apple said the same thing. Accidental damage,because of liquid or dust or some external factor. The thing is I take extra care of the MacBook and I can't prove it.

I am extremely disappointed. The only time I would need AppleCare,I can't use it,no reason to pay for it ever again. They can say this "accidental damage" about everything if they want,really.

Do I have any chance with an apple advisor? Can he overcome the technician's conclusion?
 
i had this same issue on one of mine... just cleaned it really well with toothbrush, contact cleaner spray and wd40, did not happen again (2+ years)

it does happend due to crud in the contacts, no matter how well you think you take care of things :)

edit: yours seem to have gone too far tough - might need to replace that plug if the pin does not move back out after cleaning.
 
b0fh666 said:
i had this same issue on one of mine... just cleaned it really well with toothbrush, contact cleaner spray and wd40, did not happen again (2+ years)

it does happend due to crud in the contacts, no matter how well you think you take care of things :)

edit: yours seem to have gone too far tough - might need to replace that plug if the pin does not move back out after cleaning.
Click to expand...

The thing is AppleCare doesn't cover this damage,supposedly..
 
It's a MacBook Pro Retina of mid 2012.

You can't believe my disappointment. I wasted money on a useless AppleCare and now I will waste more for sth they should cover me.

I already tried to reach an advisor to overcome the engineering determination but no success . Is that possible or I am trying for nothing you think? Do they have authorization to overlook the outcome of engineers for at least a partial refund?
 
ddd13 said:
It's a MacBook Pro Retina of mid 2012.

You can't believe my disappointment. I wasted money on a useless AppleCare and now I will waste more for sth they should cover me.

I already tried to reach an advisor to overcome the engineering determination but no success . Is that possible or I am trying for nothing you think? Do they have authorization to overlook the outcome of engineers for at least a partial refund?
Click to expand...

Don't give up. It's a poor design if it can't withstand a little dust from normal everyday use. Let them know that. I had the same problem with a late 2011 model and they have replaced three of my power adapters out of warranty. "We will replace it at no cost, just this one time". I had to replace the input board for the power connector also last time, but I did that myself.
 
Finally! After talking with many representatives,one of them issued me a refund of the MagSafe adapter. I still don't understand how some can be lenient and some very rude,since they follow the same guidelines,but anyway..

@frank33v thank you for your support. I have a question for you. The local technician said it's better to also change the mag port,because he doesn't want to take the risk (not that he found a problem). Apple engineers said that they don't feel it's necessary unless the technician found a problem. The thing is if I follow the technician advice, I can't get refund for this also. I tried a different adapter myself and it worked flawlessly,so I think the MagSafe port is ok and the marks in the photos were caused by the adapter. Do you think it will be risk not to change it? You changed yours because it stopped working or because you saw marks like that?
 
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b0fh666 said:
at least clean the port man. leaving it like that is asking for the problem to reoccur.
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Of course.

My question was if that marks are just marks and nothin more. I guess since another adapter works perfectly,there are only that and I shouldn't worry.
 
I still can't believe that the representatives didn't do this without hacing to call out to Apple abroad! It's absurd, they should be fired... Anyway, I hope Greece gets Apple Store one day because you also have the right to good Apple service as we do in Sweden (we recently got 3 Apple Store's and it's top notch)
 
ddd13 said:
Of course.

My question was if that marks are just marks and nothin more.
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Can't tell that sort of thing from a picture. To be safe, you should replace the DC-in board. They're really cheap, and really easy to replace.

I would go with the technician that said they'd replace the DC-in as well. Just because a new adapter "works perfectly", that doesn't mean that the other adapter was the root cause of the problem.

Most common cause of stuff like that happening is lint. Lint can have metallic particles in it. Just one example: "dust" from lead pencil shavings mixed in with other lint. Such things are really attractive to MagSafe ports (pun intended.) Backpacks are a good example of a place that can accumulate such things over the course of several years. That's why I always try to remember to put my MacBook Pro in a backpack with the MagSafe port side close to the top of the bag (there is a method to my madness.)
 
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@duervo Thank you for your detailed answer. I already decided to also replace the MagSafe port. However I am still dissapointed it is considered accidental damage and AppleCare doesn't cover it. I don't want to mess with the machine myself and I will have to pay a lot also for technician's labour.. As you said MacBook attracts such thing and they SHOULD cover it. Because I payed almost 2.500 euros for the machine I take care of it unbelievably well,when I put it in backpack I don't have it naked,I use an extra case for it. Anyway,what I want to say is I didn't cause this,it just happened because the machine attracts this problem and I think it should be covered. Imagine if my motherboard also was burnt because of this..what would I do?

@Simche You are right,but since there is not an official apple store,I expected this. There are many cases like these in Greece,but we don't have the ability to complain somewhere. Maybe Apple doesn't invest here because there is not the fan base they want. What they should know is that many people don't buy apple products because of the after-sales support... And PS: I made the calls abroad,not Apple.. And I had to spent 3-4 hours till I find an easygoing representative who seemed to understand.
 
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@Simche You are right,but since there is not an official apple store,I expected this. There are many cases like these in Greece,but we don't have the ability to complain somewhere. Maybe Apple doesn't invest here because there is not the fan base they want. What they should know is that many people don't buy apple products because of the after-sales support... And PS: I made the calls abroad,not Apple.. And I had to spent 3-4 hours till I find an easygoing representative who seemed to understand.[/QUOTE]

OK, I understand. At least it worked out someway, I do think that Greece has bigger Apple user-base compared to Sweden? Maybe Sweden has biggets fan-base in whole Scandinavia and our closest place to an official Apple Store was Netherlands/Germany. You have at least neighbouring countries to visit while we (in the past) must've traveled abroad or call the official Apple Support line (which most didn't because this country is heavily based of carriers).
 
ddd13 said:
Finally! After talking with many representatives,one of them issued me a refund of the MagSafe adapter. I still don't understand how some can be lenient and some very rude,since they follow the same guidelines,but anyway..

@frank33v thank you for your support. I have a question for you. The local technician said it's better to also change the mag port,because he doesn't want to take the risk (not that he found a problem). Apple engineers said that they don't feel it's necessary unless the technician found a problem. The thing is if I follow the technician advice, I can't get refund for this also. I tried a different adapter myself and it worked flawlessly,so I think the MagSafe port is ok and the marks in the photos were caused by the adapter. Do you think it will be risk not to change it? You changed yours because it stopped working or because you saw marks like that?
Click to expand...

I changed the mag port because it had become very intermittent. Apple had already given me a number of power bricks and I didn't think they would give me another. Since replacing it my last power brick is still going strong...much longer than the past two. Although I do have black/burn marks on one of the pins again on the DC-in mag port....such a bad design.
 
Highly frustrated with MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015). Apple costs so much for laptop but their charger can not withstand for more than 6 months. I along with my office friends (almost everyone 15-20 ppl, who is using this pin based charger are facing same charger burning issue) We try to keep charging area clean and avoid over-charging but still it burns out. Apple plz take it into serious consideration as we pay so much for laptop and expect better product.
Is it design failure?
or Is it because I run Android Studio whose load cannot be taken by macbook (core i7)?
 
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