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Magsafe didn't do it's job

M

Mabewd

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hey, what's up, I'm new here, and this is my problem :

I purchased a 15" Macbook pro about a month and a half ago (with AppleCare, of course) and took it with me to visit my two baby cousins over the summer. I noticed that the magsafe charger would sometimes turn off when the cable wasn't at a certain angle, but I didn't think much of it, however just today, my four year old cousin got curious about that big ol' chunk of aluminum with a colourful screen, as he was walking over to me, he tripped on the Magsafe cable and it ripped right out of the aluminum tip thing. The Magsafe didn't pop out of the MBP, and thus, didn't do it's job.


I'm wondering if this would be covered by my applecare, I'm scared they'll call it accidental damage, and refuse to help me, even though it was the magsafe that failed at doing it's job.
 
I'm also stuck in The Netherlands until the end of August, and I don't speak a word of dutch so I can't really negotiate with anyone at an AppleStore.
 
Mabewd said:
I'm also stuck in The Netherlands until the end of August, and I don't speak a word of dutch so I can't really negotiate with anyone at an AppleStore.
Click to expand...

I'd call Apple and ask for an english (or your native languge) speaker, and explain the situation. If they are feeling nice, and you are polite, you might get a replacement. 😀

If that does not work for you, the only other thing I can suggest is bringing someone to translate.
 
AlphaDogg said:
Pics or it didn't happen.
Click to expand...

This is the best I can do, I had to use my webcam. I can't find a camera at the moment, since it's the middle of the night and everyone's sleeping.

photoon20100725at0003.jpg
 
Mabewd said:
This is the best I can do, I had to use my webcam. I can't find a camera at the moment, since it's the middle of the night and everyone's sleeping.

photoon20100725at0003.jpg
Click to expand...

most importantly, there is no damage to your mbp? the charger can be replaced, but not so much for the mbp...
A while back, I tripped on my power cable, but all that happened was that the small tip where it plugs into the wall (the one that is not an extension) broke apart. The genius was reluctant to replace that part, but in the end, they did it 😀. I would recommend buying a new magsafe and then when you get back home, you can try to get the broken magsafe replaced, and if you do get it replaced, you will have two magsafes! 😀
 
I'd be very surprised (and quite upset were it mine) if they didn't replace this under the warranty. Just tell them the truth: The charger had been acting sort of flaky since you bought it, and the cord finally just came out of the plug while it was connected to the laptop.

Not that it matters, because I suspect they'd replace it regardless, but I don't think you need to go into the exact details of what happened. It's not like you're trying to take advantage of them, and explaining exactly what happened will only serve to complicate things unnecessarily. As you said, it's obviously defective because it failed to do its job. You weren't abusing it in any way. In fact, you were using it for the exact purpose for which it is designed and advertised. It's not too hard to imagine a defective strain relief or solder joint caused the part to fail, and there are no normal circumstances under which the cable connection should fail before the magnetic connector pops out of the socket.

It seems that English is fairly widely spoken in the Netherlands, so I bet if you just show up at the Apple store you won't have a problem getting your adapter replaced.
 
Oh, the kid must've gotten tripped up so hard. I hope the kid and your MBP are safe.

As for Apple stores, don't they have multilingual employees? Even in Japan where English is completely useless in daily life, they've got English-Japanese multilingual geniuses to serve both local Japanese people and English speakers.
 
AlphaDogg said:
most importantly, there is no damage to your mbp? the charger can be replaced, but not so much for the mbp...
A while back, I tripped on my power cable, but all that happened was that the small tip where it plugs into the wall (the one that is not an extension) broke apart. The genius was reluctant to replace that part, but in the end, they did it 😀. I would recommend buying a new magsafe and then when you get back home, you can try to get the broken magsafe replaced, and if you do get it replaced, you will have two magsafes! 😀
Click to expand...

It looks like its just soldered in. No glue to secure it. I'm having the same issue with mine (move he wire, light goes off, ad keeps charging).
 
elleana said:
Actually, magsafe did do its job - it prevented your laptop smashing into a million pieces.
Click to expand...

Actually, it didn't.

It's meant to survive the ordeal. The older white ones were great, and disconnected really well, but they stuck out too much, so once again Apple went for form over function, and the new Magsafes don't pull out easily at all.

Indeed, as we saw now, the weakest point in the new connectors is actually in the magsafe (so it breaks), and not between the computer and the magsafe. I don't think the Magsafe breaking in 2 and exposing live wires is classified as "doing the job".
 
Mabewd said:
I'm also stuck in The Netherlands until the end of August, and I don't speak a word of dutch so I can't really negotiate with anyone at an AppleStore.
Click to expand...

I dont think I have ever met anyone in Holland that didn't speak English.

I am certain you wont have a problem with language

Jason
 
JasonHB said:
I dont think I have ever met anyone in Holland that didn't speak English.

I am certain you wont have a problem with language

Jason
Click to expand...

You are right there. As said above even here in japan they have English speakers. The Dutch are great and they will have a load of staff that can speak English.
 
The angle is the real problem with the new magsafe's. My old one with my macbook has saved my computer many times. Just the other day my dog ran into the wire hanging off the table and it just pulled right out.

The new design snags on the inside wall of the port.
 
The fact that your laptop didn't end up on the floor and being smashed is testament to how well the Magsafe worked.
 
AlphaDogg said:
most importantly, there is no damage to your mbp? the charger can be replaced, but not so much for the mbp...
A while back, I tripped on my power cable, but all that happened was that the small tip where it plugs into the wall (the one that is not an extension) broke apart. The genius was reluctant to replace that part, but in the end, they did it 😀. I would recommend buying a new magsafe and then when you get back home, you can try to get the broken magsafe replaced, and if you do get it replaced, you will have two magsafes! 😀
Click to expand...

what makes me really leery about this picture is thinking if the wires shorted how quickly a fire would break out.

since my old white ended magsafe almost burned my house down....im glad to see the issue most likely hasn't been resolved.
 
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