Pointless to buy Apple Care if you are a smoker??!!!

[JohnDoe98]

The responses are hilarious. Tobacco smoke is a carcinogen. Tobacco tar/resign, and it's smell, is not. Tobacco, whether in smoke or residue, is in no way a bio-hazard under any circumstance. I can sympathize with Apple not wanting to work on a filthy computer, but to claim the filth is a bio-hazard, or health problem, strikes me as extremely problematic.

The responsible thing for them is to simply say "go clean the machine and we will work on it."

 

[HighEndMac]

Has the thread starter even commented since his original post....

 

[JohnDoe98]

Has the thread starter even commented since his original post....

He/she posted less than 2 hours ago. Relax, it isn't atypical for posters not to sit by their thread monitoring each and every reply.

 

[Dangerous Theory]

The responsible thing for them is to simply say "go clean the machine and we will work on it."

They did tell her that, and for whatever reason she didn't appear to even bother. It must have been pretty foul if the OP just thought "**** it".

 

[JohnDoe98]

They did tell him that, and for whatever reason he didn't appear to even bother. It must have been pretty foul if the OP just thought "**** it".

But they also said it was a bio-hazard, which is absurd. They should have just said, "dude, your computer is ***** filthy, go clean it man. This is a computer lab/shop, not a pigsty. Your Apple Care doesn't include cleaning services."

 

[Nova Sensei]

Next time you light up, try to think of the corporate executives who are laughing all the way to the bank while you commit slow motion suicide.

It's not too late for you to save yourself a lot of pain (and money).

 

[JohnDoe98]

Never having ever had anyone turn away a computer before of mine, let alone any device, for being a smoker, I was left speechless at what seemed terribly absurd an overreaction to me.

The issue about your Apple Care expiring isn't Apple's problem. It's bad luck the problem happened at the last minute, but all that is irrelevant to your main concern. Additionally, the waiting is also irrelevant. Now, to the issue. Let me ask you this, if you covered your machine in poo, perhaps as a sick joke, and brought it in for repair, would you expect them to service the machine? I would think anyone who wants repair done on their machines should take it upon themselves to make sure the machine is clean, out of respect, for the techs that will have to work on it. This applies no matter whether the filth is smoke, poo, honey, whatever else you may let your imagination conjecture.

Yes, Apple's words were excessive, but they are fundamentally right in asking you to clean the machine first.

 

[Jazwire]

As nasty and disgusting as I personally think smoking is, I would hope the Apple at the minimum refunds him his full purchase price for AppleCare.

I think the Biohazard comment is over the top, but I agree with Apple on not honoring the warranty or even work on it for a fee. I mean its gross, I wouldn't expect them to clean it up if I puked in it or my dog had violent diarrhea on it either. (Though puke and diarrhea are more safe for the human body, than the crap in a cig, but we can leave that for another thread.)

Apple was paid for a warranty, that by definition was unwarrantable in the first place, therefore the AppleCare purchase price should be refunded in full.

 

[SD-B]

/sighs


People are so judgemental!

I am a SHE btw, not a HE! ;-)

My Macbook Pro is as clean as anyone else's is when you look at it.
I had no idea it would be dirty inside.
He showed me the fibbers inside the DVD drive on one of their computers and asked me to compare it to mine but in all honesty there wasn't a big difference. I believe here in North America people tend to overreact.

Now, that said, Europeans don't share the same outlook on smoking that North Americans do.
I highly doubt this would go over well with smokers in Europe or for that matter, countries such as India where again their attitudes are very different.



I WILL do everything i can using all the resources i have in the media here in Toronto to make sure all smokers know NOT to buy apple care warranty as there is no point as a smoker.........

 

[Dangerous Theory]

As nasty and disgusting as I personally think smoking is, I would hope the Apple at the minimum refunds him his full purchase price for AppleCare.

I think the Biohazard comment is over the top, but I agree with Apple on not honoring the warranty.

Apple was paid for a warranty, that by definition was unwarrantable in the first place, therefore the AppleCare purchase price should be refunded in full.

It's one of those things where they can probably just claim "well it's in the small print", but to be fair they never outright rejected her. They just said clean it up and come back and we'll take it from there. Without pictures it's hard to tell, but I think it was fair enough that they didn't want to clean it out or handle it (maybe they're not even allowed to).

 

[Mabyboi]

I cant believe how ignorant and stupid the other post are. He had the Apple Care. They had to take it in either they liked it or not. He paid for the apple care and since the terms and agreement say nothing about smokers then it was very unprofessional of them.

As much as this is true, I myself am a technician, and not a smoker, while I don't care what people do to themselves I do have the right to refuse work.

I am able to refuse to work on a computer or any other device that I find to be: unsafe, unsanitary, or a bio hazard. The problem is when the smoke from a cigarette meets with dust going into the computer it will turn in to a really nasty brown gunk that smells absolutely horrible. Now I would recommend that someone have their computer cleaned, by myself or another company before work can be completed on it, now for my work it's only $10 to dust out a computer (plus I get to break out the wicked bio hazard gear).

In terms of going outside of your warranty, I would recommend speaking to apple care and let them know of the situation and that you are going to get it cleaned but it would take you outside the warranty period and if they could open a window of time after the apple care expires, wether it be a week or two, where you can still bring in your computer for work. Opening up the bottom to clean out dust/smoke won't void the warranty, but be sure to document to the apple care team everything you're doing/planning on doing so there aren't any surprises.

As much as it sucks I can sympathize being on the other side of that counter.

 

[SD-B]

Whats with all these silly comments about would I cover my machine in poo?

My machine looks as good and as clean as anyones!
I AM ALSo a well dressed person that is very clean, sophisticated and in no way do I look as if I would have a computer covered in "poo" as some of you put it.

I personally think many of the comments here are over the top

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

I used to work laptop repair for Gateway/Compaq (man are those things cheaply made) and quite a few units had a smoky smell. I'm not quite sure why they're claiming it's a biohazard. Smoke residue/tar isn't that hazardous to your health. Anyways I've seen weirder things in a laptop, for example, one was basically an anthill.

A quick blast of compressed air after pulling open the covers fixes everything.

A blast of air won't remove smoke and tar residue. That stuff is sticky and coats everything inside the machine. What if the laptop were radioactive, would you feel differently? You're not a doctor, you don't know what effect inhaling smoke residue will have 20 years from now. According to Dr. John McDougall who analyzed the facts surrounding Jobs' death, Jobs contracted pancreatic cancer in his early 20s. He had to have gotten it that long ago for it to have reached the size it did when he died. This was determined using known statistics for the doubling size of pancreatic cancer cells.

Guess what Jobs was doing around that same time? Spending countless hours soldering components in his garage, inhaling lead contamination the whole time.

 

[iBookG4user]

Whats with all these silly comments about would I cover my machine in poo?

My machine looks as good and as clean as anyones!
I AM ALSo a well dressed person that is very clean, sophisticated and in no way do I look as if I would have a computer covered in "poo" as some of you put it.

I personally think many of the comments here are over the top

Outside it may look clean, but the inside of the computer will be very nasty.

 

[SD-B]

As much as this is true, I myself am a technician, and not a smoker, while I don't care what people do to themselves I do have the right to refuse work.

I am able to refuse to work on a computer or any other device that I find to be: unsafe, unsanitary, or a bio hazard. The problem is when the smoke from a cigarette meets with dust going into the computer it will turn in to a really nasty brown gunk that smells absolutely horrible. Now I would recommend that someone have their computer cleaned, by myself or another company before work can be completed on it, now for my work it's only $10 to dust out a computer (plus I get to break out the wicked bio hazard gear).

In terms of going outside of your warranty, I would recommend speaking to apple care and let them know of the situation and that you are going to get it cleaned but it would take you outside the warranty period and if they could open a window of time after the apple care expires, wether it be a week or two, where you can still bring in your computer for work. Opening up the bottom to clean out dust/smoke won't void the warranty, but be sure to document to the apple care team everything you're doing/planning on doing so there aren't any surprises.

As much as it sucks I can sympathize being on the other side of that counter.

Fair enough.
How do i go about cleaning it out?
If it were a desktop fine, I could open it up and use that spray stuff but his is my first laptop and likely my last with apple..........if this is how they handle situations..........but how can i use that spray you speak of?

And/or, how much would it cost to have it cleaned out and how do they do it?

 

[Jazwire]

/sighs


People are so judgemental!

I am a SHE btw, not a HE! ;-)

My Macbook Pro is as clean as anyone else's is when you look at it.
I had no idea it would be dirty inside.
He showed me the fibbers inside the DVD drive on one of their computers and asked me to compare it to mine but in all honesty there wasn't a big difference. I believe here in North America people tend to overreact.

Now, that said, Europeans don't share the same outlook on smoking that North Americans do.
I highly doubt this would go over well with smokers in Europe or for that matter, countries such as India where again their attitudes are very different.



I WILL do everything i can using all the resources i have in the media here in Toronto to make sure all smokers know NOT to buy apple care warranty as there is no point as a smoker.........

I agree with you on the point, smokers should be made aware that AppleCare wont cover them, thats only fair, which is why I think you should be refunded your AppleCare purchase price. It should be disclosed, what common things can void your warranty clearly and not just buried in the tiny fine print.

 

[Dangerous Theory]

Guess what Jobs was doing around that same time? Spending countless hours soldering components in his garage, inhaling lead contamination the whole time.

Being the hippy he was, he smoked plenty of interesting stuff too I believe...

----------

Fair enough.
How do i go about cleaning it out?
If it were a desktop fine, I could open it up and use that spray stuff but his is my first laptop and likely my last with apple..........if this is how they handle situations..........but how can i use that spray you speak of?

And/or, how much would it cost to have it cleaned out and how do they do it?

There are probably loads of YT videos, but you can pop out each key with a little force applied properly as not to snap them, then you'll have plenty of access to the keyboard bed to get scrubbing with a wet wipe or something.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

I'd be going boots and all on this. Open it up and take photos of the fans, etc (it won't be anything as bad as the cheese-cloth nazi aka genius (yeah right) suggested) and release it to the media.

That will certainly void your AppleCare warranty. Doing the above gives Apple an automatic out and you've just undermined your own complaint.

 

[Dangerous Theory]

That will certainly void your AppleCare warranty. Doing the above gives Apple an automatic out and you've just undermined your own complaint.

So replacing the RAM/battery is fine but taking photos is an instant void?

 

[SD-B]

Being the hippy he was, he smoked plenty of interesting stuff too I believe...

I would like to say that I cannot believe someone here has actually determined that Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer because at age 20 he was soldering computer parts.

But I have lived long enough to have seen how judgmental people are and even more so online or in forums such as this one.

I sincerely hope for those of you that worry so much about dying of one disease or another, that you learn to enjoy life and not worry so much about what monsters are out there to get you.

 

[Mabyboi]

Fair enough.
How do i go about cleaning it out?
If it were a desktop fine, I could open it up and use that spray stuff but his is my first laptop and likely my last with apple..........if this is how they handle situations..........but how can i use that spray you speak of?

And/or, how much would it cost to have it cleaned out and how do they do it?

Your best bet is to open the bottom, since it's an older model you can still open it up with a phillips screwdriver and then use a can of compressed air.

OR

You can bring it to a professional who can clean it out, if you need guidance send me a PM, im from your area.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

"Blast of compressed air" is that a biohazard too, which harm our ozone layer. How I love green initiative people.

This simply shows your ignorance, I would stop posting if I were you. What part of "compressed air" don't you understand? The air is compressed, under pressure, in a can. It's that pressure which causes the air to come out of the can when you push the button. There is nothing about compressing air that harms the ozone layer. You apparently can't differentiate between an aerosolized product that uses natural compressed air versus one containing chlorofluorocarbons, which destroy the ozone layer and are no longer used in consumer goods.

What's that old saying... can't fix stupid?

 

[JohnDoe98]

I WILL do everything i can using all the resources i have in the media here in Toronto to make sure all smokers know NOT to buy apple care warranty as there is no point as a smoker.........

Yes, the public's perception of smoking, especially in North America, is overboard and extreme. But your response to this situation is just as extreme and overblown. Rather than use that media leverage as you intend to, why not just let people know, which I would have thought common-sensical, that smoking will result in the insides of computers being disgusting, and that they are well advised to clean the inside of their computers prior to requesting servicing through Apple Care?

Oh but that wouldn't stun anyone. Everyone would be sympathetic with that. So my advise, go buy a screw-driver and clean your machine next time, that or quit smoking.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

The responses are hilarious. Tobacco smoke is a carcinogen. Tobacco tar/resign, and it's smell, is not. Tobacco, whether in smoke or residue, is in no way a bio-hazard under any circumstance. I can sympathize with Apple not wanting to work on a filthy computer, but to claim the filth is a bio-hazard, or health problem, strikes me as extremely problematic.

Someone else who doesn't know what they are talking about. What are the most potent carcinogens in cigarette smoke and where do they come from? Let's see from Wikipedia...

Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons are tar components produced by pyrolysis in smoldering organic matter and emitted into smoke. Many of them are highly carcinogenic and mutagenic...

Acrolein is a pyrolysis product that is abundant in cigarette smoke. It gives smoke an acrid smell and an irritating, lachromatory effect and is a major contributor to its carcinogenity...

Nitrosamines are a group of carcinogenic compounds found in cigarette smoke but not in uncured tobacco leaves.

So it would appear that the major carcinogens are found in tobacco smoke. So if they are found in the smoke, how can they also not be in the residue from that smoke? Do the carcinogens somehow magically disappear when the smoke clears? LOL

 

[JohnDoe98]

Whats with all these silly comments about would I cover my machine in poo?

My machine looks as good and as clean as anyones!
I AM ALSo a well dressed person that is very clean, sophisticated and in no way do I look as if I would have a computer covered in "poo" as some of you put it.

I personally think many of the comments here are over the top

Squeaky clean on the outside, but how do you imagine your lungs look to a surgeon? It's the same with your computer. Appearances can be deceptive. The point is inside it might be really nasty, and Apple might have noticed that the second the enclosure casings came off. Did you see inside your machine? If not, you aren't exactly in a position to claim that your machine is as clean as anyones. The fact that you might be the most beautiful and clean person in the world is irrelevant. We are talking about what you computer looks like on the inside, since it is the inside parts that need servicing correct?