Now just to clarify right off the top – there is no official word out about whether or not Apple is voiding the warranties of computers owned by smokers but if the news as being reported by the Technically Incorrect even approaches fact then Apple has definitely crossed a line.
Chris Matyszczyk tells of two separate people who have taken their machines in to an apple store in the case of Derek in Des Moines and an authorized Apple repair center in the case of Ruth. In both instances they were informed by staff that there would be no work done on the machines because they had come from homes where some-one was smoking and this voided the computer’s warranty.
One, named Derek, recounts the tale of his overheating black MacBook. He took it into the Apple store in Jordan Creek, West Des Moines.
He told The Consumerist: “Today, April, 28, 2008, 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 secondhand smoke’.”
[…]
Then along came Ruth, who took her son’s iMac to an authorized repair center. After five days, they apparently told her they couldn’t work on it because it was contaminated with cigarette smoke and was therefore a bio-hazard.
When Ruth appealed to Jobs’ office, she said she was told by someone named Dena that nicotine was on OSHA’s list of hazardous substances.
Now given that Ruth actually got someone in Apple itself to say this and confirm that the warranty was indeed void shows that even if the practice isn’t an official policy it sure seems to be a condoned one.
If this is indeed the case then I’m sorry but Apple is putting its nose in where it doesn’t belong and this is flat out wrong.
[image courtesy of anythingbutipod.com ]
