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I will be making my voice known - and, for the record, I'm a reformed smoker of 30 years. Nonetheless, smoking is legal and in Virginia is big business. That makes this a case of discrimination, which is illegal in every state.
Dear Mr. Jobs,
Thank you for your office's prompt response to my recent email message regarding my son's 24 - inch iMac purchased on October 29, 2007 along with an Apple Care Warranty good through October 29, 2010.
I must say that I remain confused, despite Dena's attempt to explain this to me. I took the iMac to your "Genius Bar" originally because the optical drive would not eject. I was told that the "genius" refused to work on the computer due to the cigarette smoke creating a "bio-hazard." Confused, I called back on 7/30/09 and spoke with Joel at Apple Care who advised me that the notes state the following:
• Damage was determined to be beyond economical repair;
• Hard drive failure
• Damage due to smoke damage - not covered under warranty;
• Heavy smoker can cause heavy tar build-up inside of computer;
• I can take the computer to an Apple Authorized Service provider at my own expense
Further, Joel stated that exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke residue poses a health risk to your repair genius, He did say, however, that the manager of the MacArthur store in Norfolk, Brian, had agreed to take another look at computer with a fresh set of eyes. In the interim, I sent you the original email outlining my concerns to which Dena responded. Dena did advise me that nicotine is on OSHA's list of hazardous substances and Apple would not require an employee to repair anything deemed hazardous to their health. However, OSHA also lists calcium carbonate (found in calcium tablets), isopropyl alcohol (used to clean wounds), chlorine (used in swimming pools), hydrogen peroxide (also used to clean wounds), sucrose (a sugar), talc (as in powder), etc... as hazardous substances.
In an effort to gain a better understanding of what I was being told, I consulted my eldest son, a Systems Engineer, who ran a SMART test on the hard drive. The hard drive passed the SMART diagnostic test. In addition, my son, Carter, for whom the computer was purchased was using the computer daily.
Dena set up an appointment at the same Apple store. They told me that they would take pictures of the computer - both inside and out before determining whether to proceed and that if the only problem was the optical drive, they'd probably just replace it. Dena called me earlier this week to deliver the "bad news." She said that the computer is beyond economical repair due to tar from cigarette smoke! She said the hard drive is about to fail, the optical drive has failed and it isn't feasible to repair the computer under the warranty. This computer is less than 2 years old! Only one person in my household smokes - one 21 year old college student. She said that I can get it repaired elsewhere at my expense. I asked why my warranty didn't cover the repair and was told it's an OSHA violation. The following questions remain unanswered:
1. Why the hard drive passed the SMART diagnostic test administered by my son less than two weeks before your Apple Genius stated the hard drive is about to fail;
2. Why I was not told, prior to being sold the warranty, that cigarette smoke would void the warranty;
3. Why i was not advised that Apple could refuse to fix the one item (optical drive eject mechanism) that doesn't work;
My warranty does not mention coverage being void for cigarette smokers. It does not list cigarette smoke as an exclusionary clause. I was not informed that it would be void if a smoker owned it.
It seems to me that Apple is discriminating against cigarette smokers. I'm not sure how many cigarette smokers there are in this world, but they need to know that Apple is happy to take their money, but refuses to back the warranty. That's an awfully crappy deal for a smoker - pay 2 to 3 times the price of a comparable PC to get an iMac and Apple will reform your evil smoking habit by refusing to fix your computer. I think that cigarette smokers everywhere need to know about this. Maybe Apple's just too chic to have smoker's as customers.
I will be making my voice known - and, for the record, I'm a reformed smoker of 30 years. Nonetheless, smoking is legal and in Virginia is big business. That makes this a case of discrimination, which is illegal in every state.
Regards,
Ruth Roper
Norfolk, VA 23505
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