So far, exactly ONE uncorroborated posting. Could be one particular person at one particular Apple store, for all we know (and that's my guess. Might be a few of them, but a few cases does not a corporate policy make.
"But...but...but I read it on the internets!!! IT MUST BE TRUE!!!!"
I'll wait for the official policy too. That said, having worked on dozens of cigarette-smoke-damaged stinky computers over the years myself, I wouldn't be too surprised if a policy existed about severe chemical or particulate damage -- that's essentially abuse. Same if in a salt-water environment, or an industrial environment with corrosive chemicals in the air.
I've worked on those -- the record holder was one where the air had acidic vapors... The workers had masks of course, but the process control computer, not so lucky. The circuit board, components, traces, etc. had been etched away over time, until one day it stopped working. Total loss, of course.
“I wouldn’t be too surprised if a policy existed about severe chemical or particulate damage — that’s essentially abuse.”
From second hand smoke?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....THAT IS ESSENTIALLY BULLSHIT!
Right.
Some uber-liberal idiot behind a desk somewhere with an anti-smoking agenda who is making his or her own decisions is not the same as a company making a guideline for customers.
I got a small television a few years back when my great aunt died, and she was one of those skinny 89 year old irish spinsters who smoked five packs a day. This entire television was covered in a visible yellow film, and handling it or turning it on was enough to activate the scent of stale nicotine!
I remembered taking the knobs and stuff of and sticking them in a bowl of ammonia. It turned a dark, dark brown...ugh!
Correction to myself: actually, two. And I see that The Register has an article mentioning the events, about a year apart:
Apple voids warranties over cigarette smoke, users say
However, all the claims are based on verbal conversations, nothing in writing from Apple. I think what we have is a couple of repair outfits that just don't want to work on a disgusting, crapped-up machine, and are coming up with excuses. "Bio-hazard" and "OSHA", my @$$. Wear a mask.
One of the claims was: "...the computer is beyond economical repair due to tar from cigarette smoke... the hard drive is about to fail, the optical drive has failed and it isn't feasible to repair the computer under the warranty..."
Smoke-wise, that's entirely plausible with regard to the optical drive. Not so much the hard drive. But the "uneconomical to repair under warranty" part is probably true. Cleaning out such a machine is very time-consuming and can be tricky -- and it was the user's voluntary actions that caused the problem. It was not a fault or flaw in the computer, period. Folks, above a certain threshold, that's abuse, no different from driving over it with your car and complaining that it's smashed.
Are people really so stupid these days that they can't figure out that smoke and computers don't mix? Apparently so. Do they pour coffee with cream and sugar into their car's gas tank too, just because they like to drink coffee on the way to work? Sheesh.
Anyway, until I see something in writing from Apple, I call BS on the "health-hazard" aspects of this story. I think somebody is making that sh!t up, on one side or the other of the argument...