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KidKit · Apr 9, 2004, 02:40 AM

I was packing up to leave for home earlier this evening when I noticed that there were fine hairline cracks on the power supply of my 5 month old powerbook

Has anyone ever had the same experience before? I was wondering if these are just cosmetic cracks on the power supply's casing (due to heat maybe?) ... or would it be a safety issue type thing that I should ring up Apple Care over?

Picture here

-> darn free web host thingy... took me a while to figure it out. Hope the link works

jld · Apr 9, 2004, 04:12 AM

Apple just replaced my power supply for a different reason. Call them, they'll probably replace it.

Link · Apr 9, 2004, 04:17 AM

Those look like cracks due to compression due to heat and cold and whatnot. If I were you I think I'd be calling about it, as even though I doubt it's something that will harm you, cracks just aren't good policy on stuff like that.

Apple NORMALLY doesn't play around with power issues, especially with the power supply since they've dealt with it. It's much easier to send someone a new $20 power supply than to get a lawsuit later because it shocked them.

euphras · Apr 9, 2004, 01:53 PM

Link is broken

teknopimp · Apr 9, 2004, 09:11 PM

mine has tiny cracks, it's two years old already. cosmetic only me thinks.

KidKit · Apr 9, 2004, 11:50 PM

I rang AppleCare earlier today, the gentleman who answered the call asked me the usual questions - description of the cracks, how has it been used, whether its been dropped or crushed before etc... and then he told me that he can't make a judgement on "whether its due to wear or tear until a mac technician or specialist sees it", so he couldn't send me a replacement until I bring it in to an apple store or service depot.

AppleCare doesn't cover cosmetic damage and routine wear and tear, which makes sense if they are providing an extended warranty against manufacturer's defects. But I wasn't too keen on having to go through so much trouble, especially when its not my fault, and I don't think hairline cracks should ever happen under "normal wear and tear". So I told him politely that I wasn't satisfied with that suggestion and asked to speak to someone else. He told me that he would escalate my case upwards and transfer me to a product specialist - but I would have to hold the line while he "finishes up the call report" and transfers me.

That was 10 minutes on hold. Mercifully, I didn't get any dreadful music. But I did have to put with a mechanical female voice saying "please hold the line" every 30 seconds or so (sounded like "vicki" in OS X btw). Then the same gentleman comes back on and told me that he's been given clearance from "above" to send me a replacement. All I have to do is send back the cracked on in the provided box.

The point of the story? Well, I'm satisfied with the final outcome taken by Apple Care, but I'm also a little surprised at how shifty and defensive I felt that Apple Care came across, especially for something which people have already paid quite a princely price of have peace of mind over. I mean, its not like the apple endusers are out to take advantage of them or whatever, or perhaps I'm being naive.

My story and $0.02

ps. the link seems to be working now...

southtdi · Apr 12, 2004, 12:59 PM

Mine has started to develop crack in the same exact place. I have been out of town but since I am back i am going to take it by the apple store this weekend. Just for info, y wife is a teacher in the school distrct here and alot of the power supply they have got since last summer have been having this problem. since they are a lrge buyer apple has been replacing the item without incident but it seems there may be the signs of the defect of a run of them.