Three different Mac users have claimed that Apple voided their AppleCare Protection Plans due to second-hand smoke.  According to Ruth, one of the Apple customers who wrote into the Consumerist:

I bought an iMac for my son (for school) along with the extended Applecare warranty. A month ago, it quit working. My son took it to the authorized Mac service center. The “tech” informed him it would be ready in 48-72 hours. Five days go by and he’s heard nothing, so I called. They informed me that his computer can’t be worked on because it’s contaminated.

When I asked for an explanation, she said he’s a smoker and it’s contaminated with cigarette smoke which they consider a bio-hazard! I checked my Applecare warranty and it says nothing about not honoring warranties if the owner is a smoker. The Applecare representative said they defer to the technician and my son’s computer cannot be fixed at any Apple Service Center due to being listed a bio-hazard.

This computer cost approx. $3,000, with the extended warranty. I’m all for destroying cigarettes and putting big tobacco out of business (yes, I’m a reformed smoker), but to label a computer a biohazard because one is a smoker is going a bit too far in regulating who can have the warranty they purchased honored. Shouldn’t there be some disclaimer stating that they won’t honor warranties from smokers?

Ruth appealed her case to Steve Jobs’s office, which also declined to repair the iMac. In another letter, she wrote:

Dena [from Jobs' office] 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.

I get it. I understand where Apple is coming from.  Smoking is bad for you. I’m sure smoking around your computer can’t be good for it either.  But for Apple to not honor the AppleCare Protection Plan that people paid good money for is just WRONG. I have a MacBook that I got in 2007.  I purchased the Protection Plan for an additional $250.  Thank goodness I did, since my hard drive broke in August and had to be replaced.  This makes me wonder if my computer has damage like that.  Harry smoked around my computer from when I got it in 2007 until he passed away in January 2009.  That’s 2 years of smoke damage.  Had they pulled this crap with me, I don’t know what I would have done.

Apple has remained mum on the subject, not releasing a statement as of yet.  As a company known for its customer service, I would hope that they will do the right thing and honor any repair with a plan purchased up until this “new exception” came up and make it effective starting now.  At least give people a chance to kick the habit!