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SALT LAKE CITY -- At a Best Buy in Salt Lake, the Geek Squad has seen about everything come in for repairs. But store services and sales manager Casey Koopmans says a smoker's laptop or PC is the worst.
"The people repairing it are going to hate you forever if you bring one in that smells terrible. It's very, very gross to get our hands in other people's nicotine and things like that," he said.
Koopmans says the problem comes because computers have fans inside that are bringing in dust.
"If you add on tar and nicotine, then it just bogs down more dust, and it can cause it to overheat. It can give your hard drive issues, motherboard issues and power issues," he said.
Rumor has it that Apple won't honor warranties on its computers if they've been "contaminated by cigarette smoke." The Business Insider reported at least two computer owners have been denied repairs under warranties.
Koopmans says he hasn't heard of a company refusing to honor the warranty of a smoker's computer, but it wouldn't surprise him. Koopmans says excessive smoking around a computer could be considered physical abuse, like dropping a computer or spilling something on it, and many initial warranties don't cover that.
The Apple Store in Salt Lake did not confirm or deny if they would refuse service because of cigarette smoke damage.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
