Warrenty voided????

Question

Hello,
When I first recieved this ibook G4 It had a dead pixel on the screen. I was told (ininitally) that they WOULD repair it. Now I only have a few months left on it till I can have it done. here is the problem, I had the tip of the power supply come off inside the mac. As it was late at night and I needed it right away, I opened it up and removed the broken piece. NOTHING WAS MODIFIED!!! I took it down to the local apple store and they said that since it had been opened i voided the warrenty. I had a ibook in the past that was experencing MAJOR problems and the only way I could get my information off the hard drive was to open it up and attach the hard drive to a main computer and get itg that way, and apple said that they would still honor it. However this time they didnt. And now I have this dead pixel which they said well its just one dead pixel and wont bother with it at all now. SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT I CAN DO!!!!!

Answer 1

Opening the machine in and of itself doesn't void the warranty. But: Telling Apple that you opened the machine gives Apple the opportunity to tell you that your warranty has been voided. If you break something while the machine is open, then you are responsible for the damage you cause. If you caused no damage, then there is no cause not to honor your warranty. From the one-year limited warranty:
This warranty does not apply: (a) to damage caused by use with non-Apple products; (b) to damage caused by accident, abuse, misuse, flood, fire, earthquake or other external causes; (c) to damage caused by operating the product outside the permitted or intended uses described by Apple; (d) to damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anyone who is not a representative of Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider; (e) to a product or part that has been modified to significantly alter functionality or capability without the written permission of Apple; (f) to consumable parts, such as batteries, unless damage has occurred due to a defect in materials or workmanship; or (g) if any Apple serial number has been removed or defaced.
If you did not cause any damage as a result of opening your machine and noodling around in there, then your warranty should still be in effect. (And besides, opening the machine to get a broken plug out of the AC port shouldn't kill pixels on the display.)
That said, JDee is absolutely correct to point out that a single "dead" pixel is not warrantable, no matter what you were told, and it is highly unlikely that anyone from Apple would tell you otherwise. If you had a "dead" pixel straight out of the box, it still would not be cause to replace your display (screen). That's not to say that someone may not have taken it upon themselves to help you out with this at the time you discovered this problem, but in my experience, that would still be highly unlikely to happen.
The best thing to do, when you have a warrantable problem, is to take the machine into the shop and explain the problem. Dispense with giving out extra information. When your machine is examined, the techs will be able to see if there is any user-caused damage, and that will be when they will decide to what extent your warranty is invalidated.
Good luck!