Apple’s perpetually melting and fraying MagSafe adapters—apparently these things are made out of Styrofoam and rice paper—continue to cause trouble. Christine, call Apple and explain your problem, and see if they’ll replace it for free.

Hey Consumerist,
 
I’ve been using Apple products for years. I’ve always been satisfied with their customer service and exceptional products. Naturally, I was upset when I noticed the MagSafe power adapter on my Intel Core Duo Macbook (ca. 2006) was fraying by the magnetic port, rendering it mostly useless (or at least, useless if I didn’t want to set my house on fire charging my Macbook with exposed wires).

Cursing my luck, I tried to reconcile making myself buy a new charger when it was just this small part of the product that was faulty and wondered how this could have happened after extremely meticulous care of my notebook (to the extent that I can count on my hands how many times it’s left the house). I went to Apple’s online store to check the price ($79) only to discover that there appears to be literally hundreds of complaints from people claiming to have used their adapters for even shorter periods of time, or at least very carefully, before being forced to replace them, and demanding that Apple address the issue of its poorly fortified MagSafe ports.
 
Forcing that many people who have already invested a large amount into a reliable product to buy replacement parts so soon seems like an easily resolved situation that would save Apple a lot of headaches in the future and, more importantly, goes against their image as a company that sells sturdy, easily managed products.
 
Please help! I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I have to spend that money so I can actually use my notebook but would sleep sounder knowing that the money was going toward something that would last me longer than a Dell charger would. I certainly feel like I’ve paid for that privilege.

Here are some of the many angry reviews from the Apple website:

Right now I am typing this trying not to move my computer too much so the 2 steel wool thin wires that are still attached will charge my computer. I am in love with this computer… with power. I smell melting plastic too.
 
The Magsafe adapter on my MacBook Pro, unlike the one on my deep fat frier, has an extremely limited life span. The one on my frier has a reinforced neck where the wire meets the adapter.
 
the adapter never laaves the house…..however, base connecting point of the AC adapter’s nifty magnetic head just started to smell of melted rubber; now it is looking melted and i can see the wires inside!

Apple, perhaps it’s time you look at how other power cables are made and follow those examples! See, they’re not supposed to melt or fray.
 
[Apologies to Trai_Dep for the second anti-Apple post in a week.]
 
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