In a rare example of plain-speaking in business, Apple uses the term “customer abuse” for the process whereby I pay €95 for a replacement power adapter.

They mean, of course, that the damage to the cable was caused by overenthusiastically rolling it up, putting undue stress on the point where the cable leaves the adapter.1 Which means it’s “customer abuse” and not covered under the expensive warranty (which I didn’t pay for myself, thankfully — the laptop is second-hand).

Still I prefer my explanation of the term.

Notes:

  1. It’s probably true, unfortunately. They started by focusing on the bent plug, which somebody stepped on two months ago, and I thought I was home free: that’s surely not the problem, so the warranty should still cover whatever did go wrong. Silly me, should have known better. [↪]