How to approach this (Stuck Lightning connector)

[Meatball]

My mum has upgraded to an iPhone 5 recently and it's proved to be a seamless upgrade from her iPhone 4 , apart from one thing. When I try to remove the USB Lightning cable from my mum's Acer laptop it refuses to budge, it is well and truly stuck. Others have tried and failed and we don't want to damage both the Lightning cable or the laptop. I've never had an issue with a stuck USB connector and the laptop in question is fairly new (1.5 years old) in good physical condition.What would you do in this situation?

I'm tempted to take the laptop to an Apple store and request a new Lightning connector and also that they remove the stuck one. I doubt they will touch the laptop in fear of liability should they damage it, but why should I remove it and break something? I really don't think it's anything I done, it's not exactly rocket science plugging in a USB cable.

 

[Meatball]

Working and functioning as normal yes . I might give AppleCare a ring but I know there's very little that can be done over the phone as they can't physically examine anything. I've found staff instore very helpful in the past, I've had my iPhone replaced out of warranty although this is a different scenario..

EDIT: This isn't encouraging:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/12...e-lightning-connectors-get-stuck-in-usb-ports

 

[Meatball]

Its a known cable fault, the recesses on the bottom of the usb plug are too deep - I read a few people have freed a stuck connector by sliding something very thin between the plug and the socket on the bottom (the bottom ofc being the side that contains the white plastic).

Success! Managed to get it out and it's still functioning ok. Seems like poor design on Apples part .