Applecare refused to replace my dead 12" pb battery!

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WakeboardrB

[H]ard|Gawd
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Wow I'm mad. I bought my 12" rev. B powerbook back in September of 2003 and bought applecare about a year later. I do realize that it's been about 1 1/2 years since I bought my laptop, but the battery never performed close to it's specifications in the first place. When I first bought it I was only getting about 2 1/2 hours per charge when it was advertised as 4 hrs and I did everything to adjust the power management settings to boost the life. Within 3 months it had declined to 2 hours and steadily fell since then to a whopping 10 minutes now.

I called up applecare the other day and they claimed that since I had never documented the problem and that batteries do eventually go dead that they would not replace it. Does this seem right to you? I mean on one hand I do realize that batteries don't last forever, but on the other I should have gotten the advertised battery life and I was not expecting that afte only half a year of use that I would be getting little over 1hr of life even when I used to leave the laptop mostly plugged in then.

I've also been checking other Apple forums and it seems like lots of other people are having their 12" Rev B batteries crap out on them recently. Is this something I can use as leverage to get a replacement?

In my eyes this is a defective product that should be gladly replaced to keep the customer happy, but they won't do it... Is there anything I can do to get this thing resolved so I can use my laptop at school like I originally planned on doing?
 
i totally agree, although that is wierd, have you tried again, sometimes i think it depends on the representative that you talk to. i wrecked my keyboard when i caught my ibook after knocking it off my desk, and they replaced the kb, no problem. so, definitely try again.
 
well I don't want to sound like a hard ass but if you have an issue with a product it is **YOUR** responsibility to contact the mfg ASAFP and let them know that you are having an issue...if YOU don't do that then THEY have no idea that there is a problem...there is a policy in place for batteries and if you are more than a year out it will not be replaced as it is a consumable device...I know this because I used to be one of the people that you would be escalated to when you didn't like the answer from the first person and I would go through the same thing...more than a year old...unless some VERY specific symptoms (and from what you said you aren't having them) you need to buy a new battery

case in point...my '03 Passat was making an odd rattle at idle but only at idle...I am coming up on the end of my warranty...I take it to the dealer and there is a bad part in the drive train and guess what...warranty is going to cover it...if I let the warranty expire should they fix it for free just to keep me happy? (the warranty would have taken care of the battery too FYI but AppleCare is not a warranty)
 
As gigglebyte stated:

1) consumables are not covered by Applecare (it's like asking HP to replace toner under their service contract)

2) If you noticed an issue when you first got it, you should have reported it while it was under the original warranty.


If I went out and bought a product, and noticed it was defective, why wouldn't I return it to the manufacturer then? Why would I wait until the problem escalated, and THEN try to get it replaced?


This type of thread doesn't lead to anything good... so I am closing it.
 
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