MacBook battery swollen?

[Pixual]

Has anybody here experienced the unexplained swelling of their MacBook battery?

My three year old MacBook 13" has been fine up until recently when I noticed that my battery was swollen to the point where I couldn't use the trackpad any more. Now it can't even be put back into the machine it's so badly warped. Core Group are not prepared to swap it out as my battery is literally one month out of its three year warranty.

Some reading on the Apple site reveals that this was in fact a batch of defective batteries that they had a recall on, but for some reason I never got asked to bring my battery in for swap out. Is it right that they can deny me a replacement now of a part that is so badly defective that it can't be used at all anymore?

If you have experienced something similar please let me know.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Contact Apple directly and ask them.

 

[bwana]

If there was a recall core should honour that. Did you buy through them or a retailer?

I know my MBP was well out of warranty when I noticed a swollen battery but Digicape handled it just fine.

EDIT - I see one recall and it ended back in May 2009. http://www.apple.com/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/

Three years from any battery is pretty good now that I think about it.

 

[Pixual]

Bought from C3 online. It would appear that I may have been fed some bad information from the company I took it to to process the swap out.

The actual power and lifespan of the battery has been fine, but now it simply doesn't fit into the macBook anymore.

I am currently dealing with Core directly, We'll see how it plays out.

 

[Pixual]

Nope. It's one month out of the extended warranty (3 years) and Core say that Apple Europe won't replace it under warranty. This despite the fact that it has only had around 85 cycles and still carries charge for over two hours, but won't fit into the MacBook because of some inherent defect.

I'm not happy. I now have no choice but to buy a new one at more than 10% of the price of a new MacBook. Not fair at all, considering they knew this batch of batteries was faulty.

 

[syntax]

the exteneded warranty should have nothing to do with it, if its part of a defective batch it MUST be replaced.
Its the same as the old macbook white and blacks where the top case had the chips coming off them in the corners. Those get replaced immediately without question. Take ur battery to Digicape, u have nothing to lose, and there is a good chance they wll push it through..

 

[Pixual]

The response from Core was as follows:

We have escalated the matter regarding the battery to Europe with European Case number: 150038500
Unfortunately this battery cannot be replaced under warranty or any other warranty extension program.

If you wish to to contact Customer Care regarding this matter they can be contacted using the following Case number: 150038500 as a reference.

United Kingdom Apple Care
(44) 844 209 0611

Kind Regards

Antonio D'Amico


So, they fully expect me to call the UK myself about this. Is this typical of the service that one gets from Apple in SA? I have up until now been very happy with my Mac, but you know, if this is the way they deal with customer complaints then I am seriously going to think twice before I buy local again. I may as well save money and buy my stuff from B&H or another US seller.

Do Core group have a consumer complaints person or have I already dealt with him?