My laptop battery bulged and deformed!
Yesterday everything was fine, tonight I noticed my 17” MacBook Pro was wobbling like a table on uneven ground. I looked under it, and the battery appeared to have come loose. I shut everything down and flipped it over. Well… it was a little worse than that.
With difficulty, I removed the battery and noticed that something inside had swollen tremendously. Not good. I remembered a battery recall notice from a while ago, so I looked it up. I did check at the time, but since my battery wasn’t actually exhibiting any symptoms, the Apple website told everyone to run Battery Update, which I did.
Coming back to the site now, I find that while my computer was covered in the plan, it is now too late. The program closed in May 2009. Browsing around in the forums, I find plenty of accounts from users who are in the same boat. Bought their laptop in a similar time frame, and the problem only started now. The original article admits a design/manufacturing issue, but offers no replacement.
I decided I wanted to call Apple to see if I could get a replacement battery anyway. Usually, I would have gone to the Palo Alto Apple store, but as it so happens, I am in West Yellowstone, Montana, at the moment. The nearest Apple Store is in Salt Lake City, over 6 hours away! No go: Apple Care (the only phone number one can really find to call) is closed. I decided to call my “home” store and see what they can do.
The person at the Palo Alto store keeps insisting that batteries don’t usually last that long: tough, buy a new one. He insists I should go to a Store. The message that the nearest store is 100’s of miles away falls on deaf ears the first several times. After insisting on the Apple program about these batteries, etc., and that this is a safety-related issue, he tries to get a “Genius” to help me. They’re all busy. I get told to call Apple Care tomorrow and get the case number. With that in hand, I should call back to see if, maybe, they can ship me a battery.
I am somewhat hopeful about getting a replacement, as the messages in some boards seem to indicate that it does happen. In fact, some even got them shipped overnight. Of course, that is what I am hoping, as I use this machine every day, and waiting a week for the battery would not be good. More later.
UPDATE: 07/27/09 Talked to AppleCare yesterday (I do not have a contract), and after some hemming and hawing, they said that this is “normal,” I managed to convince them that I know it is not. Basically, they said it is normal, but if the battery deforms, there is a small risk it could damage other parts of the laptop, and they told me to bring it in to have it looked at. If and only if there is damage, Apple will repair the damage and issue a new battery. I explained that I am nowhere near an authorized repair center (turns out the nearest one is 2 hours away in Bozeman, MT) and that I had discovered the problem right after it happened (it seemed to be a sudden event) and could find no visible damage. With that in mind, I asked them to see if they could spare me the trip and send a battery. It took 10 minutes on hold, and then it was approved! Called back today and got a tracking #. It tracks, and the battery is supposed to be here tomorrow. Great that Apple does work with customers this way, but too bad that if you don’t know how to push the buttons, how to call when it seems they won’t listen (because you don’t have Apple Care), or if you live near a store, you are likely not get the same service.
UPDATE: 07/28/09 Battery arrived, opened the box, put the old battery in, ripped off the label to reveal a return shipping label, and gave the box back to the FedEx guy, who was friendly enough to wait a few minutes while I did that. Done!
UPDATE: 07/01/11 The same thing happened to my wife’s slightly older 13 MacBook. Called them again and had to go through a supervisor to reach customer relations (I spoke with Charles). Again, they insist this is normal, and every case is handled without regard for previous cases. He saw the case this post is about in the system, but refused a replacement in this case. In both cases, the system was out of warranty. He refused to tell me why this case was different from the prior case and declined to send a new battery. It appears that if the battery bulges to the point of doing damage inside the laptop, they will take responsibility. Perhaps the advice to customers should be to leave the battery in until damage has been done! It did not seem to matter that I have been a Macintosh customer since 1984, that I currently have 4 actively used Macintoshes (2 desktop, 2 laptop) in my house, as well as 2 iPhones and 3 iPods. They are willing to really tick off a customer over this. From now on, my message to every potential laptop-buying friend will be that, after 1-3 years, they will have to spend $130 on a battery because Apple does not stand behind its products consistently. The replacement battery will consequently not be purchased from Apple.