Whatever Happens does not cover laptop battery failure!

[ConcernedUserGB]

After being prompted by other threads in this forum to read my Whatever Happens contract, I just discovered that laptop batteries are not covered by the agreement, even if they fail completely and suddenly.

 

What makes this relevant for me is that my laptop battery did fail completely and suddenly, i.e. it holds no charge whatsoever. Actually, this happened well within (I think) a year after I purchased it. However I use my laptop so much that I could not justify sending it for repair until now (I recently purchased a new Sleekbook making it feasible) and have been using it plugged into the mains at all times since then.

 

I'm astonished that a laptop battery is not considered essential to fitness for purpose and that it is expected to be regularly replaced. Oddly enough, my local Curry's store does not sell replacements for my laptop battery requiring "regular replacement". It's even more amazing that Curry's did not offer to replace the battery given that they sold it to me!

 

So, I cancelled the "Whatever Happens" agreement for this and another old laptop just now. Apparently it is Whatever Happens, so long as it is not one of the things on list of exclusions on the policy.

 

To be fair to Curry's, I did once neglect to send a laptop in for repair under a current agreement because I had used it (legitimately) so much in the time since I bought it that I didn't feel the usage amounted to normal conditions of operation. For reasons I don't recall, this came up when speaking to a Whatever Happens Customer Support person and they insisted that I was entitled to have it repaired or replaced, which they then arranged.

 

On the other hand, the defects were probably manufacturing defects that existed since I bought it and possibly covered under the SOGA. Also on the other hand, the laptop came back from repair with the keyboard incorrectly installed and some keys not functioning (I since repaired it myself as this only required knowledge of how to use a screwdriver and how to ground oneself).

 

Thanks CAG for making me aware that these support agreements are not really "Whatever Happens", just "Some Things that Happen".

 

From now on, I will no longer hold these agreements for longer than the battery is giving me good service.

[i hate bailiffs]

[quote name=

 

What makes this relevant for me is that my laptop battery did fail completely and suddenly, i.e. it holds no charge whatsoever. Actually, this happened well within (I think) a year after I purchased it. However I use my laptop so much that I could not justify sending it for repair until now (I recently purchased a new Sleekbook making it feasible) and have been using it plugged into the mains at all times since then.

 

 

.[/quote]

 

i`m not surprised perhaps you should of done something about it at the time as a year is a long time to leave it

[dx100uk]

are you saying the laptop battery has failed within 2 yrs of purchase?

 

dx

[sequenci]

I've known a few people that have had failed laptop batteries, and all of them have had them fail as they didn't adhere to the correct way of using them.

 

(not saying that's happened in the above situation by the way!)

[ConcernedUserGB]

Yes, it failed within two years of purchase. I bought the laptop on 13/02/10. I found an email from myself to a colleague where I mention that my laptop battery doesn't work on 04/08/11, though it probably failed some months earlier than that.

 

But of course the laptop is not now within two years of purchase. I'm simply very stubborn when it comes to surrendering my laptop for repair as I use it so much. Sometimes my workload gets too heavy to justify even copying files to a replacement laptop.

 

So, given the state of affairs, I am happy to wear this. What I wasn't happy about was to find that my "Whatever Happens" didn't cover it. But, as mentioned, problem fixed, I no longer have that.

[dx100uk]

yes seq, good point, ideally a cycle of using till exhausted then recharging should be used, not having the darn thing on the charger 24/7 and never bar once every 2 mts say pulling the charger.

 

Li-On batterries are renound for failing this way. [always being fally charged and never cycled]

 

the op appears pretty clued up and with basic skills

 

i wonder if a meter could be used to see what the packs voltage is?

 

if its stone dead, this could be a bat pack cell failure

 

i have had good results under soga in many cases when pointing this fact outthat the pack show 0volts.

so something inside has broken, rather than it just not holding a charge with low volts...i'e its been cooked.

 

dx

[ConcernedUserGB]

It's really stretching my memory now, but I seem to recall that the battery was working fine one day with good charge levels, and then the next day my laptop suddenly went black whilst using it. I switched it back on and it went again. This happened a few more times over a week. Then I find an email (just over a year after I bought it) where I refer to "having trouble getting my battery to retain a charge". I don't exactly recall how this manifested. But I seem to recall that persisting with it would make it "come good", again giving me good levels of charge.

 

Suddenly it died altogether, refusing to accept any charge. The machine itself popped up a fault message when plugged in which stated the battery had developed a fault.

 

This was not a matter of the charge gradually becoming less and less over a period of time. However, I pay no attention to claims that batteries are supposed to be discharged before being recharged. The so-called "memory effect" (see wikipedia on that subject) applies to nicads. It is my understanding that modern laptops have software which "optimises" battery performance anyway. HP laptops certainly do this. Moreover, there is no mention of any such "battery procedure" in the care instructions supplied with the laptop.

 

Although I worked in the computer industry for some years, I am not an expert on laptop batteries. If someone thinks I am incorrect and has reliable information to the contrary, that would be interesting.

[sequenci]

Certainly sounds more like an actual fault than battery mismanagement. Could be with a sale of goods act claim? DX will look after you on this one

[ConcernedUserGB]

I think that to make a SOGA claim, I would have to verify that replacement batteries for this model laptop were still readily available. Otherwise I will have caused the retailer additional costs in rectifying the issue by leaving it so long.

 

The issue definitely wasn't a battery mismanagement issue. Despite the fact that I pay no attention to claims that batteries should be exhausted before recharging, I very likely did this often over that first year due to the way I normally used the laptop.

 

However, I am sceptical of pushing the SOGA for laptop battery replacement in general. Even under ideal operating conditions, I don't see that a standard laptop battery is expected to last six years from the date of purchase (the amount of time mentioned in SOGA). I still reject that laptop batteries are "regularly replaced". They are rechargeable, not disposable.

 

In my specific case, SOGA may well cover the failure as it likely resulted from a fault in the manufacturing process. Whether I can quite justify the time to prove that fact and make a claim, I am not sure. After all, if replacements are readily available, my time to make a claim may be more than the cost of purchasing a replacement.

 

Edit: yeah I just checked online. Readily available for this model, £43.80 incl delivery, reputable retailer. I should have done this ages ago. Definitely not going to do a SOGA claim in this case. Thanks for the advice though.

Edited September 19, 2012 by ConcernedUserGB
added info about spare batteries

[dx100uk]

ok

 

dx

[labrat]

to be honest with the cost of the independant report it might be cheaper to get one off ebay

 

the batteries tend to be less than £20

[ConcernedUserGB]

Thanks for the advice. Whilst I agree that the batteries tend to be less than £20 on ebay, the ones for my particular model are priced around the £40 mark.

 

It's possible I could have saved a penny or two shopping around. And actually, the retailer I selected which offered "Same day dispatch if ordered before 5pm" reported that they are unfortunately "just" out-of-stock on those particular batteries (after I placed the order of course).

 

To their credit, they did not charge me and offered the opportunity to cancel the order, so I won't name them.

[labrat]

i was lucky then my model battery fits nearly 40 laptops

 

only cost me £11 includfing delivery