Apple Laptop Battery! Where art thou?

Steph just submitted a query on my experiences with exchanging an Apple laptop battery...

As this is the first I've heard of the new recall for the G4 batters - am so out of the loop here - I was wondering if you were able to have your battery replaced here in Shanghai under the recall, and if so, where?

Now, I would normally drop another comment in there, but I realised that my response was getting quite wordy and probably deserved an entry, so here I go.

The first thing to work out is if your Apple laptop battery is listed for recall. You can enter your battery's details on this Apple webpage to find this out.

If your battery is due to be recalled, the website advises you to contact your nearest authorised Apple reseller. For me, this is where I started my misadventure.

Right now, I'm in the process of getting my battery replaced, however it is very complicated due to the fact of the timing at which I pursued this exchange (the next day after the announcement), and an additional complication due in part to my travels over the past few months and slow response to my situation by Apple Australia. Sometimes it pays not to be an eager beaver.

Let me explain further. The battery replacement program for my Powerbook battery model was announced just a day or two before I left Shanghai for an Australian holiday. I popped down to the authorised Apple store in the Cybermart Electronics mall (corner of Huangpi Lu & Huaihai Lu) the day before I left. To the staff there, this was complete news to them and they brushed me off. One staff member said to me "because it was purchased in Australia, you should do it in Australia". Now, I knew this wasn't the case with Apple (World-wide recall?), but it was obvious the staff on that occasion didn't want to bother with me, and as coincidence unfolded, I was going back home in a few days. The easy solution was to forget those jokers and do it back in Oz.

So, after touching down in my home city with my PB in hand, I contacted the reseller I bought my PB from and went through the exchange process within a day of me landing in Brisbane. I was told that it would be back before I left Oz. But wouldn't you know it - it wasn't. The shipping time blew out from less than 4 weeks to 4-6 weeks. I also later learnt that the resellers were just 'depot' points for the exchange point, and each nation's Apple businesses were co-ordinating the recall. The reseller's really didn't know what was going on.

After a number of bounces around the Apple helpline in Australia, a 'special' arrangement was put in place whereby Apple Australia coordinated with Apple China to provide me with a new Lithium ion battery without any charge to my person.

Due to Apple Australia's policy, they haven't released the contact details of the people in Apple China dealing with this, but as soon as I know, I can drop you a line or post the follow-up here.

It is now 5 weeks since I lodged my battery into the exchange program. No battery as of yet. And I'm a little sick of working with an immobile laptop. Especially as I'd prefer to spend my time working & writing my thesis/papers at this place.

The official way to get an Apple battery replacement in China is listed on this page. My Chinese isn't up to scratch, but I'm sure a friend (or Babel Fish) can help out out with this. Apple's Asia page might also help.

If you can't wait for a laptop battery, you can purchase them from many places around Shanghai. The best deal I found was at the authorised Apple reseller located on the bottom for of the Xujiahui Taipingyang electronics mall (new model PB battery for RMB1100, just some bargaining and its already below the US Apple-store price!).