Laptop batteries...sigh

[rootabaga]

I've had a Gateway laptop I bought around 2007. It had really good specs and I updated it to Windows 7 after a bit. Along the way I also added some RAM and a larger/faster hard drive. It runs really well so there's no point in replacing it.

I don't use it all that often (I live on computers at work and mostly use smartphones if I'm away from work) so it's still in good condition. That said, the battery understandably is getting a little long in the tooth, so I went shopping for one about a year ago from flea-bay. When it came I was doing a ton of other stuff and didn't use it right away, then when I did it didn't work and it had been more than 30 days and the seller told me to contact the manufacturer for a warranty claim...well, you just know how that turned out, don't you?

Last week I dug out the specs and went to order another one. It's an SQU-413, 8MSBG, 14.4/14.8V 4400mAh L-ion. Plugging in the numbers I was also finding 10.8/11.1V units (5200mAh), this is common for this form factor, so I was careful to pick one that clearly noted the correct battery voltage. They are not interchangeable.

And I'm glad I bought it through an Amazon seller, because now Amazon will help me. Although the ad clearly states 14.8V, they sent the 11.1 and are now giving me a bit of a runaround before they apparently will concede defeat. I'm not being too nasty yet because I'd rather have the battery than a refund, but I'm mostly just dumbfounded that people are selling what they don't think they are selling, or vice-versa. Stupid.

Is it just me or have others run into this issue?

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent.

 

[mikedt]

So the seller asked me if the battery worked okay. Um, no, I replied, it's the wrong battery. I asked them again to replace it, and they are simply willing to take it back. Then they told me how to ship it to them, with an RMA, and I reminded them it was their fault, so they had to pay shipping. Finally they told me they would "reimburse" me for shipping, though I have no idea how they would pull that off, since I paid Amazon and they paid these guys. At this point I'm giving up, and I'm going out of town for a couple of days; when I get back I'll just process the claim through Amazon.

In case anyone cares, the vendor to avoid here is CWK Technology and they also go by the name Superb Choice and Discountbatt. The fact that they have three different names in the Amazon marketplace should have been a clue, I guess.

Is this the one that you contact via Yahoo or 163.com email, and are in ShenZhen, China? I've heard of them before, nothing good.

See this thread I started a couple years ago...
http://androidforums.com/threads/dont-be-cheap-on-your-phone-battery.791855/#post-6248592

 

[ljenish]

So the seller asked me if the battery worked okay. Um, no, I replied, it's the wrong battery. I asked them again to replace it, and they are simply willing to take it back. Then they told me how to ship it to them, with an RMA, and I reminded them it was their fault, so they had to pay shipping. Finally they told me they would "reimburse" me for shipping, though I have no idea how they would pull that off, since I paid Amazon and they paid these guys. At this point I'm giving up, and I'm going out of town for a couple of days; when I get back I'll just process the claim through Amazon.

In case anyone cares, the vendor to avoid here is CWK Technology and they also go by the name Superb Choice and Discountbatt. The fact that they have three different names in the Amazon marketplace should have been a clue, I guess.

CWK Batteries are garbage and the vendor is a scam artist. Take a look at the Amazon advertisement and collateral: "2 Year Warranty; Buy with confidence!" The CWK battery I purchased for my Sony Vaio never worked. I contacted the vendor who laughed and said the warranty was bogus - they never honour the warranty and its sole purpose is to sell batteries on Amazon. I have been dealing with Amazon for three months. What a useless organization! I am now into the "special investigation" phase of the process. They will not weed out rogue third party vendors and do nothing on behalf of buyers. Meanwhile, CWK-TECH continues selling their trash products under a bogus warranty. I will update as I plan on forcing this through Amazon's army of confused, uninterested support staff.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Just today I noticed that the battery on my Dell laptop was swollen, I've had it 2-1/2 years so not surprising that it's shot. I looked at some aftermarket replacements before finding myself on the Dell site where I bought an OEM replacement for about $80 delivered after discounts. That's not much more than the cheapest aftermarket one would have been and it has a legit 1-year warranty from Dell. So I don't have to deal with any of the above nonsense.

 

[nanovitch]

I had exactly the same problems with CWK as rootabaga. CWK batteries must be avoided because this vendor is a liar and a scam artist. I losed money and time when I did business with them.

 

[nanovitch]

It is a shame that amazon turns a blind eye to CWK tricks and on his fraudulent management of the list of comments posted by customers. This list is reinitialized every two months in order to drown the negative comments posted by customers and to minimize their real number.

 

[Kristen1234]

I purchased a CWK laptop battery from Amazon ten months ago (with a two-year warranty). It barely holds a charge anymore, so I requested a new one be sent (again, according to the warranty). CWK didn't even respond until I had sent tons of messages and threatened to report them to Amazon. They still refuse to send a replacement. I recently filed an A to Z claim with Amazon, so we will see how this goes. I buy a lot from Amazon but that will probably be changing soon if they are going to continue hosting unethical third-party sellers. CWK Technology needs to be shut down.

 

[lunatic59]

I don't know what bothers me more, that CWK still is in business or that Amazon still permits them to do business through them. I guess dollars mean more than integrity.