Another bad battery - free swap after AppleCare expired?

[khunsanook]

I'm having problems with my third battery in a 2006 MacBook Core Duo. All three of my MacBook batteries started having problems around 150-180 cycles - battery dies unexpectedly around 25 percent and battery status in System Profiler says "Check Battery" (battery has been calibrated).

For the last two bad batteries the Apple store swapped for new ones without question. This time, though, I'll be outside of the warranty as my AppleCare expired 8 months ago. Does anyone have experience getting a free replacement on a defective battery after their warranty expired?

[RITZFit]

I had to buy my third and current battery. The 2nd battery was a warranty replacement that barely laster a year of use, however, I got no sympathy from the apple reps I talked to. You might get lucky w/ your local apple store.