Battery in MacBook Pro failed. Still under Warranty?

[RickyB]

Hi,

I bought a non-retina MacBook Pro in summer 2013 here in the UK. Recently, the battery has stopped working properly. It rarely turns on without a power source and often the date is reset to 1/1/2012 (i believe there is no longer a CMOS battery in MacBook Pros).

Under EU law, goods come with a 2-year Warranty, although in the second year, the onus is on the customer to prove that the product was sold defective.

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/shopping/shopping-abroad/guarantees/index_en.htm

According to the application "coconut battery" my laptop has had only 280 loadcycles. Surely it should be able to do more than this, hence I think it qualifies (but I could be wrong).

There is, however, a complication. I replaced the hard drive myself last year with a hybrid drive (not an Apple Fusion drive) which noticeably improves performance. Will this upgrade invalidate the warranty? If Apple do acknowledge it's covered under the warranty might they just replace it with a new model with a standard configuration?

I bought this model because it was relatively easy to upgrade so I could do it myself. But might Apple replace the battery for free?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Xeridionix]

You should be able to have this taken care of through Apple without any issues, since you are well below the 1,000 charge cycles that your battery is rated for. In addition, user upgradable components such as hard drives and memory do not void your warranty so long as you didn't damage anything while working inside of the computer.

I would book an appointment with the Genius bar at your local Apple store or visit an Apple Authorized Service Provider, who will be able to sort this out for you.

Best of luck and have a great day.

 

[chrfr]

If Apple do acknowledge it's covered under the warranty might they just replace it with a new model with a standard configuration?

Apple will simply replace the battery. It's a very easy job on a non-retina Macbook Pro.

 

[Artimus12]

Hi,

I bought a non-retina MacBook Pro in summer 2013 here in the UK. Recently, the battery has stopped working properly. It rarely turns on without a power source and often the date is reset to 1/1/2012 (i believe there is no longer a CMOS battery in MacBook Pros).

Under EU law, goods come with a 2-year Warranty, although in the second year, the onus is on the customer to prove that the product was sold defective.

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/shopping/shopping-abroad/guarantees/index_en.htm

According to the application "coconut battery" my laptop has had only 280 loadcycles. Surely it should be able to do more than this, hence I think it qualifies (but I could be wrong).

There is, however, a complication. I replaced the hard drive myself last year with a hybrid drive (not an Apple Fusion drive) which noticeably improves performance. Will this upgrade invalidate the warranty? If Apple do acknowledge it's covered under the warranty might they just replace it with a new model with a standard configuration?

I bought this model because it was relatively easy to upgrade so I could do it myself. But might Apple replace the battery for free?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Devil's advocate: A third party performance increase in itself will sap battery life expectancy and could exempt Apple from honouring the warranty

...but if you don't ask ... I'd put the original drive back in, run it for a few days, then if there's no improvement in battery life, take it in to Apple.

 

[chrfr]

Devil's advocate: A third party performance increase in itself will sap battery life expectancy and could exempt Apple from honouring the warranty

...but if you don't ask ... I'd put the original drive back in, run it for a few days, then if there's no improvement in battery life, take it in to Apple.

These hybrid disks don't have any significant effect on battery life. The OP's battery has clearly failed, independent of the disk.

 

[Artimus12]

These hybrid disks don't have any significant effect on battery life. The OP's battery has clearly failed, independent of the disk.

Since the OP didn't identify which hybrid he\she installed, I don't see how you can make that assertion? maybe it's a dud and pulling more power than it normally would??

Either way, Apple have the right to refuse on the grounds that OP has tampered with the specs and maybe installed inferior hardware! Even if it draws the exact same power as the original and they agree to repair\replace, they clearly don't have to if the OP leaves the upgraded drive in situ.

We're talking about a machine that's well past its Apple warranty and been user modified, so why would they take the hit?

 

[joe-h2o]

Since the OP didn't identify which hybrid he\she installed, I don't see how you can make that assertion? maybe it's a dud and pulling more power than it normally would??

Either way, Apple have the right to refuse on the grounds that OP has tampered with the specs and maybe installed inferior hardware! Even if it draws the exact same power as the original and they agree to repair\replace, they clearly don't have to if the OP leaves the upgraded drive in situ.

We're talking about a machine that's well past its Apple warranty and been user modified, so why would they take the hit?

If the drive was pulling enough current to destroy the battery then the OP would have noticed.

Hybrid drives pull no more current than regular hard drives - they simply have an SSD segment along with the spinning drive section. They are a trivial source of power drain compared to the screen and CPU.

 

[chrfr]

We're talking about a machine that's well past its Apple warranty and been user modified, so why would they take the hit?

In the UK, it may fall under the legally mandated warranty.

 

[Artimus12]

In the UK, it may fall under the legally mandated warranty.

It can't be legally mandated if the original warranty has been voided because of user modification.

My suggestion of removing the drive before approaching Apple stands! It's the OP's best chance of getting it fixed FOC.

----------

If the drive was pulling enough current to destroy the battery then the OP would have noticed.
...

I think it's safe to say the OP has noticed.


Edit: you know, I may be wrong on whether Apple agrees to repair this or not! but if they do, it'll be through goodwill rather than any legal requirement to do so! Under UK law, the warranty was VOIDED the minute the case was opened by anyone other than Apple or one of their approved repairers.

Edit 2: Just to be clear:

WHAT IS NOT COVERED BY THIS WARRANTY?
...
...
...

This warranty does not apply:...(f) to damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anyone who is not a representative of Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider ("AASP"); (g) to an Apple Product that has been modified to alter functionality or capability without the written permission of Apple;

http://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/products/uk-ireland-universal-warranty.html

 

[Xeridionix]

I honestly don't see this being a huge issue in terms of warranty coverage. If the machine was going in for service because one of the memory slots failed to work correctly and was causing the computer to crash, or a SATA cable was damaged for example, then they could possibly come back and say that it's because of the upgrades performed by the end user... but for a simple battery replacement?

The important thing here is that your load cycles are well below the 1,000 stated by Apple and is showing signs of complete failure (date being reset amongst other things). I'm willing to bet if you take it into Apple or a Service Provider and explain the situation you'll be in-and-out in no time with a new battery.

 

[RickyB]

Thanks for all the responses. I might put the old disk back in and plead ignorance...

 

[scottish]

I honestly don't see this being a huge issue in terms of warranty coverage. If the machine was going in for service because one of the memory slots failed to work correctly and was causing the computer to crash, or a SATA cable was damaged for example, then they could possibly come back and say that it's because of the upgrades performed by the end user... but for a simple battery replacement?

The important thing here is that your load cycles are well below the 1,000 stated by Apple and is showing signs of complete failure (date being reset amongst other things). I'm willing to bet if you take it into Apple or a Service Provider and explain the situation you'll be in-and-out in no time with a new battery.

Hopefully not! That's the issue I think I have which I am trying to get a service appointment for and I have swapped the HDD for a SSD.

 

[gngan]

Does anyone have a link from Apple saying that they will replace the battery if it's dead before 1000 cycles?

 

[MarvinHC]

Does anyone have a link from Apple saying that they will replace the battery if it's dead before 1000 cycles?

They don't. I have a non-retina 13" Pro mid 2012 and the battery has some 600 cycles and shows' service battery'. When I discussed online with Apple on the matter of another machine I asked also for this specific machine (which is out of warranty) if they would replace the battery for free given that it is below 1000 cycles and he basically told me that they only would do so if there was warranty on it. Now as mentioned above in the UK where you have the mandatory 2 years warranty by law, the situation might be different.
By the way on the replacement of the harddrive: This is to my knowledge together with the RAM classified as 'user serviceable item' and would therefore not void the warranty (on the 'classic' MBP). I can't find the information on apple.com right now but recall reading it in the past somewhere.

 

[RickyB]

OK, finally got round to taking it in. they initially said it wasn't covered by warranty as it was over a year, and that in any case batteries are consumables. I was told it would be £109 to fix it. I politely said that under EU law it was covered for 2 years given that I'd expect a battery to last more than 280 charge cycles and that it must have failed due to an inherent defect. They had a bit of discussion about this and then came back and said they would fix it for free.

I'm not sure whether they had much discretion in this - if they'd outright refused i'm not sure what I could've done, but they did it and I'm one happy customer.

I did buy it from the Apple Store in the first place, so I'm not sure if it made a difference.

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[cairene2011]

I agree, they do seem to have quite a lot of discretion when it comes to batteries. I'm in the UK too and had a battery in an MBA that made troubles very early on. From day 1 it made a static noise while charging, later it started making the same noise whenever I was scrolling, it lasted only 1.5 hours with only two bars of brightness, no flash or bluetooth while being advertised with 5 hours (although this may have been due to my i7 customization) and hence required quite a lot of re-charging, quickly collecting a vast amount of charging cycles. I took the MBA in to the Apple store many times over the course of the years and pointed out the battery issues. They always offered to replace the battery - I "only" had to give up the MBA for 2-3 WEEKS turnaround time, which I simply couldn't do as a student and full-time editor. So they would always send me off promising I could come back anytime to get the battery replaced. That was still under the 1000 cycle mark.

As if the MBA had known, the battery completely exploded 1 month before its extended Apple Care ran out. Since my keyboard and trackpad were dislocated and the MBA turned off as soon as I unplugged the power cord, I had no choice but to finally book it in for repair. Naturally it was waaaaaay beyond 1000 cycles at this point and since it was a 2011 model, it wasn't exactly "shocking" that the battery had blown in fall 2014, 3 years later. So their first reaction, of course, was to tell me I had to pay for the repair, despite my Apple Care, because I had consumed the battery.

I was prepared to do that, but still pointed out that the battery had always made troubles since day 1 and when they found confirmation about that "pre-existing condition" in their system, they had a quick talk and exchanged the battery for free under Apple Care. This very nice gesture played a big part why I continued to be faithful to Apple and upgraded said MBA with an rMBP and iPad mini a month ago, despite having had my eyes on a Lenovo Yoga.

So yeah, it never hurts to ask when it comes to battery problems.