Would you consider this an acceptable RMA?

[savoirfaire]

Hi, guys - I'm just wondering whether I am making too big a deal of this. I have previously had reasonably good experiences with the folks at Other World Computing (www.macsales.com). Last summer, I bought one of their high-capacity (62 Watt-hour) Macbook pro replacement batteries to replace the dying battery on my wife's laptop. A couple of months ago, the aluminum faceplate fell off exposing the cells inside. For a few weeks, she simply used scotch tape to hold the faceplate on, but I figured that since I paid good money for it, I should take advantage of the warranty. What they sent back was a 58 Watt-hour battery. When I asked about this, they said there were some production issues with the 62 Watt-hour batteries and that they only carry 58 Watt-hour batteries now. When I suggested to the CSR that I was getting back less battery than I had initially paid for (the warranty's fine print says "When a direct replacement for the exact model number or part number is not available, OWC reserves the right to replace with an equivalent or higher graded item.") she said that the new battery is "better quality". I asked if I could have the previous battery back and just glue the faceplate back on, but I was told that the returned battery was disposed of. I'm annoyed that I had to pay for the return shipping on the defective battery and ended up with a lower-capacity battery. Do you think this is an acceptable exchange or should I just ask for a refund?

 

[emiljan]

Personally i would keep the new battery and not worry about it. Under the circumstances they provided you with the closest replacement.

 

[stordoff]

To be honest, I won't worry about it. IIRC, a MacBook Pro idles at about 20W. With this, the bigger battery will only have 10-12 minutes longer life. Under load, this'll obviously drop.

Once the battery has been through a few cycles, I think you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference (the new battery should be unused, so may actually hold more than the old battery, as it's capacity will have dropped).

 

[vincenz]

It's only a 4 watt hour difference.

 

[ActionableMango]

I guess in this case they are considering factors other than capacity. If the older type batteries had problems and the newer ones do not, that would be a "higher graded item."