I have an IBM ThinkPad x41 at work and I am generally pretty happy with it. However, the battery has become a bit "long in the tooth" as it were, and is now only holding about a third of its original capacity.
It's an eight-cell battery that sticks out a bit so I went online and bought a replacement - not cheap (I avoid the "no-name" replacement batteries on eBay). I immediately received an email saying they were out of stock, followed immediately by an email saying that it shipped.
It showed up and was about half the size of my current battery - apparently it is only a four-cell. But 100% of a four cell is better than 33% of an eight cell so I kept it.
The problem was that when I plugged in my ThinkPad the battery would not charge - just kept blinking yellow. The task bar gauge also said "not charging", just to reinforce the obvious. This is where the fun began.
I called the phone number on the packing slip and was on hold for about twenty-five minutes. I was then asked a long series of questions - order #, name, address (wouldn't they have that from the order #?), etc. Finally he said I needed to call tech support. Doh!
I called the number he gave me and waited on hold, answered even more questions, and was transferred again (this person was apparently only the information collector - a different person actually gives you information).
One more transfer to escalated tech support, person #4. How much escalation is required to answer a question about a battery that doesn't charge? Finally more questions - I had to interrupt him. Should I be the one asking the questions?
I finally asked my one question - "should I just put this back in the box and send it back?"
"Yes," she said.
I had my answer.
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