Laptop battery fail - Is it seller's responsibility?

[grpcol]

Short summary: Plugged in bike light to charge, battery status looked like barely enough AC power to keep up, later lost AC power while charging bike light, then laptop battery failed. Item: <>

Question: Is this a defect in the battery such that I should request reimbursement, or am I or the bike light to blame?

More info: Laptop battery was working fine up to Thursday, and lasting several hours without charging. I have charged the same bike light before, I am near-sure I charged it on my previous laptop, and it was without a problem. I recall that the computer wouldn't start when it first arrived and required plugging in to AC so I guess battery was empty, not sure if that is normal to store the battery empty.

Long description: I bought this laptop <>. On Thursday night I plugged in a "LifeLine Performance 500 Lumen Front Light" (similar to this one <>), using a micro USB charger which I use daily to charge my mobile. The laptop battery status was every few seconds alternating between displaying up to 240 hours left to fully charge, or "unknown", (at I think 72%,) I assume because just about all (or a bit more than) the AC power was being used up. The battery status was later at I recall 89%, and I switched off the computer and left it on to charge overnight (the bike front light indicated it stopped charging, and from experience power is not drawn from this laptop's USB while the computer is switched off even if plugged into AC). Friday morning I switched on the computer. Within an hour I found that our house had power switched off, and the laptop was dead and wouldn't switch on. About an hour later I plugged it in, and started, battery status was I recall 99%. Since then the battery status is always "Unknown, 87%". It would last a few seconds on battery before losing power, with status saying about 7 hours which is usual for near-fully charged; now it immediately loses power when I unplug AC.

Battery status output: (normally the first line would say something like "Charging, XX%, XX:XX:XX until fully charged")
Battery 0: Unknown, 87%
Battery 0: design capacity 3220 mAh, last full capacity 3247 mAh = 100%
Adapter 0: on-line

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[7606dennis]

I'm not quite sure what a "bike light" is?

How long has it been since you purchased the laptop from the seller?

[victorjunkman55]

Sounds to me like your new laptop needs a new battery, or you have a faulty power cord. Contact your seller, Should they not reply or refuse to help you, Open Item not as described case in the Resolution Center, bottom of this page. You have the eBay Money Back guarantee. (MBG) Good Luck to you.

[xgoblazersx]

Since you bought it back in April, that's still really new.  Don't tell the whole story.  Just tell them you bought it on (that date), it stopped retaining a charge suddenly, and you would like a partial for only $15 for a replacement.  Since it is a new device, the battery shouldn't need replacing already.  

Batteries & cords are cheap to replace.  I find mine (3 year old Toshiba) for $12 for the battery, and $6-8 for the cord on ebay.  The seller should oblige, since this is a small, and reasonable request.

However, be advised that since this is over a month, the seller is not technically obligated to do anything.  They seem to have good communication in their feedback.  Still worth a shot.

[grpcol]

Thanks for your advice. I already messaged them, but they said it doesn't make sense for battery to die so suddenly and said I should try to get it fixed under the warranty from Acer. Not sure how easy it is to do that in Australia though. If they are not obliged to refund (but I still opened a refund request and Ebay says they can "step in"?) then maybe buying a new battery is easiest - unless the problem is not with the battery but in the motherboard.

[xgoblazersx]

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@grpcol wrote:

Thanks for your advice. I already messaged them, but they said it doesn't make sense for battery to die so suddenly and said I should try to get it fixed under the warranty from Acer. Not sure how easy it is to do that in Australia though. If they are not obliged to refund (but I still opened a refund request and Ebay says they can "step in"?) then maybe buying a new battery is easiest - unless the problem is not with the battery but in the motherboard.

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Ah, I see they are in the US, and you are from Australia.  Unfortunately, you cannot be covered under the manufacturer's warranty, because you bought from a third party/unauthorized dealer.  I'm guessing it took maybe, 3-4 weeks to get to you?  If you are under the 30 day window from the return date, open a not as described case.  They will be forced to: accept the return and refund on full, offer a partial, or swap it out.  They should know you aren't covered under Acer's warranty, and they should know that you haven't had the computer and used it this whole time because of the shipping delay.  I'm surprised at their ignorance and that they want to do this the hard way.

[grpcol]

Okay thanks for extra info, I didn't realise there would be no warranty at all with Acer. I had been using the computer a couple of weeks, but clearly something is wrong the the battery so suddenly fails, and nothing really unusual other than it must have been fully discharged. Now if only I could quickly verify whether it is just the battery so can accept small refund, or serious problem with motherboard and need full return... I checked at a computer store and they said it's 60AUD (~45USD) to do an inspection and they could see what is wrong with battery.

[postingid2017]

@7606dennis - I just googled it because I did not know what it was/is either, however, if the battery was charged that way, the OP could have voided the alleged warranty from abuse, and the seller should not be held responsible for damage when the item was misused.  Any and all troubleshooting/repair costs should be born on the buyer/recipient.  

If the laptop was new as stated in the listing, it should have come with a warranty card (or whatever) to be completed by the new owner and it would have made specific statements as to what is and is not covered.  Abuse is not on the list of any warranty.  The legal eagles make sure of that.  And "don't tell the whole story" really?  Not cool at all. 

This may not be the response that most would want to hear, however, it is what it is.

[7606dennis]

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@postingid2017 wrote:

@7606dennis - I just googled it because I did not know what it was/is either, however, if the battery was charged that way, the OP could have voided the alleged warranty from abuse, and the seller should not be held responsible for damage when the item was misused.  Any and all troubleshooting/repair costs should be born on the buyer/recipient.  

If the laptop was new as stated in the listing, it should have come with a warranty card (or whatever) to be completed by the new owner and it would have made specific statements as to what is and is not covered.  Abuse is not on the list of any warranty.  The legal eagles make sure of that.  And "don't tell the whole story" really?  Not cool at all. 

This may not be the response that most would want to hear, however, it is what it is.

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I'm still confused as to what a "bike light" is.  What I got from Google was a list of bicycle headlight suppliers.  Surely this isn't what the OP is referring to with regards to charging a laptop battery.

Alas! most seller's on eBay are not authorized retailers so very few manufacturer's warranties are valid unless they are transferable.

[postingid2017]

That is what I got too and the first one kind of "shocked" me LOL!  Maybe where the OP is from there is a way to recharge electric items, but I think that laptops or things of that nature need an outlet to recharge or one of those power banks in an emergency to fully charge.  

I myself will not purchase new/used electronic items without first asking my son.  I almost made a mistake on a vacuum and he told me no, the voltage was too high for USA currents or whatever he attempted to explain to me.  I told him do not clog my head with stuff that I don't want to know 😉

[itsjustasprain]

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@7606dennis wrote:

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I'm still confused as to what a "bike light" is.  What I got from Google was a list of bicycle headlight suppliers.  Surely this isn't what the OP is referring to with regards to charging a laptop battery.

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The OP was trying to recharge a portable removable bicycle headlight using one of the Usb outlets on his laptop. A lot of those Led bicycle headlights have rechargeble batteries and you can just plug them into any Usb outlet to recharge. I dont think that realy has anything to do with the battery problem in the laptop.

If the battery works Ok at least part ofthe time then I thnk its either a loose battery installation or maybe a bad cord. Maybe a bad socket where the plug pllugs in. If the plug got hit when it was plugged in then maybe a soldered connection in the socket got cracked. 

I would set up the laptop with the charger plugged in & then carefully bend the charger cable this way & that to see if the connection goes flaky. Also wiggle the wall plug & the plug where it goes into the laptop. Also take the battery out and putit in again. Make sure the contact fingers arent bent.

[7606dennis]

Oh!  So the OP is trying to recharge the light from the laptop battery and not the laptop battery from the light.  That makes a bit more sense.  Of course, I still don't see how that is the seller's fault.  Unless, of course, the listing specifically stated that it was that it would charge a "bike light" in the listing.

[sam9876]

The OP's problem has nothing to do with the bike light.

[penguins_dont_fly]

@grpcol

You say that the house lost power? How?

If there was a power surge and the laptop was not plugged into a UPS with surge protection, the battery may have been damaged (either during the incident that caused the house to lose power, or when the power came back on).

This most definitely would not be the seller's fault. Nor would it be covered under Warranty. But it would probably be covered under your home insurance or your renter's insurance.

And just another question ... All new Acer products want to immediately go online and register themselves with Acer ... did you go through the registration process with Acer?  If so, you might be covered by the Acer Warranty.

Acer Australia Support:

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/AU/content/support

[postingid2017]

While the bike light may or may not be the problem, the OP's problem is not the Seller's either, IMHO.  The power surge could have caused the issue also.