A review of Batteryrefill.com

Hey guys, i'm posting to share my experience with this company. In case you didn't know already, batteryrefill.com offers a re-celling service in which they claim to replace the battery cells inside your current battery with higher capacity ones. I thought this was a pretty neat idea so i decided to give it ago.

Part 1: The Order
On 7/23/2008, I placed my order on Batteryrefill.com. The process was fast and within a hours, I received the shipping label in my email. This allowed me to send off my Macbook Pro battery at the postoffice on the same day. A day or two later, I received e-mail confirmation that my battery had arrived at the company.

Part 2: The Wait
Batteryrefill.com advertises a two week turnaround for their battery re-celling service. This is a pretty reasonable time, considering the shipping and labor involved in the process. So taking this along with other random factors into mind, I thought that I would be getting my Macbook Pro battery back sometime mid-August - just in time for me to carry it off to college.

Unfortunately, things didn't go out as smoothly as planned. 2 weeks after I placed my order, my battery was still MIA. So I decided to ring Batteryrefill.com up to check on my the order status. The three toll-free numbers on their website lead to an automated telephone service. Of the tens of times I called, I never got patched through to an operator. There was an option to leave a message, but the mailbox was always full. I tried again a few days later and still did not get through, however I was able to leave a message. That's all fine and dandy but nobody ever called me back.

At this point I was getting very worried. I logged onto Batteryrefill.com's page on Resellerratings.com and read a bunch of horror stories. The store had a decent reputation up until before summer started. But it was all downhill from June on. Customers were reporting similar experiences to what I had: unresponsive telephone support, slow turnaround, etc.

Despite these bad reviews, I decided to stick it out and wait. I don't really take my laptop outside anyways so I could live without a battery. I emailed [email protected] a few times and got the same generic response that "supplies were not expected to arrive until a week later".

Skipping a few weeks down, I am in college, and I still did not have my battery. But it was at this point where stuff started to turn around. While browsing through Resellerratings, I came accross a review where a customer posted the number of a supervisor at Batteryrefill.com.

So I called the number and after a few rings, got redirected to a voice mailbox. I left a message and to my surprise within a minute, I had Andy from Batteryrefill.com call me back.

I was able to get alot of stuff done with Andy. First of all, I was able to get my return shipping address changed to my college address. This was really nice. I asked about my order status and Andy informed me that supplies will definitely arrive on September 1st. Feeling much better about the whole situation, I went on waiting.

I called Andy again this Monday, 9/8 and was told that my battery will be worked on soon and will, for certain, be shipped about sometime this week. Andy was a man of his word. On 9/10, I received the following in my mail:

And today, I received my battery. Hooray!

So after 47 days of waiting, I had my battery again.

Testing
I got a battery back alright, but I didn't get the one I sent in. No biggy, as long as i get something that works better than before, I'm satisfied.

So right now, in System Preferences, my computer is reporting a 6000mah capacity on my battery.

However, on Batteryrefill.com the claim the following:

6600mAh vs 6000mAh. Maybe after a few charge cycles stuff will correct itself.

The Results
After 1 charge: 5744mAh
After 2 charges: 6110mAh
After 3 charges: 6086mAh
After 4 charges: 6107mAh
After 5 charges: 6094mAh
After 6 charges: 6147mAh

Conclusion
Alright, so I guess Batteryrefill.com did a decent job with this battery. Although I didn't get the advertised 6600mAh/charge, I guess it's not bad considering that I payed 100 bucks for a battery that lasts longer than the stock Apple one.

Batteryrefill.com's service is not bad, but I really can't recommend it to people who need the battery back fast. While they advertise a 2 week turnaround, my experience was more like a 1.5 month turnaround.

Pros:
- Longer lasting battery.
- Cheaper than a new battery.

Cons:
- Long turnaround
- Battery never reached the advertised capacity.

Contact info
For those really having issues with their order, I suggest contacting Andy at this number 909-268-8741.
If it weren't for him, my experience might not have been as positive.

 

you could of just bought the batteries and done it yourself..

i've done it 4 time on three different notebooks.. it's easier than programing my universal remote

 

Just posting to keep this thread current. Very intrested to see how the next 4 charges will effect your capacity.

Did you send in a new battery, or one where they cells were dead (a few years old)? Based on their 'no more then $80' claim this could be a decent deal if you don't need your battery for a month and a half.

 

I sent in my older battery, which was holding just under 3000mAh at its weakest.

my refill cost 80 bucks + shipping and taxes etc. which ended up at something like 101 dollars.

 

for people interested, i have coupon codes for batteryrefill.com

$5 Discount Code: EBAT405P
Expires 12/31/2008

 

Your 3000mAh means nothing to me unless you tell me your voltage? Could you tell me voltage?

And as said keep us updated on performance. Very interesting to know as well batts are a concern for notebook users.

I won't tell you some of my best friends are batteries as that would be very self serving.

 

They don't offer this service for the XPS M1330 unfortunately.

 

a little bump. i just finished 5 charge cycles.

I noticed I never reported my runtime with this new battery. i'll time it one of these days and report back.

 

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=534022&highlight=batteryrefill

 

Hi.

Did you check your wear level before and after you 5 discharge cycles.

I bought an non-oem battery and it had 0% wear and after 4 cycles it slowly went to 15% within a week of getting it.

I sent the battery back and got a replacement , it shows 0% wear and i not going to do any discharge cycles on this one!

 

could you post a guide please. This is something i'd be genuinely interested in as i have a few batteries that i'd like to revive.

 

You would be better off buying a new battery.

 

This is tempting as my battery is completely dead. Unplug the computer and it dies. Replacement battery from Dell: $300, no way I'm going to spend that. An $80 gamble seems worth the risk if it works.

 

yay well my battery lasted from 11 o clock till 1:15 with music on full blast while i played poker. mah went up as well. reporting 6147 now.

 

I don't know how to check my wear %... but... well, the estimated mAh has been increasing so i don't know if my battery is deteriorating.