PB Tech "GreenMachine" Refurbished Laptops: Hidden Battery Degradation

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › PB Tech "GreenMachine" Refurbished Laptops: Hidden Battery Degradation

bob4321

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#325239 30-Jul-2026 19:54

About a week ago, I purchased an A-grade refurbished laptop from PB Tech through their Green Machine program. Within a week, I noticed the battery life was terrible, and when I checked the battery health, it was sitting at just 38% capacity.

The Green Machine program claims to ensure battery health is tested, but if you watch their official video showcasing the process, every single hardware item on the test report is marked as "successful" or "not available"—except for the battery health, which is intentionally left blank. This leads me to believe they aren't testing the batteries at all.

Furthering this issue, when I went back to the store to ask for a battery replacement, I was told they don't even have those batteries in stock. This raises an obvious question: are they simply not replacing degraded batteries because they don't hold the stock, or are they ignoring battery checks entirely?

When I asked for a replacement laptop instead, the staff were happy to swap it out. However, when we checked the battery health on the second unit right there in store, it was also severely degraded at around 40% capacity.

Based on all of this evidence, I believe PB Tech is actively misleading their customers regarding the battery health and true condition of their refurbished devices.

Has anyone else had poor experience with the refurbished laptops at PB Tech?

gzt

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#3515400 30-Jul-2026 20:03

I'm guessing you don't want a refund - which I'm sure they would be happy to do.

You want a replacement battery is that correct?

bob4321

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#3515402 30-Jul-2026 20:18

I did get a refund but the whole point is there is strong evidence that they are misleading people

duckDecoy

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#3515406 30-Jul-2026 20:35

I have had TERRIBLE experiences with PB Tech in the past and simply wont buy anything other than trivial value items. I have detailed them here before, but a couple of standout ones were:

Bought a brand new gopro from them where the battery lasted about 5-10 mins. Took it back, the service department claimed fully tested and battery is fine. Got it home and it lasted 5mins as per usual. Took it back and service department then claimed they retested it and its fine. Went into the store to pick it up and stood there with it on and it died in the 5mins right in front of them. They grudgingly accepted it was stuffed and said they'd "fix" it. When I picked it up it only lasted for about 15mins this time, turns out it was a generic crappy non original battery. Kicked up a stink and they eventually gave me the proper battery.
Bought a gaming laptop and added a 3year PBTech warranty. After about a year the graphics card failed, took it in for repair. When it came back it ran games like total rubbish. I diagnosed it to the graphics card being replaced with a much much lower spec model, one that you would not really expect to run decent games on. Took it back and they claimed they had sent it back to the manufacturer who must have done it, and PBTech arranged for the proper graphics card put in it again. I called the manufacturer who said PBTech never sent the laptop to them and that PBtech had probably fixed it themselves (with an inferior graphics card)
Bought a phone that failed fairly quickly and they refused to warranty because it had water damage, so bad it was likely submerged. This had never happened.
Was physically in store once and witnessed the floor staff passing the phone amongst themselves laughing as they pretended to be escalating a service problem to the next higher manager in the system, even eventually going back to the original member who answered the call.

I personally view them as crooks based on my experiences.

alasta

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#3515540 31-Jul-2026 07:46

This sounds a lot like One NZ's 'refurbished' phones.

Battery replacement is a critical element to the process of refurbishment, and the Commerce Commission should be investigating these companies who are claiming that products are refurbished when, in fact, they are just second hand.

Lias

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#3518534 10-Aug-2026 12:20

PBTech have always been very hit and miss with warranty issues.. Sometimes they are totally fine, other times it's absolutely diabolical. Like when they tried to tell me that the drive I purchased from them was out of warranty when it was in warranty according to both their invoice and the manufacturers website, then tried to tell me I didn't purchase it from them despite it having the serial number on the invoice, then just point blank ghosting me. Only got it sorted when I ended up reaching out to my then employers corporate account manager. In their defence this was 15 odd years ago and I haven't struck anything that bad since.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.