I recently had a call from a local private client, lovely people but not exactly tech-savvy - when she txt messages me, she doesn't know how to insert spaces between words, so I get a long string of letters to decode. There's your point of reference anyway.

"I can't shut the lid on my laptop, it just won't go down properly." she said (voice call, not txt). The laptop is an Everis - low end, cheap product with 4GB RAM, some feeble Intel CPU & a 64GB M.2 SATA drive. Branded & sold by the Warehouse, this laptop had only used for sending & receiving emails from her son in Melbourne. It sits on a desk in a corner of the lounge & hasn't ever moved since purchase. So I'm thinking "Hmmm" & went to visit to see what the problem was:



Oh, fork! The laptop battery had expanded so much it had literally ripped the chassis apart. I'm sure others here have seen bigger but I haven't - the sight of this just screamed "danger" at me. (The closest I've seen to this was rediscovering my old iPhone 3GS that the battery had expanded to the point of heavily cracking the rear cover.) Her laptop, being fixed in position, was always connected to the 12v power supply - the batteries were full of energy.

I quickly explained the danger & the possible outcome with some YouTube explosions for assistance. We put it in a chilly bin, taped the lid shut & put it outside, away from any structure.

She fetched her original (faded) receipt - May 2022 - 3 & a half years back. Well outside any Everis / Warehouse warranty period. The Consumer Guarantees Act though, tells us that products like laptops should have a serviceable life of 5 years. Admittedly, this machine did still operate but I was not going to bring that into my submissions.

The nearest Warehouse is 25km away, so I contacted them by email with the photo above (& others). The Warehouse were solid to deal with - they accepted their responsibility pretty much straight away. There was some delay in getting upline approval for dangerous goods pickup / disposal but 3 weeks after being informed, The Warehouse paid a full refund ($399) to my client's bank account.

It wasn't the most profitable work of all time for me - they replaced the Everis with a pre-owned HP ProBook that I had - but it was a satisfying experience resolving a situation that I hadn't come across before.

TL;DR - If a product breaks down of its own accord, check the CGA guidelines. You might just get a positive resolution. Oh, & make sure you keep your receipts!