Following up on my previous post, I have a brand new battery on my MBP 
Here’s my tail on the warranty process:
I went directly to Apple IMC Portugal, and they stated I should contact Apple Support first.
Contrary to other countries, we get 2 year warranties in Portugal, and Apple forces it’s customers to call Apple Support first after the 1st year.
Problem #1: The support line is Brasilian Portuguese, which is in somewhat different from European Portuguese.
I would have prefered an English (American) speaking assistant if given the choice.
Mix that with what seemed like a VoIP connection to Brasil with the lowest QoS priority on a congestioned link. Sometimes you hear it, sometimes you don’t. On both calls in different days.
The first line support assistant aka T1 was being teleguided by a T2 ( they were talking in English) and was following his guidance to the extreme, even when he asked me to install Battery Update 1.2, when Leopard which I said I was running comes with Battery Update 1.3
Now that I have a case number with a go for battery replacement in the process I must go to an Apple Authorized Service Provider.
Problem #2: Apple doesn’t allow Service Providers to stock exchange parts as part of their new semi presence in Portugal, so you always have to wait for the arrival of a new part, 3 to 4 days usually. It’s way better now, in the past it took at least 3 weeks so I was told by one of the Service Provider companies I contacted.
Problem #3: I had to leave my old battery until the new one arrived. I asked the service Service Provider if they are going to test it or something. No, just waiting there till the new one arrives and only then it gets sent back to Apple.
I’m pissed. My battery capacity went from 3+ hours when new to <1 hour with a problem. And then my laptop turned itself into a desktop because of the support process. Isn’t support suposed to make things better for you? I got just the opposite.
Contrast that with being able to schedule an appointment to the Genius Bar on an Apple Store and exchange the battery on the spot.
