RECALLED BATTERIES ON EBAY

[Datashifter]

The seller's name is (REMOVED) and is currently selling FRU 92P1089 under item number (REMOVED).

DO NOT PURCHASE FROM THIS SELLER.

I bought a "new" battery from the above mentioned seller for $xx.xx shipped.

Upon running the barcode number through IBM/Lenovo's website, I found the battery was recalled in September of 2006. A replacement battery had already been sent out on February 27th, 2007, and the battery which was sent to me was supposed to have been returned to IBM/Lenovo. It would appear as though this battery never made it back to IBM/Lenovo, and it (apparently along with many others) has ended up in the eBay resale channel a little over two and a half years after they were recalled by IBM/Lenovo.

Chances are that all of his FRU 92P1089 batteries are recalled, and have already had replacements sent out, with his current stock being batteries which were supposed to have been returned to IBM/Lenovo. I called IBM/Lenovo, and they informed me this battery was supposed to have been returned to them via a prepaid mailing label which was sent with its replacement.

Also of note, the Battery MaxiMizer Gauge information shows 3 cycles, and reports its first use was in March of 2006, with a manufacturing date of October 27, 2005, indicating the battery advertised as "new" was actually a used battery.

These batteries were recalled in September of 2006, as per:

http://www.lenovo.com/news/us/en/2006/0 ... ecall.html

The part that peaves me off the most is that "Lenovo has confirmed that these batteries can be subject to overheating, posing a potential fire hazard, and Lenovo is advising customers to check if they are using one of the affected batteries."

If you are hunting for a replacement battery for your older machine on eBay, do yourself a favor and (BEGIN EDIT) look for FRU 08K8193 which is the replacement for FRU 92P1089 (END EDIT). Who knows where he obtained so many of these recalled batteries, however I am filing a report with eBay and PayPal concerning not only the used condition of the battery, but also the recalled (and already replaced) status.

(BEGIN EDIT) I will be holding off on reporting him to eBay and PayPal to see if he is willing to let me help him sort out his FRU 92P1089 issue, so he can then make an educated decision whether or not to pull the entire auction. If he has FRU 92P1089 batteries which are not on the recall list, he can at least sell those... (END EDIT)

Is there any legal course of action which may be taken against this seller? I believe I heard somewhere that thrift stores, by law, have to make sure they are not selling recalled items to unsuspecting buyers. Aside from contacting the Consumer Product Safety Commission (which will likely happen Monday), does anyone know what else can be done? (BEGIN EDIT) I doubt I will be contacting the CPSC. I was a tad angry when I posted that. (END EDIT)

If this posting is in the wrong place, would some kind moderator please place it in the proper location, and put up high where everyone may locate it?

[rkawakami]

Aside from contacting the Consumer Product Safety Commission (which will likely happen Monday), does anyone know what else can be done?

It can be reported directly to eBay at this site: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/recalled.html

Supplying the appropriate CPSC page to eBay would help: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06270.html

Lenovo site with recall information: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... ATT-LENOVO

[tfflivemb2]

OK, my question, before you go bashing this seller is: have you made contact with them?

There is always that fact that this one could have slipped through the cracks somewhere, possibly the group that they got them from. That doesn't mean that the seller has done anything wrong....except for possibly sending a battery that was supposed to be new, though there still could have been a mix up in which battery was actually sent out. People make mistakes, but maybe they do need to tighten up their QC....

[Datashifter]

I'm not exactly bashing the seller so much as I am wanting to warn people of recalled batteries which are trickling back into the resale stream on eBay. Lord knows it's about time for the casual T4x user crowds (not the hard core battery users) to be on the hunt for replacement batteries.

I have made contact with the seller. Below is the correspondence we have had thus far, sans my offer to help him find out if all his stock is on the recall list. The only reason I even know of the recall is because I own an IBM laptop - it's not like IBM took out full page ads in newspapers recalling their batteries... I believe the seller is being honest, and in my original posting here, I suppose I typed a little bit out of anger and frustration. After all, I am human, and am subject to making the emotionally charged mistakes of the likes of us. I highly doubt I will be calling the CPSC on Monday.

My message to him:

Dude, the battery you sent me was recalled by IBM/Lenovo on September 28, 2006. A replacement for it was shipped on February 27, 2007. Lenovo states this battery was supposed to have been returned to them. You sold me a battery which was recalled. I just got off the phone with Lenovo concerning this issue.

To compound matters, the cycle count was not 0 (which would indicate a new battery, as per Lenovo). The cycle count was at 3, meaning this battery has been charged and discharged at least 3 times, thus it is not new as you had advertised.

How do you recommend we resolve this issue of you having sold me a recalled battery, which was supposed to have been returned to IBM/Lenovo? I suppose what peaves me off the most is the fact that these batteries in particular are known to overheat and catch fire.

http://www.lenovo.com/news/us/en/2006/0 ... ecall.html

If you look in the FRU listing, which is all run together, you will notice the FRU 92P1089 as the second FRU listed.

His reply was:

Are you serious? I bought 25 of these from one of my vendors a couple of months ago as new! I don't have a way of testing them and they look brand new. I'm real sorry about that but I had no idea.

Send it back and I'll refund you. Send it back to us and reference your ebay auction number as a RMA. Please include a message as to the problem. Sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused you.

Our Address is: (edited out, for his privacy)

I have placed a counter-offer on the table for him. I am willing to work with him to help him find out if his entire stock of batteries are on the recall list or not. This seller does not seem to know too much about Lenovo, and says he has no way of testing these batteries. He obviously deals with sales, and not with the intricate details of specific computer accessories. I can be reasonable, and frankly, now I want to help this guy out.

I do not necessarily blame the seller, so much as I blame this battery's original owner for never having returned it to IBM/Lenovo in 2007 as the original owner was instructed. In IBM's tech support database, this battery was flagged as "R" for Return, in comparison to "G," meaning the user can toss it in the Garbage (or, to be more politically correct, dispose of it in an environmentally friendly manner). The replacement was shipped with a prepaid return mailing label, after all. The original owner merely had to place this battery into the box the replacement battery came in, tape up the box, stick on the return shipping label, and drop it off at the return label's shipping facility closest to him/her...

The seller merely purchased some batteries from a vendor who falsely claimed they were new, misrepresenting them. I honestly believe he was caught off guard by my discovery...

I suppose the age old saying "Caveat Emptor," despite its age, still holds true to this day. The main point of my original post was meant to basically be, hey potential battery buyers, beware, there are recalled batteries making their way back into the resale stream! As I typed my message, I became angry, and made fallible human mistakes due to my emotions.

I am going back to my original post, provided this board will permit me to edit it, to remove his seller name and item number. I don't want to appear as though I am "bashing" him so much as I am issuing a caution to everyone here...

(BEGIN EDIT) I'll know if he wants to let me help him work out this issue by tomorrow afternoon. If he doesn't want help, then I suppose I'll have to mail back my battery, obtain a refund, and inform eBay of the recall status of the battery he sold me. (END EDIT)

[dr_st]

This is not an individual case. There exist dishonest people that knowingly take recalled batteries (subject to destructions) and throw them onto the market, selling for cheap prices.

I once purchased such a battery too (one of the Sony-made T4x/R5x 9-cell batteries that were recalled). Once confronted, the seller (not an online seller) responded in a similar way your eBay seller did - said he just received a batch of old, barely used batteries, and that he had no idea about the origins. Refunded me, no questions asked.

[tfflivemb2]

Thanks for amending your post. I like to err on the side of caution, until someone has gotten a response from a seller. So many people are quick to pull the trigger on saying that someone is being deceitful, before finding out if it was a mistake.

In this case, it appears that that was just the case...a mistake.

Thank you...

[TTA]

All I have to say is my old recalled 9 cell lasted a good 5+ hours on my 15inch UXGA T42p and they POS replacement they sent was hardly good for 3... who knows he may have done you a favor

[Datashifter]

Well, the seller killed the auction earlier this weekend after learning they were recalled used batteries, and not "new."

I just got off the phone with him, and I sent him a link where he can run the barcodes through to find out if they all are recalled or not, and I also included the link to the CPSC's site which rkawakami kindly provided. By the way, thank you for that link rkawakami!

He is going to run the barcodes of all the batteries he has to see if they all are recalled and have already had replacements sent out. If he happens to find one which is not recalled, or has not already had a replacement sent out, he'll notify me. I'll happily take a non-recalled battery, or one which has not had a replacement already sent out.

I'm not sure what to do at the moment, as it is a recalled battery bordering on 4 years of age, with only 3 cycles, and is potentially subject to catching fire.

For the moment, it seems like a good battery, but that impression may only last until I come home to find my apartment and the surrounding 15 units have burned down, with the cause being the laptop's battery... God, do I need renter's insurance. LOL!

When the conversation with the seller was coming to a close, it seemed as though he was "feeling me out" for why I had researched whether the battery was recalled or not, and why the recall was even issued.

Questions on the phone went like, "So what made you look up this battery to see if it was recalled or not?" My response was, "As an I.T. specialist - a Computer and Networking Consultant - and an IBM consumer, I knew of the recalls from past experience. The batteries contain an E-PROM chip containing among other things, the date of manufacture, and when I saw this one was made on the 27th of October, 2005, I thought to myself 'oh God, not another recalled battery...'"

Another question he asked was "Do you think it was IBM just freaking out about one battery, or do you think it's a serious problem?" My response was something like "There was at least one report of one of these batteries overheating in an airport terminal, sparking and smoking so much as to raise enough alarm that a fire extinguisher was used on it, and that IBM thought it would be prudent to recall over half a million batteries due to the incident. IBM wouldn't have recalled over half a million batteries if they thought there weren't a problem."

My honest gut feeling says he might end up trying to sell these batteries again under another seller name, but who knows. Maybe he'll do as I suggested which was to find out if they all were recalled or not, and if not, sell the non-recalled ones, and then go jerk the supplier's chain about the recalled status and of the rest of them, as they can't be sold to consumers for their intended purpose.

He volunteered some sketchy details though, concerning the source of the batteries, without my asking. He claimed he got them from a friend who bought them from someone they "don't want to deal with again," and referred to the source as an "asset recovery agency." I don't know what reasons they have to not want to deal with the "asset recovery agency" again, but I got the feeling it was best that I not ask. The less I know about other people's potentially shady business dealings, the better off I am, as that's less reason I might possibly be called upon to testify for in court.

[Datashifter]

All I have to say is my old recalled 9 cell lasted a good 5+ hours on my 15inch UXGA T42p and they POS replacement they sent was hardly good for 3... who knows he may have done you a favor

Well, until I get renter's insurance, he might not have done me a favor. LOL!