Amazon Amafan

A laptop battery for sale at Amazon

Last Friday I called up HP to buy a new battery for my HP laptop.  HP didn't have it, and the woman gave me the names and phone numbers of three vendors which might.

Like old car parts that are hard to find, if producers stopped selling the parts, the marketplace would be forced into buying more computers. Have you ever thought about that?

I wondered out loud if Amazon might carry the battery, and the HP woman said, "Oh!  You do not want to buy it there!  They will sell you one which isn't the right size, and it may damage your computer.  You don't want to go there."

I did.

I called HP's vendors, and after listening for a nanosecond to garbled menus (I can't stand those things) at the first two, hung up and went on to the third where I located a human.

"That will be $125 for that battery," he said. 

$125? That's all?  What a bargain.  Thank you very much and getoutahere! I can buy a new computer with a little more.

Ahem, how long will delivery take?

"We can get it to you next Thursday or Friday."

You've gotta be kidding.  Next Thursday or Friday?  Via donkey cart?  That is too long. 

"We can send it faster at a higher rate."  What a surprise.

At Amazon I found the battery pronto and decided the $20 (!) charge was not a huge investment and if it broke my computer, so what?  It's 4.5 years old and would give me an excuse to buy a new one.  And while it is true that the battery reviews weren't so hot, if one lasts six months, that would be enough time for me to buy a new computer and six batteries to equal the charge for one at HP's vendor.

The battery arrived on Tuesday, not Thursday or Friday per HP. It works fine.  Goodbye HP and vendors.  Hello Amazon.  It saves to shop around.

patricialesli@gmail.com