Battery

I'm sure it shouldn't be so difficult to buy a replacement battery for my laptop.

I searched on the HP spares web site.  HP don't sell the particular battery for my HP laptop, and they refer me to "their resellers".  These turn out to be wholesalers who don't sell to consumers, but refer me on to their resellers, who either don't sell batteries or who sell 3rd party batteries.  OK, I'll go with 3rd party - provided they are compatible.  But all the third party batteries, even though they have the right model number, are a slightly lower voltage (14.8v) than the original battery (15.2v).  So will they work?

I asked a couple of suppliers.  One said it definitely wouldn't work. Another said it definitely would work.  Another said: ask HP.  So I tried to ask HP.  There I just got sent round in circles.

"Is your laptop within guarantee?"  No, but  I'm not making  a guarantee claim - I just want to check that the replacement battery I found is compatible.

"Are you paying for support?"  No, I just want to buy a new battery.

Eventually I got through to a UK support office (though I suspect it wasn't actually in the UK) and the lady there struggled to understand my question and eventually, after going round in circles, she  referred me back to the HP spares website where I started.

I think I will just have to buy a "compatible" battery and try it out.