Aarrgghh my laptop battery has just died...

[VJayJay]

..and I've only had the laptop for 11 months!
I am very suprised that this has happened after such a short time, has this happened to anyone else?
I am going to phone up and complain tomorrow, but my warranty doesn't cover batteries so I doubt there's anything they can do.

I have seen it happen sometimes in an office environment where there were lots of laptops. Sometimes you're just unlucky and the battery develops an actual fault that kills it. Sometimes it's down to how the battery is used.

Batteries like this have a limited charge/discharge life. If you regularly charge the battery overnight and then run the laptop off the battery during the day then that will shorten its life. If the battery regularly gets hot (caused by, eg, using it on your lap where it can't get enough ventilation) then that will also shorten its life.

Has it been a gradual reduction in battery life, or was it working fine one day and then dead as a dodo the next?

It was working fine then just stopped yesterday, it says there's been a permanent failure.

I've just spoken to the shop and there's nothing they can do, batteries are only covered for the first 6 months.

It may not be covered under warranty, but you have rights under the Sale of Goods Act. I'm not too hot on the consumer rights stuff, but if you find the right forum I'm sure someone will advise you or Google should plenty of information.

Thanks I will look into that.