I purchased my late-model 15.4" PowerBook from Domayne in Canberra on November 26 last year. Since that time, it has had two logic board (motherboard) replacements; thus I'm on logic board number three now. The most recent replacement was done by Mac1 here last week. Here's the timeline:

26/11/2006 - Purchase
May 2006 - Mac1 replace logic board after RAM slot failure (symptoms - freezing and reboots)
August 2006 - Mac1 replace logic board after fan failure/overheating (symptoms - frequent freezing, kernel panics)

Now, I've noticed over the weekend that the battery on the PowerBook no longer charges. It's excited to tell me, in fact, that it's going to take 531 hours to charge. The power plug constantly glows orange, and a battery test (pressing the button on the battery) gets me a single, rapidly flashing, LED. Plus, the reassembly job done by Mac1 is a little ordinary - the hex screw above the power jack nearest the screen on the left side isn't screwed all the way in and I don't think the top shell surrounding the keyboard is seated properly.

I've called Mac1 and they've asked me to bring it in again. Now, their turnaround on repairs is 3-4 days, minimum. Frankly, I'm over the whole thing; I just want a machine that works consistently.

Does anyone else have experience in getting a replacement machine out of Apple without surrendering the soul of their firstborn? Is there a way to get directly to Apple to get this stuff sorted out? I bought a PowerBook specifically for hardware and OS reliability. Seems to me like I may have made something of a bad choice, at least as far as this machine and the series of logic boards in it is concerned...