I took my MacBook to the Genius Bar at the Cambridge (Mass.) Galleria Apple Store--making sure to make a reservation. The MacBook had been spontaneously shutting down, not sleeping, in low battery conditions, and I wanted to see if the Genius would authorize a warranty replacement of the battery. There was some urgency as my battery cycle count (as shown in the Power section of the System Profiler) was at 288, and my understanding is they will not replace a battery with a cycle count over 299.
I arrived at the designated time--6:15pm on Friday, and my name was already 4th in the queue over the bar. I explained my situation to the genius, he looked at my battery's stats and agreed it needed replacing. He asked me if I needed anything else and I mentioned the palm rest recall; my palm rests had big brownish smudges and he agreed they should be replaced free of charge. Took the 'Book into the back room and twenty minutes later I had a new battery and a pristine palm rest. Very satisfying.
I've had other times when a Genius wouldn't replace a battery--not his fault, the cycle counts rule--so it was nice to walk in and get satisfaction. Also, I don't know if Apple's made any money off of this MacBook. It was bought at educational pricing, had to have its heatsink replaced, and now the free battery and top cover.
