Yes, I too was a bit unhappy that the battery (BST-36) had already been inserted in my Thorus set (z558i). Worse, there were black scuff marks on the battery. Imagine seeing that in what was supposed to be a brand new item--disappointing to say the least. Still, I did not complain to Clareen after I received the phone via Pos Laju as I thought maybe it's common to have some phones/batteries packaged this way, even for original sets. Now I don't know what to think because my battery looks exactly like the AP one on page 1 of this thread. Until Clareen clarifies this situation for all of us, I won't jump to conclusions whether my battery is genuine or not.

However I will say that she needs to get her act together if she wants to be taken seriously as a reputable trader. If you've spread yourself too thin (college + business) then recruit someone to help you respond promptly to the numerous queries. "Very busy" is a lame excuse. Is this a business or a hobby? More importantly, a seller should take some responsibility for the products she is selling, disclaimer or no disclaimer. Passing the buck to the supplier who may or may not be honest is poor business practice. Make an effort to find out whether the supplier is trustworthy by personally checking the products, not just close one eye and post a disclaimer protecting yourself. What about your customers?

Going by all the favourable testimonials in her thread, it's obvious that the happiest (and no doubt smartest) customers are the ones who COD'ed with Clareen. Unfortunately I opted for the bank-in/post route (admittedly, my mistake). No matter how this all turns out, i.e. the batteries are in fact genuine, etc., this will be my first and last deal with her (there are other minor issues with the packaging and overall service from Clareen that I've not mentioned as they're not relevant to this thread).