Macbook Air Bulging Battery

I have a 2 1/2 year old Macbook Air which TBH see's little use, but went to use it this morning and noticed a whopper of a bulge at the lower right keyboard and right palm rest. Exactly the same as this - now not only has it damaged the case badly but it now cuts out after running for about 7-8 minutes and heats up quite a bit.

Bit of googling later discovered it's a known fault. Anyone had any dealings with Apple regarding this? How do I approach them about it - could I go to a reseller like CompuB and see if they can do anything or should I just argue the toss with Apple direct? Being an older computer I can see them telling me out of warranty etc but surely a highend product costing that much should last longer than 2 1/2 years!

Starting to questions Apples build quality now - iMac went back after 3 weeks for new harddrive and again after speakers started humming and the 4S has been back twice - once for battery and again for internal speaker :rolleyes: