[mothered]

The third party is claiming they have never seen a battery leak in a laptop like this

So what?

His/her personal experience, Is by no means a representation of actual events with battery leaks.

and they want to contact the manufacturer, who will likely also know the potential for this battery leak is BS. I told the third party that the manufacturer advised me to dispose of the laptop, but the third party wants to contact the manufacturer directly to confirm these details.

I'm not sure what else to do. I might just return it in a store and try again another time.

You've got nothing to lose by waiting for their reply, so do that and we'll take It from there.

I am considering possibly doing a charge back, as PYA suggested above, but don't know the implications of this. The absolute last thing I want is for investigators or police to become involved if they suspect chargeback of this large amount of money is due to fraud. I'm sure if I charge back, a large investigation will start. Any advice?

As said, wait for the outcome of their Investigation.

The details In their reply, will give a good Indication on the next course of action.