flat battery while in the garrage

milkymoo

Hello
Can anyone put some light on the problem I have?

About 2 weeks ago my car was taken to the garrage for a repairs (dent to the front wing due to accident that was not my fault). Yesterday it was delivered by a service man who jump started it, told me to drive around because the battery was flat and then drove off. I did as I was told and to my suprise the battery did not charge :wall:. So I ended up with my car not working, with no curtesy car as I returned it the same morning. And on the top of this the garrage refuses to take the blame and so does the insurance company. The garrage says I need a prove the battery was fine (e.g recent service report) while it is obvious I do not have it .

Who is to blame then?

I left the car in perfect working condition, never for 2 years had a problem with the battery.

Many Thanks
MM

grizzly1911

milkymoo wrote: »

Hello
Can anyone put some light on the problem I have?

About 2 weeks ago my car was taken to the garrage for a repairs (dent to the front wing due to accident that was not my fault). Yesterday it was delivered by a service man who jump started it, told me to drive around because the battery was flat and then drove off. I did as I was told and to my suprise the battery did not charge :wall:. So I ended up with my car not working, with no curtesy car as I returned it the same morning. And on the top of this the garrage refuses to take the blame and so does the insurance company. The garrage says I need a prove the battery was fine (e.g recent service report) while it is obvious I do not have it .

Who is to blame then?

I left the car in perfect working condition, never for 2 years had a problem with the battery.

Many Thanks
MM

Any idea how old the battery is?

Have they had to remove the battery to do the work? If so has it been refitted correctly - possible loose connection?

Batteries do tend to die without warning these days. Years ago you used to get some warning, weaker and weaker performance.

If you are sure they haven't swapped your battery for an old duff one then I don't see how a flat battery is their fault. They do have a finite life and do need to be replaced periodically.

paddedjohn

How far did you drive it? A good run may be all it needs preferably during the day.

Nilrem

About the only way other than swapping the battery that it could be their fault for it being flat, is if they left a light on or something, and that should just need a good recharge to sort out (one of the things every driver should have is a battery charger - they're only a tenner or so for a basic one).

As paddedjohn says it may just need a good run, preferably a couple of hours (without lights, air-con or radio on) to charge the battery a bit.

We tend to use our car mainly for short runs, which is bad for the battery in terms of getting charged up (especially in winter), and we had to give it a good recharge earlier in the year as it was basically flat.

forgotmyname

A decent battery charger will do a much better job than driving it around for hours.

Some modern batteries are silver calcium and take over 24 hours to charge 100% even with a decent charger.

Depending on the chargers output, It will get fairly well charged but the final few % will take a while.

Ive got several chargers, Large booster charger when i used to do repairs, Several smaller 6 - 12A chargers and the Ctek conditioning charger.

Handy items with more uses than you may think of

Strider590

Check out the battery, check the date of manufacture, basically check it is YOUR battery.... These accident repair places are full of thieving gits. Might be it was swapped for someone elses (an employee) dead battery.

milkymoo

Thanks Guys

I left it on the charger this night and is charging very slowly. The engine starts after while so fingers croossed the battery is not dead.

I bought the car 2 yrs ago and I'm not sure how old the battery is. I can't even be sure if it is my battery. The car was in the garrage for almost a month and I don't wan't to think what they had done to it.

This situations should not happen. I am very dissapointed with the servce. I can't believe the garrage had not phoned when they discoverred problems with the battery - #$!&$$:eek:
It is hoppless situation as I can't prove anything.
Lesson for me I guess is to always check if the car is running before returning the courtesy car and not to trust the garrage!!!

Thanks again!
MM.

s_b

Strider590 wrote: »

Check out the battery, check the date of manufacture, basically check it is YOUR battery.... These accident repair places are full of thieving gits. Might be it was swapped for someone elses (an employee) dead battery.

is this the best you can come up with at 2.14 in the morning
you are literally condemning an industry through your probable beer goggles
not nice not funny and obviously not true either

fivetide

milkymoo wrote: »

Thanks Guys

I left it on the charger this night and is charging very slowly. The engine starts after while so fingers croossed the battery is not dead.

I bought the car 2 yrs ago and I'm not sure how old the battery is. I can't even be sure if it is my battery. The car was in the garrage for almost a month and I don't wan't to think what they had done to it.

This situations should not happen. I am very dissapointed with the servce. I can't believe the garrage had not phoned when they discoverred problems with the battery - #$!&$$:eek:
It is hoppless situation as I can't prove anything.
Lesson for me I guess is to always check if the car is running before returning the courtesy car and not to trust the garrage!!!

Thanks again!
MM.

Bit unfair to blame the garage.

As already posted a battery can die without warning and if they've had the car a month then it might well have gone flat. What that does show you is they haven't been driving your car around!

Does it have an alarm or tracker? The tracker would flatten the perfectly fine battery on my Subaru inside two weeks if it wasn't driven.

You haven't answered the age of battery question either. You did say you'd had the car two years but not if you bought it new. how old is the car if it was bought used? It might well be the original battery and you are doing them a bit of a disservice.

Hope it just needs a good blat down the motorway - in the daylight.

5t.

s_b

fivetide wrote: »

Bit unfair to blame the garage.

As already posted a battery can die without warning and if they've had the car a month then it might well have gone flat. What that does show you is they haven't been driving your car around!

Does it have an alarm or tracker? The tracker would flatten the perfectly fine battery on my Subaru inside two weeks if it wasn't driven.

You haven't answered the age of battery question either. You did say you'd had the car two years but not if you bought it new. how old is the car if it was bought used? It might well be the original battery and you are doing them a bit of a disservice.



5t.

quite correct
i get sick of hearing moaning whinies these days blame everyone but themselves does poster honestly believe repairer would steal their battery or give them a new one because its gone flat/faulty
no wonder this countries going down the pan quicker than the torrie canyon

milkymoo

:cool:

s_b wrote: »

quite correct
i get sick of hearing moaning whinies these days blame everyone but themselves does poster honestly believe repairer would steal their battery or give them a new one because its gone flat/faulty
no wonder this countries going down the pan quicker than the torrie canyon

I did not say they stole my battery!! I just can't understand why they have not informed me about the problem when they first spoted it. They said later on the phone they had to jump started the car every single day. :eek:?? So in your eyes this PERFECT garrage with QUALIFIED staff does not know how to charge the battery? They had a full month to do it, and make sure when I get a car I can acctualy drive it - straight away.
And if the battery acctualy broke down then normal thing would be to ask me if I need new one not keep it quiet.

And no I do not know the age of the battery but I have never had a problem with it and do not drive it every single day. The car was off the road before for a couple of weeks and was fine. Nothing takes the power from the battery. I don't have the alarm in my car.

So in the end I'm the one to blame, :cool::cool::cool:

MM.