Cheap battery websites - Beware!!!

mark1uk

Ok –I needed a new battery for my robotic vacuum cleaner so I go to the various websites like the manufacturers , partsmaster, amazon etc and see that the price is between 60 and 70 pounds. I’m not paying that for a battery I say, so I’ll let google do the searching.
Well a few websites later and I’ve found one at £35 incl VAT – 1 year warranty and 30 days money back guarantee , and a higher capacity.. Almost too good to be true; So I place my order thru’ paypal to batterywiki.co.uk
Hmm – no order confirmation from the supplier, so I email them for a response. 3 days later after 2 attempts…. no reply. Then alarm bells start to ring. The paypal payment went to someone very Chinese sounding and a quick ‘whois’ check shows that it’s owned by someone in Shenzhen. VAT is included? How can that be if they’re shipping from China? … looks like I’ve been a bit stupid.
I then look at some of the other websites I found with ‘cheaper’ batteries.
chargerstore.org.uk and b2cstore.co.uk were 2 of them. Now both these actually had UK contact phone numbers. Guess what – one is unobtainable and the other ‘is not receiving calls’. Also UK addresses.
I checked the address of one which had a ‘3,000 sq foot warehouse’ in Wednesbury, and Streetviewed it to see that it’s just an ordinary house.
Now- all these websites look very professional, and imply UK… but looking very carefully at some of the text on different pages…. ‘office open 9.00am to 5.00pm PT’– isn’t that Pacific Time??? Someof the wording is a bit Minglish as well.
I’m not holding out much hope for my battery so I’ll do a claim thru’ Paypal.
I wonder if anyone else has dealt with these websites. Normally I’m very careful and avoid anything that sounds like a scam .. Too good to be true? Maybe I just wanted it to be legit. a little too much.

benprj

Hi Mark,
I know this post you made is 5 years old but I thought I'd still try and get in touch.

I too have recently made an order with batterywiki.co.uk and it would appear as though I will not be getting my order!

Do you remember if you ever did?

bryanb

benprj wrote: »

Hi Mark,
I know this post you made is 5 years old but I thought I'd still try and get in touch.

Mark joined MSE 5yrs ago, His post was last month.

benprj

Oh yeah, it would appear so!
Hopefully he will remember then!

paddyrg

batterywiki's domain registration address...

Registrant's address:
30698sitang xinzhou villagefutian districtshenzhen cityguangdong provincechina
shenzhen
518054
China

benprj

Yeh I have looked at all the records that I can access.
This is why I am assuming I won't be seeing the item that I bought.

maninthestreet

benprj wrote: »

Yeh I have looked at all the records that I can access.
This is why I am assuming I won't be seeing the item that I bought.

When did you purchase these batteries? i've bought stuff on Ebay from Chinese-based sellers, and it normally takes at least 2 weeks to arrive.

benprj

It was the beginning of the week.
Its not so much it coming from China - I understand a lot of these items are from there these days.

It was to do with making a payment, and then receiving no confirmation of purchase. The site claims 24 hour dispatch and there has been no confirmation of dispatch and they have a 24 hour customer response promise which I still have had no replied to.

Coopdivi

Even if they do send anything you'll have to pay VAT, despite what they say on their website, as well as the Royal Mail handling charge.

Having looked at their website I am certain that any brand name batteries they're selling will be counterfeit, badly made and dangerous.

benprj

This is true. I was under the impression when purchasing that it was a UK based company/store.
I have re-purchased the product today from an ebay store... hopefully it won't end in the same result!