Bosch Batteries - The Truth from Bosch

fred246

I posted about this too recently. My S6 battery failed after just over 2 years. The terms and conditions from the seller state "All guarantees for products are provided entirely by the manufacturers/UK importers". When I contacted Bosch UK I got the same response from Jack Rice. 1 year warranty only. I think I would have a claim against the retailer but only with an engineers report stating the battery had failed. It is obviously all a scam. You expect better from Bosch. I won't be buying any of their products again.

dlm

londonTiger wrote: »

i can see the advertised warranties on ECP site and other sites

s3 = 3 years
s4 = 4 years
s5 = 5 years etc.

These are retailer warranties I beleive some people have claimed their warranty in the past. They only give you s pro-rata refund for the remaining time left in your warranty.

E.g. s3 battery went kaput after 2 years (3 year warranty). You'll get 1/3 of the money you paid for it refunded or credit towards your new battery.

Very few will actually claim the warranty, if their battery dies they will go to the nearest motor factor and buy a replacement battery as they need the car working.

I understand what you are saying, and the dealer would have replaced.

What I DON'T like is Bosch stating on Bosch website 4 YEAR FREE REPLACEMENT WARRANTY.......With the ONLY caveat being that the fourth year is an extension, without which it is 3 years.

It doesn't say partial replacement; it doesn't say dealer provided service, it doesn't say you have to buy from Bosch direct - it says 4 YEAR FREE REPLACEMENT.....not on a dealers site, a retailer site or importer site - On a BOSCH website.

THAT is misleading in my mind. Don't get me wrong - I would never have another Bosch product as both Jack Rice stated in writing that they do not expect them to last 12 months from purchase, hence running the warranrty from construction.

I actually am pleased with Jack Rices' honesty - as now I will not deal with Bosch is they are a cheap and nasty as they have said - neither prepresentative can explain WHY BUY A BOSCH??? IF NOT THE WARRANTY, IF THEY SAY THE QUALITY ISN'T THERE....WHY PAY 4 TIMES MORE?

Buy a cheaper one is the Answer........

Mgman1965

I had a Bosch battery fail with 6 months of the 3yr warranty left. Contacted retailer who told me to courier it back to them (at my cost) for testing, and if found faulty would knock a 6th off the cost of a new battery. It wasn't worth it.

I bought the cheapest I could £45, and considered anything over a years use a bonus.

George_Michael

dlm wrote: »

It doesn't say partial replacement; it doesn't say dealer provided service, it doesn't say you have to buy from Bosch direct - it says 4 YEAR FREE REPLACEMENT.....not on a dealers site, a retailer site or importer site - On a BOSCH website.

But on which Bosch website, the UK one or the American one?

dlm

rofl! I dont' seem to be making myself clear here do i?

FORGET my battery - Not interested,

BOSCH state that the warranty for ANY bosch product is 12 months from MANUFACTURE. That is - in a factory. It is then shipped from factory, via different countries, shipping agents etc and ends up in UK. It is then shipped to your battery store where your buy it from. With most of this 12 months spent in warehouse/stock/transport, and indeed most batteries are around 1-2 years before sale....sometimes more depending on size of your store.

So in the UK it has A FEW MONTHS OR NO WARRANTY. You can argue sales regs all you like - they go by the label build date of of story.

Varta, who build the battery (once owned Bosch hence same battery) offer a long warranty worldwide. Bosch exclude the UK from all warranties - or at least make them virtually impossible to claim on.

My point is - Why pay a premium price for a product with little or no guarantee, when others have far longer ones/willing to honour rather than avoid?

It was only with my battery that had a written3 year free replacement warranty card that Bosch would only authorise replacement if I could prove it under 18 months old, if I couldn't supply this evidence they would not respond and close the matter. Half the length of the warranty - a hoop that cannot be jumped through. A condition impossible to meet.

They DONT want to offer the Warranty like VARTA do fine- BUT they DO want to charge the PREMIUM RATE, but offer LESS than a BUDGET brand.

Is that something that matters or not? Happy with a plated plastic watch for a 2k Tag?

All my view is - if there are brand that offer REAL warranties, or at least support - then why not go for these? Why pay £160 when you could pay £35 and get DOUBLE what Bosch offer?

Car_54

dlm wrote: »

rofl! I dont' seem to be making myself clear here do i?

You're right. And neither are we. A number of people have told you that your argument isn't with Bosch, but with the retailer.

Eurocar Parts advertise a 3-year warranty on Bosch batteries - have you spoken to your supplier to see what he offers?

molerat

I can see no sign of any warranty intimated on the UK Bosch website or any of their literature. Many Bosch retailers, who your contract is with, offer 3, 4 or 5 year warranties and usually state "we offer" in respect to the warranty. If you wanted a battery with a UK wide warranty you should have purchased from a UK wide retailer.

fred246

On the website and my receipt it says 6 year warranty. In the terms and conditions of the website it says all warranties are manufacturer warranties. So I thought if I bought a battery that Bosch were willing to guarantee for 6 years then it must be good. It failed after 2 years and I contacted Bosch. They say we only give 1 year warranty. It is a scam that needs sorting out. Yes I could take the retailer to court but how do you prove the battery is defective. Pay for an engineers report and then pay postage to send it back? If I just post it back it will cost a lot and I just know I would get nothing back.
Lessons learned: Don't buy battery off internet, Don't buy Bosch

Car_54

fred246 wrote: »

On the website and my receipt it says 6 year warranty. In the terms and conditions of the website it says all warranties are manufacturer warranties. So I thought if I bought a battery that Bosch were willing to guarantee for 6 years then it must be good. It failed after 2 years and I contacted Bosch. They say we only give 1 year warranty. It is a scam that needs sorting out. Yes I could take the retailer to court but how do you prove the battery is defective. Pay for an engineers report and then pay postage to send it back? If I just post it back it will cost a lot and I just know I would get nothing back.
Lessons learned: Don't buy battery off internet, Don't buy Bosch

Can you give us a link to this website?

fred246

http://www.prestoncarbatteries.co.uk/terms_conditions