car Battery date of Manufacture?

Harpiaharpyja

Looking for advice regarding purchasing a new car battery. I have contacted four or five battery dealers who seem very

reluctant to tell me the battery date of manufacture for a specific car battery that they are advertising for sale.

I emailed a company called Carparts 4less. I explain in my email to them that I was interested in purchasing a Odyssey car
battery that they were listing. I asked them one simple question. Could you let me know the date of manufacture of the Odyssey 31M-PC2150 Extreme AGM. This particular battery had a listing price of £359.99

I received a reply a day later informing me " Unfortunately we have been advised that we do not have this information available to us.
I fully understand why they do not want to tell a prospective customer the date code of a battery that they are intending to sell. I just wanted to know if I have any consumer rights to demand the battery date code from them.
Can any one offer any advice?

Richard53

You don't have the right to demand anything, as you are not a customer. Consumer rights generally start after you have purchased something. If they don't want to tell you, they don't have to, and you are free to make your decision on that basis.

dogshome

You can overcome the problem by placing a written order for an XXXX battery that is claused, with a date of manufacture that is no earlier than (say) July 2018

Norman_Castle

How can they provide information they don't have?

I received a reply a day later informing me " Unfortunately we have been advised that we do not have this information available to us.

unforeseen

The question of course is what the datecode on a battery signifies.

Is it the date that the battery was constructed on the assembly line or

The date that the electrolyte was added to make it ready for use?

There could be months or years between the two. Unless you you know which the datecode refers to then its meaningless

forgotmyname

So you expect someone in the office to drive 60 miles to the warehouse to inspect the battery they have picked to send to you?

Its not the fact they dont want to tell you, its impossible to tell you. Because they may sell 20 batteries before yours and battery #21 is older than the rest.

If you want to check the code before buying then buy locally off the shelf.



Schools out.

Scrapit

How many batteries do they have? Do you expect them to ear mark a specific one for you on the off chance that you buy it?

AdrianC

If you want to interview your exact battery, then order one to collect from your nearest branch of ECP (or whichever other supplier), and when it's brought out to you, YOU check the date and accept or reject it accordingly.



Your query went to a call-centre chimp. The actual battery is despatched from one of a number of warehouses across the country, perhaps even drop-shipped direct from the distributor.

unforeseen wrote: »

The question of course is what the datecode on a battery signifies.

Is it the date that the battery was constructed on the assembly line or

The date that the electrolyte was added to make it ready for use?

There could be months or years between the two. Unless you you know which the datecode refers to then its meaningless

The OP's talking about a gel mat battery, not a lead-acid.

neilmcl

dogshome wrote: »

You can overcome the problem by placing a written order for an XXXX battery that is claused, with a date of manufacture that is no earlier than (say) July 2018

And they'll have the right not to accept his order.

As others have said, if you want to check the date of the battery then buy locally and inspect it there and then, no call centre staff is going to be able to tell you what manufacturing date is on the exact battery that's sent out to you.

unforeseen

AdrianC wrote: »

The OP's talking about a gel mat battery, not a lead-acid.

Fair enough. Not being an expert on car batteries or having the urge to look up that particular model then I assumed a bog standard (albeit f***ING expensive) car battery.

Ectophile

AdrianC wrote: »

The OP's talking about a gel mat battery, not a lead-acid.

It's still a lead acid battery. Just one with added jelly.