Car Battery Warranty Help Please ...

Maharishi

Hi there Forum people,

Just over two years ago (3.1.2017), I bought a Yuasa 12v battery for my little van, from a motor factor that trades through the eBay portal: Sutton Auto Factors. They have, according to thier supplied invoice a few factors in the midlands and north of the UK.

The battery was supplied with a "5 year guarantee" and that was all the advert stated with regard to the guarantee. I paid £68 and all was well until it started struggling to start the van in November 2018 - less than 2 years after I had fitted it. I took it to my local garage where they were able to run a test on it and, surprise surprise, it failed.

I emailed the seller and supplied photos of the invoice and test readout and received a reply with the following attached;

BATTERY WARRANTY INFORMAION
Warranty on batteries
We are only obliged to cover a collection if the item is up to one year old and we are also only obliged to issue a full cost refund if under 1 year old
Older than one year will have the refund calculated to a time used figure, example –if the battery is three years old, the refund will be 2 years of the original cost price
YBX3XXX 3 YEARS
YBX5XXX 5 YEARS
Warranty starts from the day of purchase
If the battery is less than 1 year old, we will organize for a collection for testing at our cost,
If the battery is + 1 year old the arraignments for a delivery will have to be organized at the cost the buyer, there is no refund of the delivery cost.
Anything after a year, feel free to contact yuasa with the fault information
We can arrange for collection at the cost of £40 which will be deducted from the refund.
Please note we do not send replacements only refunds
If the battery passes testing, the buyer will have to arrange for the battery to be collected

So, according to that, I would only get 60% (max) of the £68 that I paid less £40 for the collection. That leaves me with 60 pence!

Surely that cannot be right, can it? Thanks,

Maha.

p.s. The section in black is copy and paste - they are not my typos.

KatrinaWaves

Warranty’s are above your statutory rights so can include whatever they want.

You could arrange your own courier if it’s cheaper.

You do have statutory rights but you’d have to get a report proving the fault was inherent and was bound to fail, potentially tricky after 2 years use and may not be worth it on a small value item. Always an option though.

forgotmyname

The battery test can be flawed if your battery is discharged during the test.

Ideally it should be fully charged before testing.

Tested one recently, 560CCA, came out at 184CCA taken off the car due to the cranking being slow. Fully charged and left for 24 hours and repeated the test 524CCA.

Car driven just 3 miles each way with lots of electrics, so not enough time for it to recover the charge lost.

Try charging the battery with a decent external charger. Then test it.

Take the battery back and save £40 delivery?

Maharishi

forgotmyname wrote: »

The battery test can be flawed if your battery is discharged during the test.

Ideally it should be fully charged before testing.

Tested one recently, 560CCA, came out at 184CCA taken off the car due to the cranking being slow. Fully charged and left for 24 hours and repeated the test 524CCA.

Car driven just 3 miles each way with lots of electrics, so not enough time for it to recover the charge lost.

Try charging the battery with a decent external charger. Then test it.

Take the battery back and save £40 delivery?

The garage took the battery off, charged it, left it three days and then tested it. They also checked my van's charging circuit was Ok, and the battery had been failing for 2/3 months whereupon it would not hold sufficient charge left idle for 5 days. I am certain that everyone would agree that a good battery is OK for a week. The van also starts "on the key" and doesn't require extended cranking. The van does high mileage steady motorway driving. Very few short trips - more 100 - 180 mile round trips twice a week.

The company are miles away so would cost a lot in fuel and time to return it personally.

I guess that I should have bought locally as when I have had failures in the last 20 years, both Euro Car Parts and Les Smith exchanged batteries under warranty without quibble. I just feel cheated by the worthless guarantee.

Thanks for your thoughts ...

Maharishi

... oh, and here's a weird thing: Yuasa only offer a 1 year guarantee if you buy from them for the same model. The "extended" warranty seems to be a ploy by vendors to make the product more attractive.

I've gone back to Exide.

Fosterdog

As it's a van and you cover such high mileage is it used for business?

forgotmyname

Charging works and starts on the key, does not mean there isn't a parasitic drain that weakens the batteries over time.

The test i mentioned above where the battery shows 524CCA and shows the alternator as all good, except i know the test failed to pickup the fact that after running for 20 minutes with a fairly heavy electrical load the charging voltage will drop.

A garage testing the car wont test it for that long and certainly wont drive it for 20 minutes and then test it.
I know the alternator is getting weak and starting to fail.

jackmiller669

I want to buy Yuasa 12v battery in the bulk quantity. I Usually, buy from China but they are out of stock.

1000 Piece need with A+ Quality