Walmart battery warranty no good

[bamx2]

I recently went to Walmart to return a bad Everstart ( made by Johnson Controls) 72 month battery which I had purchased about 2 1/2 years ago . I purchased the battery are Walmart because it was convenient at the time and I thouhg that Walmart would stand behind the warranty .The battery was sold with a 2 year replacement warranty and the warranty is prorated after that . I get to the store an find that they no longer have this one but have one in the next price range up . Well ok what can I do ? . I take the new and old batteries to the service desk and show them my saved receipt for the old battery . . They offered me a an adjustment of $19.88 for the bad battery ( not exactly a great pro-ration) then proceeded to tell me that there would be an additional $9.00 core charge effectively making the adjustment $10.88.
I got a manager in involved and still got nowhere . I went to a nearby Advanced Autoparts and purchased a battery . BTW , I wonder if Sams Club ( Walmart div ) does htis to their customers .

Lessons learned . No more batteries from Walmart- They don't last beyond their free replacement period . Their prorated warranty is worthless .

 

[T2urtle]

if you payed the average price of $75 the battery should of been $43ish for the adjustment. but the core charge/disposal/install fee can not be avoid its at a lot of places. sears however didn't charge me, hell the almost forgot to charge me for the battery.

i think sears with the diehard brand is really good standing behind their stuff. my parents both had these battery, when the battery went dead, they had to only pay like $20 and this was 2 years later, the $20 covered charging system testing, starter, alternator, battery to make sure it was the battery and then the disposal fee.

 

[Vette73]

Call wal-mart corp as they did it wrong.


You should not be charged a core charge as you are returning a battery, the old one.
The warranty is if it has a 72month warranty and it was $72 (for easy math) then you lose $1 for every month you own it.

 

[bamx2]

That's what I figured but I often experienced gotchas ("front loaded") on prorated warranties . This is even worse since that wanted to charge me for a core on top of the weak adjustment

I will probably call them but I would expect it happen again and would recommend that folks not purchase auto batteries from them .

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Call wal-mart corp as they did it wrong.


You should not be charged a core charge as you are returning a battery, the old one.
The warranty is if it has a 72month warranty and it was $72 (for easy math) then you lose $1 for every month you own it.

 

[EvilHorace]

I've had great luck with Walmart batteries. I have one in my Mustang that's at least 8 yrs old, has gone completely dead a few times (stored winters) until last year when I got a battery tender for it which keeps it perfectly charged. I've never had any car battery last more than 7 yrs so it'll be interesting to see how long that one lasts. I have two other Walmart batteries in my 2 other cars, no problems and still in use.

 

[LTC8K6]

I think you just had some idiots working at that Wal-Mart...

 

[Savarak]

i'm not following fully here... maybe its just late?

so instead of paying 10.88 to get a new battery in place of one used for 2.5 years, you went and bought a new battery at full price?

 

[LTC8K6]

No, they offered 19.88 off the replacement which was actually only 10.88 off because of the core charge.

 

[dawp]

Originally posted by: bamx2
That's what I figured but I often experienced gotchas ("front loaded") on prorated warranties . This is even worse since that wanted to charge me for a core on top of the weak adjustment

I will probably call them but I would expect it happen again and would recommend that folks not purchase auto batteries from them .

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Call wal-mart corp as they did it wrong.


You should not be charged a core charge as you are returning a battery, the old one.
The warranty is if it has a 72month warranty and it was $72 (for easy math) then you lose $1 for every month you own it.

i wouldn't buy anything auto from Walmart, or Sears either, I've had a bad experience at both, sears wouldn't honor a read hazard warranty that i had on a set of tires from Western Auto, a subsidiary they had closed down and was told they would.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

The way the core charge works is that you get the money back when you give them your old battery.

 

[microAmp]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
The way the core charge works is that you get the money back when you give them your old battery.

Which he had with him at the time.

I take the new and old batteries to the service desk and show them my saved receipt for the old battery

 

[bamx2]

Walmart offered me effectively a $10.88 discount on a new battery (not a new battery for 10.88) . The price of the new battery on sale was about $8 more than the adjusted price new battery from Walmart . The main reason why I did this was to not have to face that crap from Walmart again if this one goes bad. It was worth it to me .

Originally posted by: Savarak
i'm not following fully here... maybe its just late?

so instead of paying 10.88 to get a new battery in place of one used for 2.5 years, you went and bought a new battery at full price?

 

[CptCrunch]

I just did this about 2 months ago. Had a battery that was 3 months out of warranty and was dead-celled, I ended up paying $9 for a new battery after they pro-rated it. Sounds like your wal-mart is dumb.

 

[Jugernot]

I just got a Maxx battery replaced by Walmart last month. I had purchased it 35 months before out of a 36month exchange warranty. They put in a new battery and I didn't even have to sign anything.

Your walmart is run by a bunch of chimps.

 

[Thump553]

It doesn't make any sense that you are being charged a core charge if you brought in the dead battery. Other than that, your experience is about average. Everyone does this on prorated batteries. I had a DieHard replaced at Sears once under warranty and the final cost (because of proration, inflation in the cost of the replacement battery) was pretty much the same as the original battery cost.

That said, I've used Walmart batteries in a couple of cars and have been very happy with them. No warranty claims yet.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
I think you just had some idiots working at that Wal-Mart...

It works both ways.

I was once in line to return something at Wal Mart and the guys in front of me were returning a battery with top contacts. Either the new battery was too tall or they needed a battery with side contacts; whatever the deal was, they said that they were returning this battery because it shorted to itself and died when they closed the hood on the car.

Wal Mart took it back!


I think that was the same morning when the lady in front of me was returning a goldfish (still alive in a bag of water).