Warranty on batteries

Zebbedee

How long of a warranty do you get with a motorcycle battery?
My local bike shop only offers 6 months which is annoying because the battery buggered itself after only 9 months.
I've noticed Battery World in Kimmage offers 12 months warranty.
Thats likely where I'm going to get a replacement.

Hotblack Desiato

Very easy to bugger up a battery with a few months of neglect, and motorcycles are often owned by wannabes who just park it up when the sun stops shining. Can't blame the shops for owner error.

Cuddlesworth

Your battery died after 9 months of daily driving?

CJhaughey

OP just a few Q's
How do you maintain your battery?
What is the Ah of the battery?
Did you fill it with an acid pack or buy it prefilled and charged?

Zebbedee

Thanks for the replies.
To answer your questions;
14 ah battery that I filled with acid when I bought it.
The bike was only in occasional use and when not used was on
an oxford optimiser once a week for 24 hours.
I'm not an occasional wannabee fair weather biker. I use another motorbike daily including all through winter except for 1 or 2 days when it was extremely icy.
One of the cells has visibly failed on the battery so it wont charge over 10.2volts. In my opinion thats a manufacturing defect.
I'm just putting the question out there about how much of a warranty
other people get with batteries. I've bought a lot of motorcycle batteries over the years and have never had a battery fail so quickly.

Kevin McCloud

What brand battery is it?

Zebbedee

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

What brand battery is it?

Easystart.

Kevin McCloud

Easystart should carry a 12 month warranty, you need to get tough with that place you bought it from. They are only inventing their own t&c.

Zascar

That's unfortunate. Batteries are a pain. Mine started acting up and it was only about 15 months old, but it had not been touched over the winter, so I decided to get a new one. I went to www.batteryworld.ie - Rob is really nice guy I'd definitely recommend them. He will test your old battery for free. I got a new Gel battery - thought I'd give it a try. Was only €50. I bloody hate battery problems so best to just replace it.

Del2005

Zebbedee wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.
To answer your questions;
14 ah battery that I filled with acid when I bought it.
The bike was only in occasional use and when not used was on
an oxford optimiser once a week for 24 hours.
I'm not an occasional wannabee fair weather biker. I use another motorbike daily including all through winter except for 1 or 2 days when it was extremely icy.
One of the cells has visibly failed on the battery so it wont charge over 10.2volts. In my opinion thats a manufacturing defect.
I'm just putting the question out there about how much of a warranty
other people get with batteries. I've bought a lot of motorcycle batteries over the years and have never had a battery fail so quickly.

Warranty is an addition to your consumer rights. You got a faulty item and are entitled to repair, replacement or refund under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act. Obviously a battery can't be repaired but the shop has to replace or refund. Shocking if companies are still trying this stuff.

Zebbedee

Del2005 wrote: »

Warranty is an addition to your consumer rights. You got a faulty item and are entitled to repair, replacement or refund under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act. Obviously a battery can't be repaired but the shop has to replace or refund. Shocking if companies are still trying this stuff.

The sale of goods act doesn't determine a 12 month warranty for everything.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1980/en/act/pub/0016/sec0016.html#sec16

For example you wouldn't expect a 12 month warranty on a bulb. I'm not an expert on the law but I'm not sure if lead acid batteries don't fall into the category of 'consumables'.
I have no beef with the shop. Their distributor only offers 6 months warranty and I don't expect the shop to be out of pocket. I will have no problem telling them I can't buy any more batteries off them under those warranty terms.
Had I known there was only was 6 months warranty I would have gone elsewhere.
I've never thought to ask about how long warranty is on batteries before but I certainly will clear that up in the future.

Del2005

Zebbedee wrote: »

The sale of goods act doesn't determine a 12 month warranty for everything.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1980/en/act/pub/0016/sec0016.html#sec16

For example you wouldn't expect a 12 month warranty on a bulb. I'm not an expert on the law but I'm not sure if lead acid batteries don't fall into the category of 'consumables'.
I have no beef with the shop. Their distributor only offers 6 months warranty and I don't expect the shop to be out of pocket. I will have no problem telling them I can't buy any more batteries off them under those warranty terms.
Had I known there was only was 6 months warranty I would have gone elsewhere.
I've never thought to ask about how long warranty is on batteries before but I certainly will clear that up in the future.

The reason why it doesn't say a time limit, and why we were allowed ignore the weaker EU law, is because the item should last a reasonable time. 12 months is way too soon for a cell in a battery to fail and if a company is stocking them and then trying to ignore consumer law they deserve to take a loss.

Cuddlesworth

Del2005 wrote: »

The reason why it doesn't say a time limit, and why we were allowed ignore the weaker EU law, is because the item should last a reasonable time. 12 months is way too soon for a cell in a battery to fail and if a company is stocking them and then trying to ignore consumer law they deserve to take a loss.

You can take any battery and put it outside during winter, with no charge and no use and within 3 months it would be dead.

Keep in mind, that for a large portion of Irelands biking population it's bang on what happens.

So should they keep replacing dead battery's every six months?

Zebbedee

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

You can take any battery and put it outside during winter, with no charge and no use and within 3 months it would be dead.

Keep in mind, that for a large portion of Irelands biking population it's bang on what happens.

So should they keep replacing dead battery's every six months?

In this case it was kept in a warm garage over winter and kept topped up with a good quality charger.

Yes I do expect them to replace it.

I rang the Irish distributor of the battery yesterday and asked why there was only 6 months warranty on Easystart batteries. He said they had issues with them in the past.

To me that sounds like they know that they are sh*te batteries and that they expect them to fail early and so only offer 6 months warranty.
However when I mentioned the one cell being 'gone' he said he would talk to Esaystart UK with a view to replacing it FOC. I will hear back from him on Friday.
If he comes back with a 'no' I will explain to him that I can never buy a battery from any bike shop that he supplies ever again.

I have found another motorbike repair shop in my area that gives 1 to 2 years warranty on batteries!

The lesson I've learned here lads is: ask how long the warranty is and go where you get the best warranty.

Del2005

Zebbedee wrote: »

In this case it was kept in a warm garage over winter and kept topped up with a good quality charger.

Yes I do expect them to replace it.

I rang the Irish distributor of the battery yesterday and asked why there was only 6 months warranty on Easystart batteries. He said they had issues with them in the past.

To me that sounds like they know that they are sh*te batteries and that they expect them to fail early and so only offer 6 months warranty.
However when I mentioned the one cell being 'gone' he said he would talk to Esaystart UK with a view to replacing it FOC. I will hear back from him on Friday.
If he comes back with a 'no' I will explain to him that I can never buy a battery from any bike shop that he supplies ever again.

I have found another motorbike repair shop in my area that gives 1 to 2 years warranty on batteries!

The lesson I've learned here lads is: ask how long the warranty is and go where you get the best warranty.

Warranty doesn't matter a sod as our consumer rights have legal status while a warranty is a manufactures offer. If the product is defective then consumer law is how the it should be dealt with, not allowing manufactures set the policy.

BTW the shops offering a 1-2 warranty are still no offering much as the EU has a 2nd year guarantee on all products which we didn't have to implement as our Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act has much better consumer protection, which is a reasonable time.

Zebbedee

Update.
The distributor, while standing firm on the 6 months warranty has agreed
to replace the battery FOC as a measure of goodwill.
Thats good enough for me.