Battery warranty?

I bought a battery for my truck in 2014. In January of 2017 I needed a new battery, they replaced it after subtracting for the years used. So far all is good. In the last month i have had to charge the battery to get truck started (after sitting for a few days). I don't know if the battery is bad or I have a drain pulling it down over a few days. I will be taking in to my mechanic next year to trouble shoot the problem.
Today I was in the business that sold the battery and asked about replacement. I was told the warranty started in 2014, not last January when replaced. Is this right? Seems as I payed all ready for the time used the warranty would restart when the present battery was installed.
All I know is that they have sold me the last battery.

ya some are that way

The new battery should have new warranty the new battery should have a date code then the little bubbles you pop the date out that it was put into service

AFAIK it has always worked that way with batteries. The warranty period for the new battery started when the original battery was installed and the new battery is simply to fulfill the duty time of the original purchase.

That's the way it works. Origonal purchase date and don't blame the store.

I agree,it would be nice if the warranty renewed with
a new replacement battery but it doesn't.

That's the only way it'd work otherwise say there is a 3 year 100% warranty,at 2 years 11 months people would intentionally kill the battery so they could get a new battery with another 3 year
100% replacement.Go buy a battery somewhere else it'll be the same deal.

Need to understand, there are people who would trade a "bad" battery under warranty every two years if they could get away with it. Most everything I have ever seen was from date of purchase. Be glad they didn't pro rate you some money. Lot of stuff would knock 30 or 40 bucks off the full price that you would need to pay to get your new battery. Depot used to cover stuff for a year a long time ago. People would use it all summer and bring it back for FULL refund! They finally wised up. People would buy all kinds of potted plant for their shore house, keep them till labor day, and then bring back the dead plants. FULL refund. Look at SEARS. The warrenty on tools. I was at a store over outside of Philadelphia and this bunch of drywall hangers from south of the border walked in. Every single one of them had a broken 25' tape measure. Store manager just reached under the counter and handed each of them a brand new tape. I am standing there with my mouth open. After they leave he said we have been doing this all summer every week. They pull up in the parking lot in a van with their tapes, purposely break them because of a few scuff marks, or some dust, and walk in for new ones! That is how I got my little 3500 Generac generator two years ago. Some creep bougbt it for $450.oo, used it on a carpentry job for 15.5 hours, and brought it back for a full refund. I just happen to walk through the door at the right time and picked it up for $200.oo. There was a tiny bit of sawdust under the edge of the gas filler. Has worked perfectly. I was raised better than that. You hear stories about people eating 3/4 of the meal and suddenly find a hair or bug in the potatoes. My neighbor across the street walked into Lowes and sees them pushing a big box against the wall. If I remember correctly it was a 7.5K Generac home auto start unit with the switch box and everything. Brand new in the unopened box. Guy ordered it two weeks before and then canceled the order. Must have gone with another brand. My neighbor got a brand new gen-set for half price. Makes you sick???

I actually had a sales guy at HD so much as tell me that. I went in for a CAMO deck screw tool. I wanted the less fancy model for $20, but they only stocked the $40 model. The kid just said "You could buy it and just return it when you're done like everyone else." I don't work that way. Then he offered it to me for $30 and gave me a note for the cashier. I worked at Lincoln and for a while they were taking a spanking on welder returns.

That's pretty standard now: When you or I pay full price for a new battery we get a new warranty; when you or I get a new replacement battery for free or at a discount under a pro-rated warranty, only the original warranty applies.

A few years ago I had some problems with batteries going bad in one pickup, two batteries were replaced, one for free and one at a discount under the original battery's pro-rated warranty. It turned out the problem was a low current discharge through the alternator. After that alternator was replaced, the battery in that pickup has been fine.

What you need to do before making a warranty claim is to think about how much warranty is left.
5 year warranty and only one or 2.5 years left, might as well buy new and make no claim.

It's not just guys from south of the border. There have been several posters here bragging about going to yard sales, flea markets, etc and buying used up used Craftsman tools and taking them to Sears for free replacement with new tools.
By the way Sears did away with the lifetime warranty on tape measures years ago. Now it's one year material or workmanship defects warranty with proof of purchase. Wear and owner abuse is not covered.

Dont worry about it they get stolen befor the warreny is up in my equipment

Yes we know all of that. There are a couple of guys at the flea market that would recycle all of those returned tools from Sears for 1/2 price. They bought them from sears regional ware house for pennys on the dollar. One guy I know was buying returnned lawn and garden tractors from the regional warehouse. He would buy six or seven and scrap one or two for parts to fix the others. He made some awsum bucks for his time and labor. I know another guy who buys warrenty return and end of season equipment like weed trimmers, chainsaws,blowers, and such for maybe 70 or 80% off list. He checks them out, fixes anything they need and resells them for 60 or 70 % over what he paid. Makes a very nice sideline profit from them. He comes home with trailer and pickup bed loads of stuff sometimes. It is so sad that there most likely are more slime balls out there than honest people anymore.

Most of it depends on dealer and manufacturer, but all of the ones I have dealt with started the warranty on the date it was replaced if you had to pay the prorated charge. The only time I have ever known it to be on the original sale date was when it was a no charge replacement.

Battery warranties are mostly a scam. They prorate the warranty and will charge you full (inflated) price for a replacement, so the warranty is almost worth nothing after 6-12 months.

And as you have found, they only do that once, the replacement is not a purchase, it has no warranty any more.

That is normal way of business. Dad explained that to me back in the 80s......

Paul

I sale interstate I am the date puncher on all battery's I sale/warranty I punch the mouth I install the replacement not the month I original sold it.

That being said its my option interstate has never questioned it...
It would be a rare event I check a battery that checks good but may be a problem so I can weed out the folks that are trying to sucker me... I don't remember someone doing that to me in the last 45 years...

Interstate warranty sorta chucks I am getting rid of the few cheap I-line bats on the shelf I stock and only stocking the bats that have a 24 mo free replacement. The only Interstates that don't cut the mustard are the I series that have a 18 mo free replacement I know it don't sound like much between 18/24 but the 18's just don't last.

A couple times a year I outsource a bat from Advance auto are NAPA I have no control over there punching of the dates... I have never had to do a warranty on those tho...

I would have to ask who makes the call on the date issue...

Here is another thing. If you look in the local newspaper at mixers you will see Kitchen Aid mixers. These are the super duper lovey dovey of counter top mixers. Built like a birck ....house. The trick is that there are several types. The ORIGINAL machine was built by Hobart and was a model N-50. Was a three speed Tank of a machine. Basically a miniature of a full blown professional machine. Today those list for $2,400. The home unit is buit by kitchen aid and is a lighter duty version. A Hobary sub division. Still built like a tank but less costly. At one time I had a K5s unit. Cost almost 300 back 17 years ago. You bet...the EX Kept that machine. Don't get me started. Anyhow I really want to buy myself a RKP26MIX. This is the SIX quart 575 watt semi pro model. This machine listed for almost $550 when they first came out. Now if you go on Ebay and look at mixers you will find out that Kitchen Aid has their own web site. They sell referb machines. Yup, people buy them for the holidays, use them, and return time! There are some K-6 machines on there already for 229.95 and they are factory referb and warrenty. Maybe time for me to buy one? You can make a double batch of choco chip cookies in less than two minutes. Mixes as fast as you can pour stuff in. This stuff goes on all of the time in the business world. As a certian group of people joke, why buy retail when you can buy wholesale. If you really know your stuff you can buy pennys on the dollar. Look at that Ebates stuff on the TV. That is one or two model back stuff. All they want is 10 or 15 % of list. Here is another. Company has a dispatch system for workers and use cell phones for it. They bought enough units for the entire company. They paid a little over ONE dollar per phone. Brand new in the box. Two year old models. Just telling ya. First picture is a N-50 . The other is the K6 I want. Look close?

The Baptist Church is a Morton building,the roof stared pealing the clear coat bad. It looked like snow when the wind was just right. I have forgotten how long the warranty was, but it was within a few months of expiring. They came out and replaced the roof and said BTW, the warranty expires in a few weeks, not in twenty years(or what ever it was) O.T. but they replaced the roof at no charge at all, and it is big enough that the gym has been in both ends of the building when it was under construction.

If I have a problem with an ac delco battery my dealer doesn?t go back to the first battery. The replacement one has a full warranty also, not back to the purchase date of the first one. Of course I bought 14 batteries the other day when he had a special, maybe that?s why. This cold weather and snowplows will kill several for sure. I?ve been a good customer to him for 25 years. I?m sure I pay for it somehow.

I've been using Walmart's 3 year free replacement batteries. Have only needed a couple replaced.

It was kind of funny, a year or so ago, I took a battery in thinking I was turning in a core. The kid at Walmart's Customer Service counter said, "Let me scan it, for the heck of it". Turned out it was a couple months short of the three year replacement expiring. So-instead of spending a hundred bucks or so for a new battery I got a freebie.

Batteries nowadays are pretty darned good.

They very seldom fail if not abused/run dead/frozen, etc., and I can't recall many true battery failures I've ever had that were the battery's fault.

If yours truly failed with none of those issues I hope you were well taken care of.

On the other hand, how would you like to be a battery mfg. or distributor and deal with all the warranty claims that are made when a battery is ruined by such things?

That is right, the Warranty started when you purchased your original battery in 2014 and that warranty expires after I would say 3 years in your case? The warranty did not start over in Jan '17 because you did not buy a new battery then. The amount you were discounted is pro rata from when your battery failed to the warranty expiring, if you get another 5 years out of the replacement, then good on you. The battery manufacturer has met is obligations by warrantying the battery as agreed when you brought it. It is also the same with OEM batteries supplied fitted to a new machine, they are on a pro rata basis too. At a dealer I worked for we had a tractor that was a heap of trouble, a proper Friday afternoon job it was, the manufacturer agreed to replace the tractor, but we had to swap the wheels and tyres over so he got his original tyres back, the tractor was about 3 months away from the end of it's warranty. When the replacement tractor was about 9 months old the coolant pump started to weep, owner thought he was going to get that under warranty too, but it had expired as the replacement only had the balance of warranty left on his original tractor, the warranty had expired 6 months before.

I have used a lot of Wal Mart batteries without much success and if they have to replace one the warranty goes back to the original batt which is only fair since I did not BUY a new batt but was given one.

Sam's Club batteries are guaranteed 100% replacement for 3 years after that its prorated 7 year overall guarantee.A lot has changed since the 80's.

Well said, Bob.

Dean

If you are with-end the free replacement warranty period I can see were the original warranty date could apply. If you are out of the original free replacement period NO you pay a prorated rate the warranty starts OVER...

Once you leave the Free replacement and pay a prorated fee you are virtually buying the battery over again... Let that sink in...

If you brought a $159.95 battery with a free 30 mo. free replacement it fails at 31 mo its prorated at 90.17 you now have $250.12 in it and y'all are gonna tell me the warranty is only good for 2/3 more years...

You are virtually buying it over again the retailer makes NO money off the deal (If he's a large buyer then he does)... The manufacture is recouping there cost they may even make a few dollars on the deal...

While we are on prorating the mo. used it based on manufactures suggested RETAIL that 159.95 bat is prorated form a suggested retail price of $178.95.

I have sold interstates for over 30 years during that time other brands were just plain junk. Interstates were absolutely the best at that time offered to me. As Bob stated I don't know of a Top of the line bat that's offered today that's not up to par. The cheaper economy lines are junk in my opinion no matter who makes them...

Thank all of you for your replies. I did not want to say what brand of battery it was, last January I paid the money they asked for the use of the old battery. So in my mind I thought I was getting a new warranty. All I am saying is NAPA will never sell me a new battery, ever.
I do not know at this time if the battery is bad or good as I still need to see if I have a draw to discharge it. I will take to my auto shop and will buy his brand not NAPA.

Happy New Year !!!! joe