nickbos
Member Since: 11 Sep 2018
Location: Cambridgeshire
Posts: 72
  
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| Re: Competition of the week . . . . |
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nickbos wrote:OK guys and gals....
A jelly baby for all who answer the following two questions correctly that relate to the bottom inscription showing on this regularly purchased consumer item:
(a) What do you think any reasonable consumer would infer it means?
(b) What it actually means?
Please post answers as responses to this thread by Sunday eve...
Cheers!
OK . . . .
(a) My thoughts were that as there is no other branding mark on the casing of this item than that of the manufacturer, and directly beneath this is the term "lifetime guarantee", I didn't think I was being unreasonable in inferring that the manufacturer offered a lifetime warranty against failure of the battery - "lifetime" being the duration that any reasonable person would expect a car battery to function for; I thought five years, other may consider longer?.
(b) What does it actually mean? Well . . . not the above.
As someone has pointed out, and provided a link to a page on the Yuasa web site, these batteries are/were manufactured by Yuasa for sole retail sale by Halfords. There is no Halfords branding on the case of the battery, or anything written to show that they are the only guarantor of the item to the end-user. Yuasa do not offer any end-user warranty on any of their batteries (a fact confirmed by one of their staff based at their HO in Swindon in a blunt, NIFO like, response to my query), and their swap-out warranty is limited to members of their retailer network for just 12 months. Here's a page from their site that makes their position clear:
https://www.yuasa.co.uk/info/quality-assur...explained/
Retailers of Yuasa products are free to offer whatever warranties they like at their own risk. In the case of Halfords, the warranty they offer as seller to the end-user becomes invalid if the battery is fitted to a second vehicle or the claimant is unable to provide a proof of purchase - a mute point, as in the case of these batteries, which are manufactured solely for re-sale by Halfords, there is no doubt about the company that supplies/supplied them.
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So, IMHO, at best this is a case of misleading labelling on the item itself and at the other end of the spectrum a case of the manufacturer deliberately allowing items to leave their production facility carrying a warranty statement that they know they won't be honouring if called upon by end-users to do so. Interesting, as in my distant past I've done some work on the Consumer Protection Act, which if my memory serves me correctly lays the ultimate responsibility for fitness for purpose upon the manufacturers of products. I think everyone would agree that any automotive battery that fails to hold a 12V charge after just six months of use is not fit for purpose.
To sum up this rather long diatribe then, I think that in future when it comes down to replacing car batteries I'll be avoiding Halfords and Yuasa products like the plague. Between the two, the "lifetime guarantee" seems to be nothing more than a marketing gimmick and carries about as much weight as the socket I used to remove the vehicle connection leads.
Reading through some of the entries on this thread:
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/....17958278/
it really does look to depend on exactly who you get to deal with. Not good. 
Bearing in mind what I've spent on my disco in the last ten weeks since acquiring it, I really can't be ar$ed to take this any further. Chin chin.
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 26th Oct 2018 3:20 pm |
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Hardware
Member Since: 28 Jun 2016
Location: Hiding under the M60
Posts: 12697
 
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doh !!! meant to post this info here as well as in https://disco4.com/forum/new-battery-time-174443.html
Quote:
Spoke to one of Halfords fitters yesterday... They're ceasing stocking the lifetime guarantee versions because no-one is buying them because "no-one keeps cars as long these days "
So … my take on what I heard and the other info you got is … Halfords have decided that offering the extra guarantee isn't worthwhile and are doing their best to avoid paying out.
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| 26th Oct 2018 4:23 pm |
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nickbos
Member Since: 11 Sep 2018
Location: Cambridgeshire
Posts: 72
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Certainly one interpretation. Unless you work there, there's no way of knowing whether there is/was a deliberate policy handed down from Halfords galactic HQ instucting local outlets to avoid swapping out these things as much as they can. I think it's more a case that some people who work there want to do the right thing for customers, and those who have faulty products they've sold, and some just couldn't give a rat's ar$e. Longer term this attitude won't do the business any credit but hey, when you're being employed in a job that pays only slightly more than the NMW, do you really care?
What I think is clear is that anyone opting to purchase a new battery from Halfords, because they offer a 3/4/5 year guarantee, may well find it's not as easy as they might have been led to believe to collect on it. I'm also pretty sure that if there was a big sign next to the batteries on display at Halfords, or any other retailer for that matter, stating that Yuasa UK offer no end-user warranties on any of their products, consumers might just be persuaded to purchase an alternative brand - whose manufacturers take more of an interest in making good for disappointed consumers.
If anyone reading this is in the market for a new battery for their Disco . . . you have been warned!
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| 26th Oct 2018 8:14 pm |
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