Product back-up Whitworths
Submitted: Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 21:00
ThreadID:
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Replies:
10
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Mark Howlett
Am I right in feeling a bit done by with this company? I bought a little 18Amp/Hr SLA battery just over 18 months ago and it died (drops back below 11 volts after charging) about 2 months ago. I have always used the supplied trickle charger and it's been used fairly often.
As a comparison, I bought a 7Amp/Hr SLA battery nine years ago and it's still working today.
I e-mailed them explaining the situation and despite being out of warranty I expected a LOT longer service from their product. Their reply was basically a bad luck mate...batteries can go at any time...you're lucky you're having a great run out of the other one!
Of course I replied, telling them the other battery has nothing to do with the fact theirs died quickly and my understaing is that sealed batteries lasted a lot longer than 'open' batteries and what could have been a chance of great customer service has left me with no faith in buying from Whitworths again - they didn't bother to reply back to me (over 3 weeks ago).
So now I'm going to go to my local Jaycar dealer to get another one but I'll be asking them first about their stance on customer support outside of warranties.
Frustrated,
Mark.
Reply By: Mogul - Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 21:10
Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 21:10
Why not contact the battery manufacturer?
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Michael ( Moss Vale NSW) - Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 21:44
Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 21:44
Hi Mark, is it possible that you flattened the new battery to a dead flat state a few times?? Wet cells dont like that happening to them.. Thats the problem with those huge hand held torches, like the 5 million CP units, the discharge rate is high and the battery life is short.. Michael
AnswerID:
388138
Reply By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 21:55
Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 21:55
GO to Battery World and buy a decent quality one'
Had similar probs and went there with the battery and he said they were rubbish. Sold ne a known brand one and it lasts loneg before flattening and charges better as
well.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Michael ( Moss Vale NSW) - Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 22:04
Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 22:04
I agree Graham, the quality is the key to long life.. Michael
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Follow Up By: paulnsw - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 07:31
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 07:31
Battery World that is a good joke. People who buy themselves a job with a franchise and charge the world and know not a lot about much.
Look at the type of supplied battery charger. Look to Jaycar while you are there for a proper pulse charger for the battery. Straight battery chargers cause modern batteries to sulphate and die quickly. Good battery chargers cost money. Best battery charger is a small 10w - 20w solar panel and pulse regulator like Morningstar.
FollowupID:
655754
Follow Up By: Member -Signman - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 11:58
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 11:58
Battery World !! I was having 'problems' with the cranking battery in our campervan. The vehilce is used infrequently, and I had assumed the battery was cactus. Went to the local Battery World- cashed up ready for a new battery. The guy put his diagnostic meters on the battery. It is a 660CCA batt- and it was reading 580CCA. his recommendation was that the battery was serviceable- and sold me a $50 (with discount) maintenance trickle charger.
Very satisfied with his ethics !!!!
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:16
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:16
Maybe it is a franchise operation but the guys who are in the Morayfield store in
Brisbane are knowledgeable and helpful.
The owner is the guy who does the battery stuff with Roothy in the 4 x 4 mag so must know something if he's prepared to go into print.
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Reply By: Crackles - Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 22:20
Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 22:20
"Am I right in feeling a bit done by with this company?"
Not really. You purchased a battery with a one year warrenty & it lasted 50% longer. Any company has to draw the line on returns somewhere & the employee of a large company like Whitworths can only follow it's policy. Warrenty normally covers failure from poor build. After 18 months failure is far more likely to be caused by environmental factors, poor charging or deep discharging.
I feel your pain but no doubt you could have payed more & got a better battery with a 2 year warrenty elsewhere :-)
Cheers Craig..........
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Shaker - Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 23:17
Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 23:17
I agree 100%
Once the warranty has expired the retailer has no further obligation whatsoever.
If more is expected, then contact the manufacturer or their agent.
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Follow Up By: Mark Howlett - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 02:08
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 02:08
I see your point guys but yes "more is expected"...I don't expect things I buy to die shortly after their warranty period - who would? No doubt I got a lemon for as mentioned my other one that's been treated the same is still going after 9 years!
Mark.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Maîneÿ . . .- Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 09:17
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 09:17
Mark,
I think it's not the battery at fault, but it's use & the charging regime used
Maîneÿ . . .
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Follow Up By: Mark Howlett - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 09:20
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 09:20
I know that's usually the case Mainey but my other SLA is 9 years old and going
well - I treat them both the same!
Mark.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Maîneÿ . . .- Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:12
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:12
Mark,
that's my point, maybe they each require different charging regimes?
Maîneÿ . . .
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Follow Up By: Mark Howlett - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:23
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:23
Oh I gotcha. I would have thought small SLA batteries would be similar. Looking at your profile Mainey it looks like you're a bit of a guru on this side of things. How would you recommend charging SLA type batteries?
Cheers,
Mark.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Maîneÿ . . .- Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:30
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:30
Mark,
they may have the charging regime stated on them or some paperwork
are they both the same brand etc (but different capacities)
were either supplied with a specific charger ??
Maîneÿ . . .
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Mark Howlett - Friday, Oct 23, 2009 at 10:24
Friday, Oct 23, 2009 at 10:24
Mainey no instructions with either and both supplied with trickle chargers, different makes. I'd only take them down to 12V before charging back up.
Mark.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Shaker - Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 23:22
Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 23:22
When do think Whitworths should no longer feel obligated to you?
After 2 years, 5 years, 10 years?
Personally I think that they are the ones that should feel aggrieved, having you sully their name on an open
forum.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Ed. C. (QLD) - Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 23:51
Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 23:51
What he said....
;-)
| Confucius say.....
"He who lie underneath automobile with tool in hand,
....Not necessarily mechanic!!"Member
My Profile Send Message |
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Follow Up By: Mark Howlett - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 02:04
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 02:04
Yeah look a good point Shaker about the time frame but if your house fridge, TV, washing machine etc happened to be letting go a couple of years when you would expect at least 10 from those type of products, would you really just suck it in and say to yourself "
well they're out of warranty".
I'll be taking the quality approach as mentioned above, not that I paid a cheap price anyway from these guys.
Cheers,
Mark.
FollowupID:
655751
Follow Up By: Shaker - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 09:35
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 09:35
I had a hot
water leak from the
tank at 4 years & 1 month, guess how long the
tank warranty was, yep ... 4 years!
I didn't whinge about the supplier, I rang the manufacturer, they apologised & said there was nothing they could do, but hoped I would buy another of their products ... yeah right!
I just told them that would never happen, & to this day I never have, That was in 1984.
A warranty is a warranty, what is the point of putting a time frame on it if it means nothing, maybe next time buy a battery with a 10 year warranty.
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Follow Up By: Mark Howlett - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:07
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:07
I'll see if I can find the manufacturer and contact them; regardless the person selling them needs to stand by their product. I recently bought a "water proof" reversing camera that was anything but, and the supplier got onto the manufacturer and my replacement was an upgraded design.
No I'm not after 10 year warranty, c'mon! If I get any more than 3-4 years out of a battery that's pretty good but I don't expect them dying after 18 months.
Your hot
water tank experience sucks, 8 to 10 years being the general run and you were right in having a go at them.
Mark.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Member - Allan B (QLD) - Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 23:29
Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 at 23:29
Rules is rules Mark.
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Follow Up By: Mark Howlett - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 02:12
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 02:12
So true Allan, I guess we should tell all the 3.0L Patrol owners :)
Cheers,
Mark.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Allan B (QLD) - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 09:52
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 09:52
Nah Mark, let them live on in blissful ignorance. LOL
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Reply By: Member - Tonyb (FNQ) - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 17:00
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 17:00
You win some and you lose some - You lost that one. I would not blame the company though and it was a little mean mentioning them in this vein (imho)
Give a rev when it is due but in this case I would not have expected anything special.
Batteries are notoriously unpredictable as far as life span.
Bad luck though. Cheers Tony
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Mark Howlett - Friday, Oct 23, 2009 at 10:52
Friday, Oct 23, 2009 at 10:52
Tony I did think long and hard before posting this and while I had a negative slant, I was asking a question rather than bagging them outright, because I know I was out of warranty and technically I didn't have a leg to stand on.
I've said everything above but in short, due to the 'towing the company/warranty' approach, I have no faith in buying from them again. The flip-side is that had they agreed it was an unusally short battery life despite falling out of warranty and did something about it, I would have posted on here immediately how great the customer support is from this company and encourage others to buy from them.
Having worked for a family (my own relies) business, they had an excellent customer approach, were flexible with issues like this and hence were (and still are) absolutely thriving from word-of-mouth requiring minimal advertising. A little money lost to keep happy customers pays big dividends in the end from my experience.
Cheers,
Mark.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: your the pussy mate - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 21:34
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 21:34
well i can relate to this........ I don't like to buy crap. Thus I bought a bushranger power pack from TJM
Maroochydore Qld after having a wonderful bushranger power pack in prior years.
Well this one never charged properly behaved strangley etc so I took it back. After a lot of chaseing up with TJM they eventually said Kingsley supplier in NSW said they would not honour the warranty, as the seal had been broken, and it had a different coloured battrey in it than they use and that I was responsible for this. TJM wiped their hands of it too even though they had sold me the damm thing and said that they believed my point of view.
I had to throw major trantrems in their store in front of customers to get justice.
EVENTUALLY......... they gave me a new one after much emotional distress endured by myself.
I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO TJM
MAROOCHYDORE.
Ros
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Reply By: Member - Pesty (SA) - Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 22:47
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at 22:47
I bought a 12v pump off Whitworths
Adelaide, the diaphram died in 2 months, not only wouldnt they carry the warranty, they wouldnt tell me who the supplier was, and so that i could use the $400, pump i had to pay $40, in advance for the replacement diaphram, and then they wouldnt post it to me, i had to complete a 300k round trip to get it.
Yes i did speak real loud to the wanker in charge, but it was a waste of breath, they couldnt care less.
I WILL NEVER BUY FROM WHITWORTHS
ADELAIDE EVER AGAIN.
Pesty
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Reply By: TerraFirma - Friday, Oct 23, 2009 at 13:43
Friday, Oct 23, 2009 at 13:43
I buy from Whitworths a fair bit but I do not rely on their staff for help or advise. I only use them to supply the product. I am a BIG fan of AGM batteries nowadays and Ctek battery chargers, these combinations have given me awesome reliability. I went through 3 wet batterys for my ride on mower in 3 years alll supplied by the mower people, I replaced the last one with a Fullriver AGM around 20-30AH and it's now in it's 3rd year, had I have bought this originally I would be way ahead in $$$ stakes
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