optima battery warranty
 

Had an optima red top in our dragster that was new around this time last race season. Finally got the car out and charged it up and was slow cranking the motor. I figured had to be starter or the fact its a new motor (605 bbc 15:1 compression). went through all the motions of diagnosing the problem. Came down to be the battery weak.

Today the delivery guy made it stop and i pulled out that optima battery and i said " we were at the track, had this battery in a car and it wouldn't hardly start it. Tried to charge it and it didn't make any difference." He agrees to swap it out and says he'll double check the warranty. IT SAYS RIGHT ON THE BATTERY "3 YEAR FREE REPLACEMENT". It has no stipulations or (*) signs leading to any disclaimer. He comes back in and says ok it'll be $xxx.xx for that battery. Said it wasn't covered under warranty because it was installed in a race car which is concidered to be commercial use. He then proceeded to tell me commercial use only has a 1 year warranty and after that its pro-rated cost. Today was the 2nd day it was out of that 1 year, and battery was found bad 2 weekends ago. Needless to say he wouldn't budge at all even though he had skipped the delivery/pick-up dates in the last 2 weeks.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up if they have any similar situation. Just remember......its in your passenger car. :lol: :wink:

That sucks. Sounds like you cant be honest with people these days, they want you to lie to them.
He should of warrantied it for you though> obviously he must be getting a percentage of the sales.

I have heard so many bad things about optimas that I'll never buy another one.

We had one in the boy's mustang that was problematic, it could barely turn over a bone stock 5.0, we ended up selling it to his buddy for $40 cause he thought it looked cool....lol

We bought a $50 Walmart Everstart battery, whoolah, no more problems.

Sounds like the guy just wanted your money. He should have replaced it for free. Sorry pos. My wife bought one for her drag car. Later in the year, one of mine went bad and I used her reciept to exchange mine.

That is a "UNIVERSAL" battery with no particular application. It shouldn't matter what it is in. 3 year free replacement should be good for 3 years!
I'm in the auto parts business and if I sold a product with a warranty stamped on it like that, I would honor it. Keep the customer happy and coming back!

TS1955

Sounds like you need a new battery guy :!: :shock: He should have replaced it.IMO

the optima warranty is BS .. I have 4 of them sitting in the garage, all still under warranty and all no one will replace. Why because 1. I cant find the reciept for 2 of them, and the other 2 were purchased down south and not here.

I went round and round with locals to the point they finally said no, dont bring them back. I called optima they said oh they will replace them anywhere if they are under warranty. I told them they wouldnt, and they said well they were sorry try another dealer. But the battery guy you are dealing with is FULL of it, 3 year warranty is 3 years. call optima tell him what he said maybe you can get somewhere.

If not, go to napa by a Napa Orbital, 10x's the battery a optima is

:D I have a red top that went bad , took it to ADVANCE AUTO PARTS (not where I got it) and they replaced it , no reciept , no questions asked , all they did was look at date on battery :D
your battery man should be reported to company :x

I also tried a advance and auto zone, interstate .. all wont touch it ! I did call optima and give them the locations and was suppose to get a return call .. still waiting :roll:

I agree with everyone else, your battery guy sux and he should be replaced or pistol whipped.
I also agree that whatever top optimas are about as good as a fram oil filter.
We as racers and car mechanics were sold on this supposley new evolution in battery technology.
It was one of the first completely sealed, gel cell batteries on the scene marketed towards folks like us.
They could be mounted in any position even upside down if you wanted, they could be stored for long periods of time without charging, they looked cool as hell and oh boy wasn't Optima a cool name.

Truth is they are nothing but over priced, over rated batteries that don't last and to make matters worse they won't warranty them> Never again.
Im sticking with my $50 everstart.
JMO, Cp

I think your battery guy is a crook and apparently doesn't want your business. I had a red top go bad near the end of last race season. I run 2 so I just disconnected the bad one. I had forgotten about until I started racing this year. Mine said 3 year free replacement on it too. I gave it to my interstate battery guy and he looked up the date I bought it. He told me when I bought it and it was a month past the 3 year mark. He took care of it anyway and he knows I use it in a race car.

I know there has been some issues with the optima batteries and it seems like the problems have been with the red tops. My battery guy said they have had quite an increase in returns for defects on them but he thought it might be because there are a lot more of them sold. My supplier has taken care of my defects and I will continue to use the optima. My attitude about warranties is you don't know how good a warranty is until you have a problem. Maybe I just have better product support but people that sell to me know I won't take any crap, if you beat me once you won't get another chance.

Sorry cepx111 but you can keep your "neverstart" I've seen more of those and the "durajunk" batteries bad at less than a year old then I can count. If you're going to use a conventional battery at least use a quality one. I won't use a regular lead acid battery in my car because no matter how good it is the acid will slosh and leak on a car that leaves hard. A gel cell like the optima or orbital won't leak no matter what. That not only protects the car but it makes it safer.

The EVERstart is in the boys daily driver 89 GT mustang. No problems yet also got one in my 95 suburban - 4 years now, no trouble either.
But if there EVER is a concern, Walmart is right down the street and they dont EVER give me any shizznit. I guess when THE masses buy the cheapest bettery they can get, usually a durawhatever or a everwhatever then you'll see plenty more warranty concerns, not everybody knows how to work on cars,Hmm wonder how many times someone has put a new battery in their car cause it wouldnt start, when the alternator was bad in the first place?? then they take the dead battery back get another one UNDER warranty and THEN buy a alternator.

Anyways:


Hey, remember that 351W I put in the stang over the winter?
Runs like a scalded ape.


Oh and by the way:

I have a sealed mantenace free sears diehard gold series in my racecar.
I haven't a clue whether its a vented lead acid type or gel, I'm thinking its a gel BUT doesn't really matter to me, it's bolted down in a vented battery box in the trunk> Chow, Cp

I've worked on cars for a living since '78 and had my own shop since '82. I've seen a lot of what you're talking about. My battery guy sells what they refer to as blems. These are good batteries that have been returned for warranty that were charged and then tested good. Ive seen plenty of batteries and other parts replaced by guys that just didn't know how to troubleshoot a problem so they just keeping changing parts until it's fixed. My dad used to refer to this as a "shotgun repair".

I knew you'd like the windsor :D

I don't think sears has a gel-cell.

life of optima
 

i have had a red top in my drag car for 8 yrs. no problems and one in my tow vehical for 5 yrs. both work great . had one for my car was a little weak summit tookit back no ? asked and gave me another its 3yrs. old now!

:D this is not about optima but a pretty good story ...a friend of mine had an Interstate battery go bad in his dragster , we were out of town so we went to a firestone store that sold interstate batteries,,the date on the battery was 5 months old with 1 year replacement...man at store refused to even look at it since he didn't sell it...my friend looked on the sign in the store and it had a toll free number for interstate to call if you had warrenty problems...he asked the clerk if he could use his phone to make a call and the clerk handed him the phone . my buddy told the interstate people he was standing in store number whatever,,and they refused to warrenty the battery , they wanted to talk to the clerk , when clerk got off phone he took the old battery to the back and brought out a new one and handed it to my friend with a big smile on his face and said to come back to see us!! I know people don't want to warrenty stuff they didn't sell but they shouldn't sell a product that states warrenty at any authorized dealer...that is why people will pay a little extra to get a good warrenty...alright you can wake up now :lol: