Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (October 2013, week 2)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Fri, 11 Oct 2013 23:04:28 -0500
Reply-To:     Tom Hargrave <thargrav@HIWAAY.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tom Hargrave <thargrav@HIWAAY.NET>
Subject:      Re: VLVC - Battery experience with Walmart
Comments: To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Wow!!! And I thought they just screwed up & issued a full refund by mistake.

But I still can't get over the time they did not drain the oil in my daughter in-law's car, did not change the filter and dumped 5 more quarts of oil in on-top of the old oil 3 years ago. Then the service manager had the gall to tell me over the phone that they did everything correct and "it's normal for cars the age of hers to smoke a little!!!!!" Her 3 year old Mazda had just under 60,000 miles on the clock.

I took the car to a Walmart closer to my house where the Service Manager drained all 9+ quarts of oil from the crankcase, changed the filter & showed me the stained gasket where it had been in the housing for a while, and put in 5 quarts of the correct oil. Then he and his store Manager got on the phone with the other Service Manager. Later that evening the other Service Manager called & asked if the car was OK. He never did mention what he had done or offer an apology!

Because of this & a few other stupid incidents over the past 10 or so years I refuse to donate any of my dollars to their Auto Service Department.

Thanks, Tom Hargrave www.kegkits.com www.stir-plate.com www.towercooler.com www.grow-sun.com www.raspberryproject.com

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of Dennis Haynes Sent: Friday, October 11, 2013 10:51 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: VLVC - Battery experience with WalMart

Wal-mart tracks the battery serial numbers at the point of sale. They know when it was bought. Great deal for the "house" battery. If you do kill it in less than 2 years you get a full refund and the warranty period starts again with the replacement battery.

Dennis

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Tom Hargrave Sent: Friday, October 11, 2013 11:44 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: VLVC - Battery experience with WalMart

Most likely the clerk "screwed up".

Thanks, Tom Hargrave www.kegkits.com www.stir-plate.com www.towercooler.com www.grow-sun.com www.raspberryproject.com

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of John Graham Sent: Friday, October 11, 2013 10:40 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: VLVC - Battery experience with WalMart

My main vehicle is an '88 Vanagon Camper, but I am also the main motor consultant on my wife's Toyota Sienna. So my tale is about the battery on the Sienna.

Yesterday it failed to start the beast; charging it didn't help. My verdict was the battery needed to be replaced. It had come from WalMart and it was close by so off I went. I found the needed new battery on the rack, purchased it (for $99) and loaded in my trusty Vanagon.

Now here's the interesting/happy part. I took the old battery back to the customer service counter expecting to only get my $9 core charge back. The service person waved her little price gun at my receipt and then my old battery's bar code sticker and then played with her register keyboard for what I thought was longer than needed for a $9 core charge.

She proceeded to hand me a $60 refund (I guess there was some warrantee left on my old battery that I hadn't calculated). I guess you can tell that I'm not that attentive to all those details, but I'm sure the battery was over 2+ years old.

So I guess my takeaway from this is that if your dead battery came from Walmart, you may get a refund when you purchase your next one if there is some warrantee left. Who knows - maybe I just got lucky with the right service person, but next time, if they don't scan the old battery, I'll ask.

I hope your next dead battery experience is as good as mine was.

John Graham '88 Vanagon Westy - Charlotte, NC

-- <http://johntakesgreatpictures.com>


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.