Battery Company gone Bust

[Parksy]

Guys be warned, it looks like ******* Batterys are gone bust, the owner who runs the company is still taking orders over the telephone but nothing will ever be delivered, I have lost over £2,000 so I know from bitter experience that he is not to be trusted. His website is http://www.deleted so please do not mix this site up with any others

Moderators Edit:
This thread has been edited in order for it to comply with forum etiquette rules 3 and 4 :

'You may not transmit material that discloses personal matters concerning any person or that is defamatory.'

'You may not transmit complaints about named companies or caravan parks. Such individual issues should be taken up with the company direct.'

The website of the company concerned is still up and running and as yet we have no concrete evidence of insolvency.
The safest thing for forumites to bear in mind is that the internet is not a good resource for the purchase of leisure batteries.

Parksy (Moderator)

 

[otherclive]

Had an elecsol for 5-6 years which gave very good service but I replaced it in 2012 via Tayna an Internet supplier. In March 2013 I was lifting it into the caravan and one of the two carrying handles broke. I contacted the company directly and their glitzy website contact line drew no response, nor did any left messages on their answering system. Eventually I managed to speak to a very grumpy chap who told me the handle design had changed and he would look around for an earlier style handle. He said he'd ring back but never did, nor were subsequent voicemails or emails answered. So I went back to Tayna who arranged for a new battery to be sent to me but it cost me £14 to ship my old one back, but I couldn't find any local shipper who would transport a used battery. It seems they will carry new ones or you need someone with a recycling licence to carry old ones. But here again Tayna were good by arranging to collect my old one which took quite some time to package. What have I learnt from this. Firstly the company's customer service was bad. Second local suppliers have responded to the Internet suppliers and their prices are now quite keen. Thirdly no more Internet battery purchases!

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Clive,
By purchasing a new battery in March 2013, and the fact that the handle broke within 6 months of purchase (The handele is an essential part of these batteries) the supplier is obliged to replace or fully refund your prodict FOC.
The principle is that the customer shoudl not be at any disadavantage beacuse of teh suppliers failure to supply fault free goods, so teh supplier is required by SoGA to cover any costs to effect the replacement. THey shoudl not have charged you for the return of your faulty battery or they should refund the carriage costs.

It is of course up to you to decide if you want to recover your costs, you may not want to sour the relationship, but it should be pointed out to your supplier that they cannot charge carriage for the return or replacment of faulty goods under SoGA.

Some distance seller try to exclude carriage charages from the refund or replacement for faulty goods in their Distance Selling T&C's. They do not stand up against SoGA.

 

[Rita1]

Becareful mentioning The Battery Company as they do not like good or bad publicity

 

[Clive-Cardiff]

I had a ******* battery a few years ago that failed during the warranty period. I found the person handling my complaint the most unhelpful and grumpy individual. He was intent on putting every obstacle he could in the way of supplying a replacement.
If they have gone--good riddance.

 

[Surfer]

Hello Clive,
By purchasing a new battery in March 2013, and the fact that the handle broke within 6 months of purchase (The handele is an essential part of these batteries) the supplier is obliged to replace or fully refund your prodict FOC.
The principle is that the customer shoudl not be at any disadavantage beacuse of teh suppliers failure to supply fault free goods, so teh supplier is required by SoGA to cover any costs to effect the replacement. THey shoudl not have charged you for the return of your faulty battery or they should refund the carriage costs.
It is of course up to you to decide if you want to recover your costs, you may not want to sour the relationship, but it should be pointed out to your supplier that they cannot charge carriage for the return or replacment of faulty goods under SoGA.
Some distance seller try to exclude carriage charages from the refund or replacement for faulty goods in their Distance Selling T&C's. They do not stand up against SoGA.

John, SOGA, DSR meant nothing to the person that ran this company. He was rude, arrogant and very unprofessional in his dealings with customers. Unfortunately we were one of his customers and it took nearly a month to deliver a battery.
We ordered a battery Online in the first week of December as the blurb was that the company operated 365 days a year for orders and then we waited. We eventually got the battery in January after numerous phone calls and emails with the explanantion that he was on holiday! Got told off for chasing it and sending so many emails. Numerous threads warning about dealing with this character.
Good riddance!

 

[Dustydog]

A penny to a pound he buys the liquidated stock for next to nothing and sells it through one his other companies.

 

[otherclive]

In reply to Prof John's helpful input on SoGA etc I might just provide a bit more details of my saga. I bought the 100AH battery online from Tayna. A few days short of its 1 year 'birthday' I was putting it into the van and without warning one of the two plastic handles broke. Fortunately it didnt suffer much of an impact, neither did I, although 5 seconds earlier and it would have dropped three feet or more.
Although Tayna supplied the battery I thought that getting a replacement handle via ******* would be a better option, with them being the maker. So as not to prejudice my position I informed Tayna and als decided to have the battery electrically tested just to make sure that it had not been damaged internally. As in my post above I got absolutely nowhere with ********, so then went back to Tanya. However I contacted Citizens Advice Consumer line to just discuss the issue and open a case reference number. This allows the CAC to collate calls/complaints against market sectors and individual traders, which strengthens Trading Standards action if required.
The first response from Tayna was to contact ******* as the battery was more than 12 months old. I informed them that I had notified them of the defect within the 12 months (which under SoGA is quite irrelevant anyway). To show willing I again tried to contact ******* without any success. Going back to Tayna they told me that they hadnt any handles but as a measure of goodwill they would check any batteries that came back any send me a handle. I wasnt satisfied with this so told them that as the supplier the responsibilty was theirs and the batery was clearly not fit for the intended purpose or of suitable quality. In fact to hav ehandles break on a 20kg is a safety hazard.

Still not a postive response from Tayna so indicated that I was prepared to use Section 75 to get a refund via the credit card supplier. It was then that they offered to send me a new battery but wanted to examine my broken one and I would need to send it back. It was then that things got a bit more difficult, as enquiries to couriers (Fedex, UPS, Mail, Interlink and TNT) indicated that none would carry a used battery. The Carriage of Goods Regs seemed to be the reason. Used batteries tend to be sent for recycling so owners dispose of them locally or a carrier needs a licence. Myself I cannot see the difference between new and used if the latter is correctly packaged.
So going back to Tayna I got them to arrange collection providing I paid in advance, which by then I had decided would bring this saga to an end and get me a new battery with better carrying handle for a small outlay. I could have pushed harder but in the absence of not finding a courier to take the battery back to Tayna it could have resulted in impasse and by then pusuing Section 75 would have prolonged the saga, and using the Small Claims Court option would also have prolonged the hassle.

So duly packaged up (no mean feat) it was collected the next day, and my new battery arrived some 4-5 days later.

I found it interesting that Citizens Advice phoned me twice to get an update, and when everything was over I updated them on the outcome.
Why wont I buy another battery on the internet........read above, and local suppliers are now almost as competitive and I wouldnt have any hassle in returning a defective item.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

Why wont I buy another battery on the internet........read above, and local suppliers are now almost as competitive and I wouldnt have any hassle in returning a defective item.

I absolutely agree Clive, the battery we had on the van (incedentaly it was an elecsol) died after 5 years use, on looking for a replacement decided to go with a standard car battery with high cranking amps (for the mover) found one localy in a car shop for £40 with 5years warranty, however on trying to charge it up with the smart charger for a jaunt in june found it would not fully charge.
popped it down to the car shop with the reicept he tested it and found a dead cell (12mths old) and immedieatly changed it for a new one of a higher spec (as he did not have the same one in stock ) with a new 5 year warranty

.
somethings are better bought on the internet but batteries no.

 

[otherclive]

Colin,
My thoughts exactly, borne of experience.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Surfer,

We have had previous reports of the poor customer support from *******, but In clives case hadn't purchased from ******* but a third party, and that is where his SoGA rights come into play.
Consequently ******** were not involved with Clives replacement.

 

[Parksy]

Unfortunately I have had to edit this thread in order to remove the name of the company concerned.
I'm sure that most forumites will be aware of which company is under discussion, but with no proof that the company which sells leisure batteries via an internet website is insolvent, the forum is at risk of legal action if names are mentioned at this stage.
In my humble opinion leisure batteries are best purchased from a place where they can be inspected by the prospective purchaser and returned easily if need be, but this is purely a personal observation

 

[Surfer]

Why is the brand name of the battery been blanked out when you are allowed to mention Swift, Bailey and Lunar in negative posts about them? Double standards?

 

[ProfJohnL]

Why is the brand name of the battery been blanked out when you are allowed to mention Swift, Bailey and Lunar in negative posts about them? Double standards?

Sadly some people/companies take the view that comments on forums are generally negative, and thus not wanted, so prevent such comments they request a blanket ban, with the threat of legal action if comments are allowed to remain on view. Its a matter of debate as to whether legal action would be upheld if the comments were demonstrably true but rather than to have to field expensive lawyers to battle such cases, the Forum owners have decided to accede to such requests.

Its truly a sad situation if businesses cannot accept reasonable comments both positive and negative, as such comments can be a rich source of information about how their products or services are perceived, and it can give very useful pointers on how to improve both products and services.

We do see negative comments about some named companies, and occasionally they do respond, but if the comments relates to an ongoing complaint then the forum etiquette is clear, details should not be disclosed, as first of all we (the forum readers)might not get a full and balanced set of reports, and its possible that the complainant may be on a crusade to unfairly discredit a person or business.

I think we have to accept that the company/person in question has the right to make this request, however shortsighted we may feel their decision is.

 

[Damian]

Quote " Why is the brand name of the battery been blanked out"

That name, and some others, are not allowed to be used on this forum due to the real threat of legal action by the company concerned.

It is NOT double standards, it is sensible precautions , unless you want to foot the legal bill resulting.

I can assure you that Haymarket certainly do not want to foot the bills

 

[Parksy]

Why is the brand name of the battery been blanked out when you are allowed to mention Swift, Bailey and Lunar in negative posts about them? Double standards?

Surfer you and I both know that I've explained the situation to you at great length more than once.

If you require further enlightenment with regard to the threat of litigation against online defamation I suggest you write to: Ms Sally Bercow, Speakers Residence, House of Commons, Westminster, London W1 and I'm sure that the good lady will be happy to give you chapter and verse based on her own recent experience.

How can we allow a forum post to state that a company has 'gone bust' when we have no independent evidence that it has done so?

 

[Surfer]

The Vanmaster thread was up and running before we had proof?

 

[Parksy]

The Vanmaster thread was up and running before we had proof?

No it wasn't because I made it my business to check, and there were several reports on the internet which stated that they had ceased trading.

 

[Surfer]

Apologies Steve I also missed that the post was done on the same day as the poster joined which is suspicious and you are right to take precautions as the person (name deleted) who is the distributor for (deleted) could decide that the OP was slanderous to his company which is still trading as the web site is still up and running.

 

[Parksy]

Absolutely no apologies necessary Surfer, I hadn't seen the post at first because we travelled back from Southwold to the Midlands on the day of the o.p.
When I read the thread I had no choice other than to remove names etc; but if there had been reports on other caravan forums or the caravan press of insolvency I'd have left things as they were.
You may notice that I've also removed the names from your latest reply because the names if left would allow browsers to deduce which company is under discussion

 

[Surfer]

Absolutely no apologies necessary Surfer, I hadn't seen the post at first because we travelled back from Southwold to the Midlands on the day of the o.p.
When I read the thread I had no choice other than to remove names etc; but if there had been reports on other caravan forums or the caravan press of insolvency I'd have left things as they were.
You may notice that I've also removed the names from your latest reply because the names if left would allow browsers to deduce which company is under discussion

Oops sincerely double sorry as I was not thinking into relation with the thread heading.

 

[Parksy]

Absolutely no apologies necessary Surfer, I hadn't seen the post at first because we travelled back from Southwold to the Midlands on the day of the o.p.
When I read the thread I had no choice other than to remove names etc; but if there had been reports on other caravan forums or the caravan press of insolvency I'd have left things as they were.
You may notice that I've also removed the names from your latest reply because the names if left would allow browsers to deduce which company is under discussion

Oops sincerely double sorry as I was not thinking into relation with the thread heading.

I was rather hoping that you'd found a clever way to drop names in which I thwarted Surfer

Not to worry though and apology accepted, it's all part of the fun

 

[Surfer]

It seems that the rumour was correct and that the distributor has indeed gone to the wall so maybe the name can be re-instated? However I think Tanya are selling the brand under their own name.

 

[Parksy]

If there's proof that they have ceased trading then feel free to give the name, I have to confess that I'd forgotten it

 

[Surfer]

If there's proof that they have ceased trading then feel free to give the name, I have to confess that I'd forgotten it

The company is Elecsol based near Liverpool and they have ceased trading.