Erdoc48
Site Supporter
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2009
- Messages
- 1,370
- Age
- 60
- Location
- Myrtle Beach, SC/ Sometimes Colorado
- Bike
- 94/00/04 STs, FSC600
The last time I took out the 94 ABS, I parked briefly and when I restarted it, I got a flashing ABS light (then I didn’t), so I assumed (maybe wrongly) that my battery was on its way out (it’s ~ 5 years old at this time- an AGM battery I believe from Batteries + Bulbs) and the ABS circuit might be a little low voltage sensitive- anyway, cheap me decides to get an Amazon battery, well, because it’s $39.99 shipped and I’m cheap (Weize branded AGM battery). So I wait the customary 2 days with Prime and it arrives, only to see the horror of really crushed/ deformed battery terminals that made the battery unusable:
So, I email the seller and was asked to mail said battery back, which I refused (a near 10 lb battery would be quite a bit to ship)- I told them I would but I wanted a guarantee of getting what I paid for shipping, plus either a replacement battery or a refund. Originally they wanted me to try to bend (with a wrench?!) the terminals to see if I could make them like normal again, to which I responded ‘You got to be kidding and this is an out of the box failure/ unacceptable for me to have to correct their mistake’. They were agreeable for me to keep the battery and sent me a refund. This took about a week to straighten out.
So I went to Batteries + bulbs, paid $90 for a new AGM, perfect shape and it’s in the bike now. The guy at B+B told me this isn’t the first time he’s seen this and said a lot of Amazon batteries are seconds or refurbs, so probably better to get them from a local seller. This battery and the core (my old one) were given to B+B (and they told me they couldn’t give me a second core charge back which is understandable).
Lesson learned. I’m posting this just to prevent a similar occurrence. Might be one in a million, or maybe more common than we would think.
So, I email the seller and was asked to mail said battery back, which I refused (a near 10 lb battery would be quite a bit to ship)- I told them I would but I wanted a guarantee of getting what I paid for shipping, plus either a replacement battery or a refund. Originally they wanted me to try to bend (with a wrench?!) the terminals to see if I could make them like normal again, to which I responded ‘You got to be kidding and this is an out of the box failure/ unacceptable for me to have to correct their mistake’. They were agreeable for me to keep the battery and sent me a refund. This took about a week to straighten out.
So I went to Batteries + bulbs, paid $90 for a new AGM, perfect shape and it’s in the bike now. The guy at B+B told me this isn’t the first time he’s seen this and said a lot of Amazon batteries are seconds or refurbs, so probably better to get them from a local seller. This battery and the core (my old one) were given to B+B (and they told me they couldn’t give me a second core charge back which is understandable).
Lesson learned. I’m posting this just to prevent a similar occurrence. Might be one in a million, or maybe more common than we would think.
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