Autozone Sold Me A Used Battery! As A New Battery!

[toyotafan]

This is crazy! I went to replace a one maybe two year old Duralast battery that was 100% dead, the guy at the autozone in Mansfield Texas really wasn't that helpful, said the only battery they had was a $126 Duralast gold battery. I needed a battery, and I took what I though was a new battery and I didn't even really look at, because this is the battery right?

So I get it home to put it into my minivan, and I look at it. It's dirty, the positive red protector is off and the battery posts are all scuffed up. Moreover, this clearly has been inside someone's vehicle because underneath the tabs that you left up to check water level, that's filthy in there so this is been in someone's vehicle probably for a year and they put them back on the shelves. I tipped it over and the bottom of it is filthy.

Outrageous, I'm calling the police.

Reaching out to autozone on Twitter. Their regional manager was of no help to me, basically offered no help, don't think he apologized, nothing.

 

[toyotafan]

Not only that, but liquid sloshed out of it while driving home. Someone must have filled it up recently with water to hide the fact that they just put it back on the shelf.

 

[tibadoe]

That's a shame some businesses will do something like this. Over the years I have learned to check out the items I'm about to purchase really good. I don't like to be this way but if I'm paying good money for a product and told it's new - it better be new.
I would take it back and demand they give my money back. Keep us posted on what you decide to do.

 

[toyotafan]

I went to another autozone and the guy was very apologetic, and he actually took a logical position that is probably accurate that we don't know that it wasn't someone else's vehicle like an employees and they put it back up on the shelf to hide the fact that they stole it from the company.

It could have been a return it a core exchange that was accidentally put back on the shelf.

I asked him how many people return 11 month old batteries, he kind of shrugged his shoulders and said there's not many.

Anyhow he did help me out and I got a new battery with an October 2015 sticker on it in a slightly different design. However this is not over because I got battery acid on my hands and on my seat that I did not expect it to leak so at the very least I expect autozone to give me a full detailing and have the interior of my vehicle looked at to see if I need a new cover for my passenger seat. Not only that I really expect them to look into the situation to see how this happened. And I will report back what they tell me.

 

[toyotafan]

Here's a quick video that I did in the parking lot of the auto zone. I do admit I jumped to a lot of conclusions in the video, but I just did it on the fly and it turns out the last battery was purchased in February 2013 a different guy at a different autozone was able to pull up the information almost immediately. So that was a 31 month old battery that went out, and the replacement is $126.99.

 

[tibadoe]

................we don't know that it wasn't someone else's vehicle like an employees and they put it back up on the shelf to hide the fact that they stole it from the company. It could have been a return it a core exchange that was accidentally put back on the shelf.....................

I have also seen some companies use a new battery for odds & ends stuff like jumps and loaners. Glad the other store was better to work with.

 

[toyotafan]

Yeah, it was just a very sketchy experience, which is why I had my doubts about the story and why I went to a different autozone. I mean, the fact that the guy couldn't find the history of my vehicle's battery, but he found the commuter car that I had (I looked at the screen) from like 4 years ago where I bought a battery for that.

Anyhow, I got battery acid on my hands and my seat. Not sure if that weakens the fabric or not, just was a very bad smell on the ride back.

 

[MuddyTacoma]

That really stinks but all you know is that you got a used and dirty battery and that in the end after an hour or two, you got a new battery for your troubles.

Anyone else surprised at the sudden and dramatic rise in the cost of car batteries in the last 10 years? They used to be $30 ... then I blinked and they were $60 ... five years ago they were $80-$90 ... and now they're into the $120's?

 

[toyotafan]

So I got thinking about it. I can't really say that I KNOW that the battery was used by an employee ... all I know is that I had a sketchy checkout person who gave me the battery and it was an 11 month old battery.

 

[tibadoe]

I just purchased a new battery for my sons car a couple weeks ago from Wal-Mart. The first thing I did was check the date which was indicating same month. Checked it from top to bottom. It was clean, topped off, and terminals were capped and scuff free. After taking a battery reconditioning course a while back I pay closer attention to all that.
I've even seen some people return batteries after installing them only to find their car still wouldn't start which indicated the battery was not the problem. The store just put them back on the shelf for the next person. Not a good practice in my book.

 

[toyotafan]

The regional manager, the next guy up the ladder called me today. I think I overreacted a bit now that I think about it. Anyhow, we're going to chat on Monday.

 

[toyotasrule]

Glad they contacted you. Sounds like a mistake or a bad employee at one store.

 

[toyotafan]

Yeah, I had a good conversation and he looked into it. They can and do stock batteries up to 12 months before they take them off the shelf and mark them as used. Also, they are not supposed to put returned batteries back on the shelf if they show signs of use until they can be tested and marked as still being a good battery.

However, this battery that I had clearly showed heavy and lengthy use, so that's not what we're talking about They just somehow messed up in that store and put a really old and well worn battery back on the shelf. Their system took care of it and other than a little bit of acid on my hands which made them feel rough for a couple of days, no real harm as I don't see any wear on the seat where the acid spilled.

 

[DFWuberman]

Wow! Looking at the first photo it was not obvious that it was you use battery, but when you look closely at the post and scuff marks on it, and most certainly when you look at the bottom of it it's clearly a used battery. Glad they did the right thing and replace it for you but thats really embarrassing on their part.

 

[tbplus10]

I remember back in the day when new batteries were stored without electolyte at a store and they had to put it in along with giving the battery a quick charge.
You always knew you were getting a new battery.
All that changed with the advent of "maintenence free" batteries.

 

[toyotafan]

This battery failed

 

[toyotafan]

Autozone gave me 2 replacements and they're still giving me $14 in trade-in warranty credit because it had 5 years on it.