Batteries Plus – Disappointing

Well I had planned on heading to ML Sun morning early and trolling until sunrise just to find 2 of my 3 batteries shot.

May 2011 I made the mistake of buying 2 Extreme batteries from Batteries Plus. They are both deader than a door nail already. I called them and they have a 12 month replace warranty then prorated for the next 12 months…the kicker is that if I use the 25% I still have and pay 75% toward new batteries I DON’T get a new warranty period, so they tell me I am better off just buying new ones outright to make sure I get the full warranty. What is the purpose of a prorated warranty that doesn’t make any sense to use.

I have had my boat for 10 years and take good care of my batteries and to have 2 batteries crap out at the same time in 17 months seems ridiculous. Batteries Plus didn’t even offer to try and make things right since 2 went at the same time.

Anyways…just wanted to vent and maybe save someone else some headaches by avoiding Batteries Plus.

The 3rd battery….a blue top Optima is probably 5-6 years old and tested fine. Shame on me for believing what they told me about those batteries lasting on average 3-5 years.

Guess optima will be selling me a couple more batteries come spring. Hangin it up for the year.

Sorry to hear that. I just sold my boat with 3 two year old group 31 Batteries Plus Xtremes that I had zero issues with. I will definitely reconsider buying Batteries Plus batteries in the future!

Either autozone or optima. autozone if you are hard on your batteries and just want to replace them every 4-5 years.. Optima if you want some batteries that will last upwards of 10 years if you baby them.

Have to decide what type of care you put towards your batteries and buy accordingly.

There is a farm and fleet battery in the boat blind that is over 12 years old. Group 29 marine deep cycle. It hasnt been touched in 2 years (boat has been in barn storage), I flipped the light switch today and they worked. That battery held a charge for 2 years after being 12 years old. Just wish they were more reasonably priced…

I have seen alot of batteries come and go, marine and otherwise. I always opt for Interstates for my boat and camper

X 2–interstate have been great for me

I have bought all kinds of batteries and I have never, ever had trolling motor batteries last more than two seasons. How many charge discharge cycles are you guys getting out of yours?

Try calling their corporate office and tell them your problems with the batteries. You may get some luck

925 Walnut Ridge Drive Hartland, WI 53029

(800) 274-9155

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X 2–interstate have been great for me

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I went through 4 series 29 green top interstates in 18 months Back to Everstarts for me. The Everstarts I had before I bought the junk interstates lasted me 4 years.

I’m on six, maybe 7 years with my Interstate trolling motor batteries.

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I’m on six, maybe 7 years with my Interstate trolling motor batteries.

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Lol when was the last time your trolling motor was deployed Brian?

I am on about year 5 or 6 with mine also. NOT using them regularly is actually harder on them

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I’m on six, maybe 7 years with my Interstate trolling motor batteries.

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Lol when was the last time your trolling motor was deployed Brian?

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Last weekend…but I run it twice per year to make sure it still works for emergencies.

I do use the two batteries for running the inverter to run the bait tank pumps, doesn’t that count?

They’re on the charger every morning.

That counts Brian Are you implying my batteries don’t get used G? That’s pretty laughable if you are. I fish a minimum of 5 days a week from April-November and the interstates for me don’t hold up.

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That counts Brian Are you implying my batteries don’t get used G? That’s pretty laughable if you are. I fish a minimum of 5 days a week from April-November and the interstates for me don’t hold up.

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You implied Brian doesn’t…

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I’m on six, maybe 7 years with my Interstate trolling motor batteries.

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You? Trolling??

Looking back at the issue raised on the warranty, I would question if you have a failure in the remaining amount of time, is it still prorated or 100%? That is the risk of buying a product with prorated warranties. We don’t think about it much at the time of purchase, but when we need it, the details get pretty important.
If it makes you feel any better, I’m on my second set of injectors in my truck. First set was replaced at N/C based on the recall criteria from GMC. Unfortunately, my truck failed so early in the process, it was repaired with the same flipp’n injectors that were failing. But because I accepted the one-time replacement of the recall, I have to flip the entire bill on $3900.00 repair bill to get the “correct” injectors installed now. Investing $4K into a truck that is worth maybe 11K with 255K miles feels like robbery, but it is what it is.

As for new batteries, I would search back over the last 2 years on marine battery discussions that we have had on here. Good/Bad/ the ugly and a ton of great info.

Interstate makes a lot of batteries that are sold under different names…Everstart, Duralast,…. But that changes often as these companies will bid out having batteries made to THEIR SPECIFICATIONS in rare cases better, most of the times equivalent, and other times worse. It pays to identify who made the battery and how heavy of plates it has before diving in. My Duralast batteries made by Interstate have 3-1/2 years and are now showing signs of early dissipation. Instead of 8 to 9 hours I get 4 to 5. I’ll be limping through winter and buying 3 new ones this spring.

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I have bought all kinds of batteries and I have never, ever had trolling motor batteries last more than two seasons. How many charge discharge cycles are you guys getting out of yours?

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Several hundred.

Trick is to always keep them connected to a float charger 100% of the time. Minnkota onboard keeps my batteries in perfect shape.

other thing to try to find out is the date code they were produced, eventhough they exceeded the warrranty time I would guess that date code had many fault within 24mos. Anything manufactured is going to have good runs and bad runs, most of the time they last well beyond what they should and everyone makes that the bench mark. If it was the bench mark manufacturers would put warranties out that far as well.

Randy, your truck should be repaired with the “correct” recall injectors. A recall cannot be performed with the same “faulty” parts…are you sure it was a recall and not a TSB or warranty ext ?

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Randy, your truck should be repaired with the “correct” recall injectors. A recall cannot be performed with the same “faulty” parts…are you sure it was a recall and not a TSB or warranty ext ?

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The argument is the 250K miles. The replacement injectors got me just over their Special Policy Adjustment that went 7 years/200K

That makes sense then… not a recall Sucks though

Not to come across as a prick, but if your batteries are dead, you either have a draw or you didn’t maintain them.
Either/Or, it is your fault.

You have to take care of your batteries.

However, if you purchased a bad battery from the start, then it is a different story. A brand new battery, in storage at the store should be at 12.7v or higher. If it is at 12.69v, I would not purchase it. 12.75 to 12.8 would be best.

In an effort of full disclosure, Gary sells volt meters.

Further disappointment……

I called Batteries Plus’ headquarters as per the suggestion above and I find out if you use the prorated warranty you absolutely DO get a new full warranty period so the 2 different guys(one was the store manager) I talked to at the Eagan store were either misinformed on their own warranty policy or were BSing me to just get me to buy 2 new batteries.

Thanks for the helpful feedback Gary, appreciate it. Boat is 10 years old still on my second main engine battery and the 2 I replaced had lasted 6-7 seasons so I think I am doing the right things with my battery maintenance and the way I store the boat/batteries when not in use.

Pro rated, usually means, you pay for what you got to use. If you got 1 year out of 2 years warranty, you’d get 1/2 the price of what you paid, applied towards a new battery and you make up the difference. The new battery, would carry the full 2 years again… you paid for it… why wouldn’t it ? Now with a “replacement” warranty, they typically do not start over, it is a continuation of your original purchase, with no $$ from you.

Just came from Batteries Plus.
Apparently WI has different warranty laws than MN. Batteries Plus Corporate is in WI so what they were telling me is accurate…you get the credit, buy new batteries and get a new full warranty on the batteries you buy.

In MN if you use the prorated warranty even though you are buying a new battery you only get the balance of the warranty from your original purchase.

The MN version doesn’t make any sense to me but that is what they told me.

In the end since the Corp office told me I would get a new full warranty if I use the prorated warranty on the batteries I have they are going to honor what Corp told me. I can also use the credit toward any battery they sell.

So thank you to Big Crappie for giving me the # and suggesting I call the corp office.

Learning more on IDO by accident then other places by design.

Yea. Learning to stay away from BP. I mostly was anyways but now fo sho.