Complaint Review: Wal Mart

In the summer of 2013, I purchased and had installed an EverStart Maxx 59, five-year warranty car battery from a north Dallas suburb Wal-Mart Supercenter.  On the morning of Saturday, July 25, 2015, this battery failed.  Later that morning, I had the same battery brand and model number replaced at no service charge, from your Supercenter (store #:  2883, located at 8801 Ohio Drive; Plano, TX  75024).  On Thanksgiving afternoon (November 24, 2016), this 16-month-old battery failed while visiting family in Lewisville, Texas.  A family member drove me to the Wal-Mart Supercenter store #217, located at 801 West Main Street, Lewisville, Texas 75067.  

Rightfully, the auto center for this store closed at 12 pm on Thanksgiving. We then called store #5092, located at 190 East Round Grove Road, Lewisville, Texas 75067, but their auto center was also already closed.  So as to not remain stranded any longer, I purchased a new battery from a local Auto Zone.  It was clear that the battery had exploded, as expressed to me by the technician who installed my current battery upon removal of the defective battery from its protective steel housing; this was evidenced by large, obvious cracks on both of the positive terminal, from which battery acid had poured out, coating and corroding the terminal to point of the battery’s complete malfunction.

On the morning of Friday, November 25, 2016, I brought this damaged battery back to the Plano, Texas Supercenter (#2883), and incurred a tall, older white man - an auto shop employee whose name I did not take note of, but whom I believe to be a manager by the vest he was wearing.  Upon explaining the details of what I have denoted in the previous paragraph, I was treated with blatant skepticism, condescension, and disregard in the following ways:

• upon the employee processing battery history for my vehicle in this shop, he claimed that my depreciation rebate was $33.58 plus tax, stating:  “we didn’t charge you for this battery in 2015” along with the non-descript insult:  “had you brought this back to me yesterday, I could have taken care of it.”  What does such a statement mean, and why would 24-hours make a difference relative to  service, policy, nor anything pertaining to this defective battery with such a short lifespan?  The undertones of his comeback wreaked of condescension, resembling: “…how dare you go outside of Wal-Mart for your battery needs?!”  I fully understand that when the battery was replaced in July 2015, the original battery had lasted 40% of its warranty; and I understand that I was not charged a pro-rata amount for its replacement.  However, the replacement battery should also be covered for five years and yet it lasted only 27% of that time, so why should the warranty for the replacement battery – which was defective to a far worse degree than the original – be charged on a pro-rata basis dated all the way back to the purchase date of the original battery?  While I was not ever seeking a free battery, I did expect appropriate depreciation compensation for a defective battery that lived only 27% of its warrantied life.  As I type this letter, only two days have passed since having a third battery installed in my vehicle over the course of a three-and-a-half year duration.  That is ridiculous!  The employee continued with inattentive disregard, as if to shut me up with platitudes of irrelevance, stating:  “It’s a really good warranty, you won’t find anything better.”
• the employee told me further that he does not normally issue refunds on damaged batteries, only defective ones, and that the battery did not explode; he stated “something” penetrated the industrial plastic battery.  This is highly unlikely, as such damage would have been the result of a severe blow directly to the terminal, and the only people who ever touch anything under the hood of my vehicle are ASE Certified mechanics at a local Firestone who perform routine maintenance on it, none of which has entailed battery servicing of any kind since having this defective batter installed 16 months ago.  My logical defense was met with an attitude of apathy and shoulder shrugging;
• very irritated and flustered, I unnecessarily explained that I tried two separate Wal-Mart auto centers while out-of-town, both of which were closed Thanksgiving afternoon; the employee just furrowed his face in disbelief and stated:  “I didn’t have anything to do with that…we were open all day!”  The facts of my claim that the automotive shops were closed are easily verifiable.  Despite my insistence, the employee remained staunch that he could not, and would not, do anything more.

In disbelief, I left with only the following receipts in hand, not realizing until I arrived home that none of these are pertinent to my visit that included my leaving the exploded battery with the shop employee (11/25/16); and, no reimbursement for the battery’s core return was paid to me.