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From: bmt@we53.UUCP ( B. M. Thomas )
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Sears batteries revisited, and my personal experience w/Sears
Message-ID: <242@we53.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 2-Oct-84 11:27:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: we53.242
Posted: Tue Oct  2 11:27:09 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Oct-84 20:04:19 EDT
References: <4817@brl-tgr.ARPA> <1370@ihuxl.UUCP> <240@we53.UUCP> <849@opus.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Technologies - St. Louis Missouri
Lines: 53

Ugh!  I might have taken offense, but rereading my article, I suppose there
was a (not altogether unintended) larcenous tone to it.  The point was not
that I felt that I had ripped them off, since I would not have done such a
thing.  The point was that their warranty completely avoids any discussion
of fault, and is a means, not entirely dishonest and perhaps not even unethical,
of getting more service business.  The ploy is based on the typical customer's
ignorance of matters automotive and electrical.  What I defeated was this
assumption of ignorance.  There was no fraud involved, in spite of my somewhat
sneaky feeling about the whole thing.  As I said, if they found anything wrong
with my electrical system, they would not even insist upon my letting them
repair it, indeed legally they cannot, but since I was there anyway, they
simply play the percentages, and it's a good game.  Then, after they, or I,
or whoever, repaired the system, they would have honored the warranty anyway,
no questions asked.  I think it's a good arrangement, and who pays for it is
the person who is ignorant enough to think that a battery has failed when
the electrical system was at fault.
	The fact is that they seldom have to replace a battery under
the terms of the warranty, since most people, faced with a car that won't
start, think first of the battery.  Well, of course the battery IS usually
discharged, but more often than not it is still serviceable, but the electrical
system will not keep it charged.  Replacing the battery is the obvious remedy,
but is not a lasting cure.  When the battery is again discharged, they look
to this blanket warranty to save them, but the mechanics will not honor the
warranty until all other problems have been rectified.  I wouldn't either.
In fact, I will state categorically that I can make an inferior battery
outlast most battery warranties, and if it goes dead, it would usually be
my negligence that caused it.  Keeping the car's electrical system in shape
is the most important matter here.  No battery can long withstand the abuse that
even the average motorist gives it, and simple routine maintenance can prolong
its life indefinitely.
	What causes batteries to go dead is using them.  More precisely, using
them to their limits.  An average, even very good, battery can withstand about
four or five deep discharges, and then it's dead.  The solution: don't do that!
Keeping the engine tuned is a key here.  An engine that starts quickly obviously
loads the battery less.  Another item is keeping alternator belts properly
tightened.  Don't guess how much deflection you can put in the belt or anything 
like that, we are not really after tension but torque.  My rule of thumb is
if you can turn the alternator without the belts turning the engine, it's too
loose.
   Anyway...  I hope that no one else misconstrued my meaning in that article.
I disapprove of consumer fraud even when practiced by the consumer.  What I was
gloating over was that I beat the system that takes advantage of the average
person's ignorance and importunity in order to gain more business, simply
by not being ignorant, and getting off my butt enough to know what was really
wrong with my car.  As I mentioned, it cost me enough figuring out what it
was that was going wrong, and I am not exactly proud of how long THAT took.

Sorry this article is so long, I didn't have time to write a shorter one.


from over the rainbow of

	we53!bmt(Brian M. Thomas @ AT&T Technologies, St. Louis, MO)