WARNING: Bad business Odyssey Battery

[Jason TrickFlow Z]

I would like to warn everyone about doing business with or purchasing an Odyssey dry cell battery for your watercraft. I purchased an Odyssey PC625 on June 2, 2001. I installed the battery in my 99 SeaDoo GTX-L and it was trouble free for the whole season. Now I am aware that the system on the GTX-L does draw a small amount of charge when not in use weather the lanyard is connected or not. So about end of September being of November 2001 I winterized my watercraft, made sure the battery had a full charge, and disconnected the positive battery terminal. I didn't bother to remove the battery and put it in my basement like the wet cell battery in my seadoo HX, because I read the whole Odyssey owner pamphlet and it clearly states, "Don't worry about freezing like you might have with regular batteries." It also says store at room temperature or below (the lower the better) so I just left the battery installed. Then in spring time I go to pickup my craft from storage, put a new set of plugs in and connect the positive terminal, go to throw the lanyard on and bam, nothing not a click from the starter or a beep from the mpem box. So I took my receipt and the battery back to the authorized dealer. I was pretty disappointed at this point because it clearly states in the Odyssey manual that the battery should have better than 85% state of charge after 6 months storage at 25°C. The guy told me he would check the battery out, and told me to come back in 2 hours. I returned in 2 hours and he told me the battery was fine and all it needed was a charge. I had a real problem with this because the battery shouldn't have gone completely dead in the first place, and in the owners manual it says a battery with 25% charge should be recharged for 12 hours maximum. I showed him the manual about this battery was suppose to keep its charge over the winter months. He didn't want to hear anything about it, he was right and I was wrong, he WOULD NOT warranty my battery as per Odyssey's 24 month warranty, this was only after 11 months. So disappointed I left with my 108.00 dollar battery in hand. I used the battery for most of the 2002 season, and after a week of sitting the battery would seem like it had lost power and would turn over slower than normal, so I was constantly charging the battery on and off. Then again it came time to winterize the craft. I followed the same routine as always, made sure the battery had a full charge, disconnected the positive terminal and left the battery installed. Well in spring time again the battery had nothing but 3.5 volts of charge. I returned to the place of purchase and again was denied on the Odyssey warranty, and this time the guy was blaming me for the battery being bad. So I left again with a 108.00 dollar brick in hand. I felt like throwing the battery through the front window of the business. However I remained calm and figured I would give Hawker Energy, the makes of the Odyssey battery a call. A technical rep got back to me and just gave me a line of bullshit. It was my fault, it was my fault over and over again. He said the only the dealer who sold you the battery could help me. I explained the situation that the guy was unreasonable and wouldn't help, and he said WELL there is NOTHING I can do for you. I then politely asked if I could talk to his manager or someone higher up, and he said NOPE cause he is the top, and he can't help me because the dealer is reputable and if he couldn't help me it is my fault. Then to ad insult to injury Bruce Essig hung the phone up on me. At no time was I being belligerent, just asking why he couldn't help me. I mean seriously is this the way a customer should be treated and should there be dealers that deny actual warranty issues. I am very disappointed in Hawker energy/Odyssey battery and also "The Battery" located in Cheektowaga (Buffalo),

New York.

Person I talked with at Hawker Energy/Odyssey Battery:

Bruce Essig
Hawker
617 North Ridgeview Drive
Warrensburg, Missouri 64093-9301
USA
(800) 964-2837 voice
http://www.hepi.com

Battery purchased from:

The Battery
2739 Union Road
Cheektowaga, NY 14227
(716) 684-1550
Voice: 716-743-1554
Toll-free: 800-743-6730
http://www.thebattery.com/

Better Business Bureau reports:

Better Business Bureau, Inc.
741 Delaware Avenue
Suite 100
Buffalo, NY 14209
(716) 881-5222

THE BATTERY
2086 Niagara Falls Blvd
Tonawanda, NY 14150
View Location Map

Local Phone Number: (716) 743-1554
TOB Classification: Automobile - Tire, Battery, Accessories Shops

The information in this report has either been provided by the company, or has been compiled by the Bureau from other sources.

Customer Experience

Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered complaints.

When evaluating complaint information, please consider the company's size and volume of business. The number of complaints filed against the company may not be as important

as the type of complaints and how the company handled them.

Closed Complaints
Number of complaints processed by the BBB since the firm's BBB file was opened in September of 2002: 3
Number of complaints processed by the BBB in last 12 months: 3

Complaints Concerned
Customer Service Issues: 3
Outcome of all complaints -
Unresolved: 1; Company did not respond: 2

[ June 10, 2003, 12:09 PM: Message edited by: Jason TrickFlow Z ]

[Technical Support]

The only one fail we've had here was taken out by a failing GTX rectifier. It had the same symtoms as yours after that, and almost took out another battery before it was diagnosed and replaced.

[supajet]

I think they are the best batt you can buy, we have run them in all our race boats, total loss and charging we have never seen a failure.
We pay $120 for a yuasa and $400 for the odyssey and they are worth every cent. I got my first one in 99 it was in a superstock polaris pro785 i sold the ski but kepted the batt for my new ski. That is how much i trust it. They just dont fail on there own!!

[mattgross]

hey jason did you give your battery a full charge before you decided to leave it to the elements in the winter and give it its best chance to last the cold? maybe you should go reread your winter storage section. and that warrenty covers manufacture defects not just a discharge

[John Kubiak]

Re: WARNING: Bad business Odyssey Battery

Sounds like the problem is with the selling and/or servicing dealer..He's the one you have the issue with. Take your receipt and battery to another dealer in the area and ask them for help with your battery issue.

Tonowanda, NY is a large area, and you should be able to find a dealer who is willing to help you.

You may want to try a PowerSports related business this time.

Make sure that you are not trying to complain to the "new" dealer, just trying to get your battery replaced.

[Technical Support]

Re: WARNING: Bad business Odyssey Battery

Dude...that thread is two years old there, buddy :)

[davidlem]

Re: WARNING: Bad business Odyssey Battery

Yeah it must be old! I just picked up a PC625 for $52, less than half of the original poster.

[Bill O'Neal2]

Re: WARNING: Bad business Odyssey Battery

That is why they make Battery Tenders.............

[1fastski.com]

Re: WARNING: Bad business Odyssey Battery

dang i just read that whole thing and its 2 yrs old lol { i would have tossed it though the window }

[SHOOTER]

Re: WARNING: Bad business Odyssey Battery

Hahaha, I did the same thing chris.
SHOOTER

[xpinaz]

Re: WARNING: Bad business Odyssey Battery

I'll do one better. This was 2 years ago and up untill than I thought that Odyssey batt's were the best untill I sold my year old one to my buddy
and went to buy a new one on my way out of town for the week end with the skis. So I buy a "new in the box Odyssey battery" and put it in the gear box on the trailer and head out,it's a 2+ hr drive to this lake and it's getting dark so I set up camp. First thing in the AM I go to install the "new batt" and
it's got corrion on the + post, I'm like WTF??? I hook it up any way it's the only batt I had for the week end and it would not even click the starter.
I sit around all weekend watching my buds ride and have a good time.
Right after work on mon I go back to the same place I got it and try to tell them what happened the chick behind the counter looks at my paper work
checks the batt and tells me this is a diffrent batt than the one I bought
on fri and it's out of warranty I said what are you talking about? she told that's not the batt you bought on fri, I told her it sure was and that I was a very good customer of theirs I've bought 3 other odyssey's adn batts for my truck and three deep cells for my boat. That's when she said I switched
the new one with an older one and I am trying to pull one over on her.
I flipped and got very loud and threw the batt down and smashed it.
I got home and called the main office for batt + and the guy told me that
the woman I talked to was the reagonal manager and I was out of luck.
I called odyssey and that guy told me about the same thing,out of luck.

Now I buy Deka from Deka for about half the price of the odyssey.

Sorry for going on and on but I was sold junk and than called a lair not to mention the wasted weekend.

Jim

[Minnatonka4Me]

Re: WARNING: Bad business Odyssey Battery

I seem to be having the same problems on a 97 spx; would it problebly be a rectifier in spx also? Mines dead if it sits 2 weeks in the machine.

[captblue1]

Re: WARNING: Bad business Odyssey Battery

dang i just read that whole thing and its 2 yrs old lol { i would have tossed it though the window }

yeah it got me too

[Technical Support]

Re: WARNING: Bad business Odyssey Battery

Locking thread - not only is it wrong, it's way old and no one seems to read dates.