My main vehicle is an '88 Vanagon Camper, but I am also the main motor
consultant on my wife's Toyota Sienna.  So my tale is about the battery on
the Sienna.

Yesterday it failed to start the beast; charging it didn't help.  My
verdict was the battery needed to be replaced.  It had come from WalMart
and it was close by so off I went.  I found the needed new battery on the
rack, purchased it (for $99) and loaded in my trusty Vanagon.

Now here's the interesting/happy part.  I took the old battery back to the
customer service counter expecting to only get my $9 core charge back.  The
service person waved her little price gun at my receipt and then my old
battery's bar code sticker and then played with her register keyboard for
what I thought was longer than needed for a $9 core charge.

She proceeded to hand me a $60 refund (I guess there was some warrantee
left on my old battery that I hadn't calculated).  I guess you can tell
that I'm not that attentive to all those details, but I'm sure the battery
was over 2+ years old.

So I guess my takeaway from this is that if your dead battery came from
Walmart, you may get a refund when you purchase your next one if there is
some warrantee left.  Who knows - maybe I just got lucky with the right
service person, but next time, if they don't scan the old battery, I'll ask.

I hope your next dead battery experience is as good as mine was.

John Graham
'88 Vanagon Westy - Charlotte, NC

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<http://johntakesgreatpictures.com>