I believe there were only three manufacturers left at one time, but this
does not mean there are only three real battery types in the market. If a
company owns four others the sub-companies still have their own processes.

For example, at one time there were only four major tire manufacturers left
& all the brands were owned by one of the four companies. But the tires are
still made to their own specifications at their individual facilities.

Thanks, Tom Hargrave
www.kegkits.com
www.stir-plate.com
www.towercooler.com
www.grow-sun.com
www.raspberryproject.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of
JRodgers
Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2013 12:50 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: VLVC - Battery experience with WalMart

I haven't hunted this down, but scuttlebutt has it that all these lead/acid
batteries come from only one or two places - regardless of brand. Anyone
know the truth of it?

John

On 10/11/2013 10:47 PM, Dennis Haynes wrote:
> You would be hard pressed to beat both the price and warranty service
> of batteries from Wal-Mart. If you really want to feel good about the
> deal get a price for this battery from Interstate. Same exact battery.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of John Graham
> Sent: Friday, October 11, 2013 11:40 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: VLVC - Battery experience with WalMart
>
> 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
>
> --
> <http://johntakesgreatpictures.com>
> .
>