How to send battery back to a dodgy/ish auction site seller?

[vtchequers]

I'm trying to send a Leisure battery back to a seller who sells car and Leisure batteries on a well-known auction site. problem is I can't find any couriers who'll take the Leisure battery, and the well-known auction site states I can only get my money back if I send the Leisure battery back to the seller.

Any courier recommendations, anyone?


NB: I bought and paid for a car battery. the seller tried fobbing me off by saying it's the same AH as the Car battery i'd ordered and is also an AGM like i'd ordered. he also said it's a stop-start battery. he went radio silent after I asked him for a link to a site that'll back up his stop-start claim.

[anonymous-user]

Have you tried the courier which delivered the battery?

[Chester draws]

Have you looked at UPS?

If it's all in original packaging, should be ok and cost around £15. Book direct from their site.

https://www.ups.com/assets/resources/media/en_GB/p...

[BertBert]

Chester draws said:

Have you looked at UPS?

If it's all in original packaging, should be ok and cost around £15. Book direct from their site.

https://www.ups.com/assets/resources/media/en_GB/p...

I doubt that a private individual can ship a cat battery. It states there that you need a specific contract with them to be able to ship hazardous batteries.

It's much the same as trying to ship laptop batteries back to Amazon. Impossible unless you lie about the contents of your package.

Bert

[shovelheadrob]

Was the battery delivered dry? They often are & you have to add the electrolyte yourself, shipping a wet battery will be nigh on impossible, I'd be asking the seller to arrange collection, but as they're ignoring you that's not going to happen.
Unfortunately evil bay & paypal seem to be blind to these things & insist on proof of sending it back, which leaves the "brick in a box" as the only other option. ....

[Chester draws]

BertBert said:

Chester draws said:

Have you looked at UPS?

If it's all in original packaging, should be ok and cost around £15. Book direct from their site.

https://www.ups.com/assets/resources/media/en_GB/p...

I doubt that a private individual can ship a cat battery. It states there that you need a specific contract with them to be able to ship hazardous batteries.

It's much the same as trying to ship laptop batteries back to Amazon. Impossible unless you lie about the contents of your package.

Bert

ups said:

In some cases, such as with alkaline or certain nonspillable lead-acid batteries, your responsibilities may be limited to simple steps such as: selecting strong outer packaging; carefully protecting battery terminals to prevent sparking or short circuit; and carefully preparing the interior package components to keep tools or other metal objects away from batteries.

I read that most lithium batteries are classed as hazardous, but not all. OP's battery is not lithium based.

[JM]

Paisley Freight transport all sorts of car parts around the country.
They don't mention batteries on their website, but a quick phone call would get you a definite answer from them.

https://www.paisleyfreight.com/car-parts-courier

[BertBert]

Chester draws said:

I read that most lithium batteries are classed as hazardous, but not all. OP's battery is not lithium based.

There are a variety of batteries available today and, while in transport, many are regulated as hazardous materials (also known as dangerous goods) that may only be shipped with UPS by shippers with contracts for hazardous materials/dangerous goods service.

Unfortunately the document doesn't say if lead acid batteries are shippable by private individuals. My guess is that they aren't.

Bert

[vtchequers]

280E said:

Have you tried the courier which delivered the battery?

Car batteries are on the prohibited list is the reply I get. At one time most used to accept them, but you had to put stickers on the packaging to let them know, and had to empty the acid before packing.

The following is an example from a well-known Parcel comparison site;

Can I send batteries by courier?
Unfortunately not. Batteries pose a hazard to the employees at our courier partners, and other parcels in transit. Batteries can not be shipped internationally, this will often simply mean your package is returned. All parcels being shipped internationally are checked and scanned so it is not worth even trying to send any item with a battery contained inside.

Although many battery retailers send batteries via either traditional mail services or non-specialised couriers, we believe the risks are too great to allow them to be sent via our courier system.

Specialised battery shops are expert at packaging batteries and have direct relationships via courier companies and hence are fully aware of all the legal and operational restrictions of sending batteries by post or courier.

However, we cannot guarantee how our customers will package their batteries before they arrange collection, and therefore we prohibit their transit through our partners' courier networks.


Hmmmmm, if only my seller knew that!

[Sebring440]

vtchequers said:

I'm trying to send a Leisure battery back to a seller

vtchequers said:

he also said it's a stop-start battery. he went radio silent after I asked him for a link to a site that'll back up his stop-start claim.

Slightly confused here as to the actual problem with the battery that you have bought? Are you after a leisure battery or a stop-start battery?

[Nickyboy]

BertBert said:

There are a variety of batteries available today and, while in transport, many are regulated as hazardous materials (also known as dangerous goods) that may only be shipped with UPS by shippers with contracts for hazardous materials/dangerous goods service.

Unfortunately the document doesn't say if lead acid batteries are shippable by private individuals. My guess is that they aren't.

Bert

Correct, wet Lead acid is classed as dangerous goods and therefore can't be shipped unless an approved shipper, The packaging they come in is quite substantial

[BaldOldMan]

Have you opened a dispute ?

When I had an issue (not battery related) they (or the seller) arranged collection - I didn't need to do much

[vtchequers]

Sebring440 said:

Slightly confused here as to the actual problem with the battery that you have bought? Are you after a leisure battery or a stop-start battery?

The battery in the add that I paid for is stop-start.
The one they sent is a Leisure battery.

[PGN]

I tried to do this and eventually gave up. The companies that send out batteries have an agreement with the courier companies that the batteries are packaged in a particulat way. Despite having all the original, undamaged packaging I couldn't get the original or any other courier to accept it. The only way I found to send it was using a Shiply guy but the cost of this was more than the battery so I gave up.

My conclusion was that if you buy a battery for delivery then effectively there is no warranty.

If you've been sent the wrong item, then surely it's the seller's job to organise collection.

Edited by PGN on Monday 23 December 22:58

[mattyprice4004]

shovelheadrob said:

Was the battery delivered dry? They often are & you have to add the electrolyte yourself, shipping a wet battery will be nigh on impossible, I'd be asking the seller to arrange collection, but as they're ignoring you that's not going to happen.
Unfortunately evil bay & paypal seem to be blind to these things & insist on proof of sending it back, which leaves the "brick in a box" as the only other option. ....

Lots of companies send out wet batteries pre filled - but they’re usually sealed in a bag and plastered with this way up labels.

[BertBert]

vtchequers said:

The battery in the add that I paid for is stop-start.
The one they sent is a Leisure battery.

Off topic, but what's the difference just out of interest?

[anonymous-user]

BertBert said:

vtchequers said:

The battery in the add that I paid for is stop-start.
The one they sent is a Leisure battery.

Off topic, but what's the difference just out of interest?

Leisure batteries are designed to slowly release their charge over a long perios of time at relatively low amperage. They have many thin lead plates to aid this.

Starter batteries are designed to release their charge in greap big short dollops (very high amerpage (the CCAs you read about) and generally have thicker lead plates.

If you use a leisure battery to start an engine repeatedly you run the risk of warping the thinner lead plates and stuffing the battery.

There are "dual" mode batteries that claim to be leisure batteries, that are also fine to start engines with.

Stop-Start batteries - I can only assume they are high CCA batteries with a larger capacity - to cope with the constant use.

[anonymous-user]

mattyprice4004 said:

Lots of companies send out wet batteries pre filled - but they’re usually sealed in a bag and plastered with this way up labels.

All my Leisure battery deliveries come like this (and I've had a Polish courier happily offering me his machine to sign whilst the battery sat upside down at his feet....).

I'm not sure they are allowed to ship the acid seperately now.

I received a motorbike battery last week and the acid vials were empty, and there was a note explaining due to new regulations they had to pre-fill the battery before dispatch. Not hard to work out why, sadly.

[vtchequers]

Chester draws said:

I read that most lithium batteries are classed as hazardous, but not all. OP's battery is not lithium based.

Massive thumbs up for that!
UPS picked up and delivered. And I got my money refunded, although I had to pay to send it back at a cost of £13.19.
Ironically the seller messaged me the day before collection to say he'd have it collected.

[Chester draws]

vtchequers said:

Massive thumbs up for that!
UPS picked up and delivered. And I got my money refunded, although I had to pay to send it back at a cost of £13.19.
Ironically the seller messaged me the day before collection to say he'd have it collected.

Good result, obviously them collecting it would have been better, but at least it's sorted!