Before you buy anything from LiTime, should know my consumer experience!!

[Gadwall*Drake]

The tone of LiTime's responses is what bothers me. They seem to be copping an attitude along the lines, "It can't possibly be our fault, and you didn't keep the shipping materials, so piss off." It seems to be more about being right than protecting their hard earned reputation. Short sighted and petty if you ask me. Which of course no one did, but I'll be purchasing more batteries in the future.

It reminds me of the defective inverter I bought a couple of years ago. I had all the packing material, jumped through all their silly hoops, and after they got the thing back they still kept yanking me around. I finally got a refund through the bank, because I use a good credit card for such purchases. I won't be doing business with those flakes again. As much as I dislike Amazon, for several reasons, I'll use them for things like that if I have to because of their return policy. Even that can be cumbersome for me, living out in the sticks, but it goes with the territory.

 

[fatjay]

I agree on the tone of LiTime. I don't think it's reasonable to expect the user to keep shipping materials, and sometimes things like this take a few weeks to get rolling.

But I also think the end user should verify the products upon receipt. The timing of this is longer than expected, and I can understand LiTime's suspicions.

I didn't see warranty time's on the products, but I suspect it's 30 days, which OP is over, but just by a couple days. LiTime I think should have honored the warranty. OP bought multiple, and only one was a problem, they should have replaced just the one. I think if the problem was on OP's end, there would have been more than one that were problematic.

 

[v_green57]

I think a large part of their recalcitrance stems from the very, very weird problem in the first place. They just can't believe this could happen.

I think we all have to admit that the problem is strange.

If it were a more "common" issue, we would likely not be having this conversation.

To the OP: Since it looks like you are at a stalemate with them, perhaps you could carefully poke out the hole you describe with something non-conductive while the battery is set up on blocks and a glass tray positioned underneath? All while wearing gloves and safety glasses, of course.

Record the procedure in HD.

If you've already done this and I missed it, never mind.

 

[JerryK]

We sincere that we will try anything and everything to avoid customer service.

I am sure glad they are not selling cars over the Internet, not sure where I would store the box/container.

The way I see it, at no time did the OP state the willingness of the company allowing him to returning it for further review as a resolution to a refund or exchange. Only when Will got involved that comes to light.
Therefore it is reasonable to believe they were completely unwilling to go any further on investigation that there was a possibility of a failure selling this used battery to a customer.

Yes it could've been accidental damage by the OP, but that still gives no reason to shut the door to further review by shipping the product back.

I also agree somebody is going to have to lie to ship this product going forward the condition does not warrant legal shipment.

 

[IGBT]

I'd like to know what was inside this battery too. I don't think there is enough liquid in normal prismatics to produce the sloshing sound heard in the video? This makes me think the battery was submerged in water at some point.

The cynic in me says the OP put the battery in use in a Jon boat but accidentally tipped it, spilling the battery into a lake or river. After retrieving it, they tried draining the water out by puncturing a small hole (or the hole was caused when the battery got dunked). They then decided to try for a refund.

The less cynic in me says the same thing happened, but with the previous owner of the battery, who returned it to Li-time. The problem with this is that Li-time claims to have a very thorough inspection and shipping process which should have caught this.

We just can't know the answer, and without the original packing materials, we don't know if maybe the Fed-Ex truck went off a bridge and dunked the battery, then transferred all the cargo to another truck and continued on.

If we could open the battery, we might be able to tell if the puncture ruptured a cell and/or what exactly the liquid is.

 

[Gadwall*Drake]

The obvious path forward is to send it to our resident oscillating saw ninja for inspection.

 

[IGBT]

The obvious path forward is to send it to our resident oscillating saw ninja for inspection.

The problem is, you really can't ship this battery now, as has been pointed out. If you lied and shipped it in the condition it is in, without telling the shipper, and it causes a fire....oh boy. A replacement battery is going to be the least of your worries.

 

[erikaskelly]

The problem is, you really can't ship this battery now, as has been pointed out. If you lied and shipped it in the condition it is in, without telling the shipper, and it causes a fire....oh boy. A replacement battery is going to be the least of your worries.m

Change this:

"Not everyone accepts personal responsibility for their actions these days ..."

to this:

"Almost nobody accepts personal responsibility for their actions these days ..."

and it better reflects reality.

As was said in the Fiddler on the Roof - "Hope for the best, expect the worst."

I read this & have been thinking about it this morning. Fiddler is an important movie for me. I chose it this year to honor my step-dad on his day of passing & share it with my brother’s & their families. I think the quote is smart. With that mindset when anything happens you are either super grateful or not too disappointed when it doesn’t happen. It’s humble. Cool comment.

 

[seneysolar]

Cut it open! Lets have a look, nothing to lose now

 

[JRH]

Or open up a package once arrived and give it a solid once over before placing it on the back burner for a few months.

Over a life time I have found it’s best to save original packaging for almost everything.. not only is it expensive to replace proper boxes and packaging, some company require original package to return it and be accepted.. save every little piece they send you too…

as in a battery if you have to buy a well made battery box for shipping and internal packaging you will need folding money…and they may say it wasn’t packed properly and deny all claims.

I stack it up and leave it for at least a year after commissioning..have been glad I did several times..

Save that stuff .. make a cat condo or somthing …but save it…
J.

 

[Alkaline]

Meh,

I think if you are buying a budget battery you should expect budget support, there really is a lot of expectations for this battery considering its all ready one the cheapest you can buy. You can not expect them to do all this for what they are selling these for. I am surprised Li Time even bother to respond back at all.

I'm sure if the OP had bought an SOK from currentconnected his experience would have been better but the cost would have been higher as well.

 

[740GLE]

*Buy a discounted “refurbished” budget battery*

if the battery wasn’t holding a charge, or BMS shuts off under moderate load, that’s fighting words for warranty claim.

Physical damage that can’t be tracked down is such a gray area. My only guess is they wanted to see shipping package to verify damage wasn’t during shipping.

 

[JRH]

*Buy a discounted “refurbished” budget battery*

if the battery wasn’t holding a charge, or BMS shuts off under moderate load, that’s fighting words for warranty claim.

Physical damage that can’t be tracked down is such a gray area. My only guess is they wanted to see shipping package to verify damage wasn’t during shipping.

And then the company could have a chance to go after the shipper…I don’t disagree with that scenario …but then it can be easlily abused by the Co while sitting in an office 8000 miles across the world ..

It’s just a tougher world now than it used to be…hard to trust anything…even the consumer.

if I had a boy , I would send him to law school at collage just to be prepared to navigate normal life successfully these days….
That’s actually a sad thing..

 

[740GLE]

The bigger the target the more people will think “they’ll just pay me out cause their so big and it’s just one cell”

Again what would peoples thoughts be if these were a pallet of solar panels and damage was found 1 month after arrival?

Would Will email the company throwing his weight around?

 

[Crowz]

One thing that I suggest to anyone that reads this thread is to save one box from whatever your running.

I keep at least one inverter box, one battery box 12v size and one battery box 48v size. I put them in the garage just in case I ever have to ship one back for warranty.

The packing material in these boxes are not something your going to be able to come up with if you need to one day. Boxes sure but that custom packing material no way.

So I save one example of each type of equipment I run just in case. Haven't needed any of them but its cheap insurance.

 

[MrWCLeo]

SO where is the OP and the battery????

 

[ThaiTaffy]

SO where is the OP and the battery????

Road trip to hand deliver the battery maybe??