posted 05-05-2014 09:12 AM ET (US)        

In the past eight years battery retailing seems to have changed. Most battery retailers seem to be selling no-brand or house-brand batteries. The eight-year-old battery was an AC-Delco and had an 84-month or 7-year pro-rated warranty. The retailer where I bought it has been sold off to a national chain, and they now carry some house-brand of battery whose name is unknown to me.

There is a battery retailer called Batteries-Plus that is selling national brandname batteries, but in my experience with this outlet, their prices are the highest possible retail prices in the free-world.

This leaves SEARS as perhaps the only battery retailer selling batteries as they were eight years ago. I have used SEARS Die-Hard batteries before. Now they seem like they're about the only alternative if seeking an established brand and not willing to pay boutique-store prices.

I realize that some of the brands I bought in the past, such as MotorCraft (FORD) or AC-Delco (GM) were not actual battery manufacturers, and were re-labeled batteries made by another company, probably Johnson Controls. I used to see retail distribution of those brands in auto parts stores, not just at car dealerships. But now the store retailers are all selling their own brand, or, as I see it, no-brand batteries.

I do prefer to get a branded battery with some sort of national or at least regional distribution, for the purpose of allowing better fulfillment of any warranty replacement. But in the present marketplace, it looks to me like SEARS is about the best option. I am skeptical of WALMART house-brand batteries, as they seem to be aimed more at the lowest price point rather than at premium quality.

posted 05-05-2014 10:11 AM ET (US)            

I buy my auto batteries from the local (non-chain) auto parts store and usually purchase the GM OEM battery, AC-Delco. Good decision to stay away from the Batteries Plus franchise, they re-label Deka batteries and put a hefty mark-up on top. The same Group 27 batteries were about $50.00 more at Batteries Plus. You might check around to see if there is an Interstate Battery retailer near you, they are good batteries as well.

posted 05-07-2014 11:32 AM ET (US)            

I got there about 10 a.m. The auto department had very little traffic. There was only one clerk on the floor. One customer was ahead of me. He wanted to buy an oil change service.

It took about ten minutes for the clerk to process this. The clerk had to get the car keys from the customer in order to get the VIN of the vehicle and do an extensive survey of the vehicle, to see if it had air conditioning or other accessories that would be completely unrelated to an oil change. The clerk explained that this was necessary because the work order must be filled out with all this data, or else it could not entered "into the system." The customer also had to supply all kinds of personal data, such as his address and his telephone number.

During this process, the telephone would ring. The clerk would immediately stop working on the customer's work order and would answer the telephone. The telephone was a cordless telephone, and the clerk would then walk away from the sales counter and wander about the department, checking things for the telephone caller.

Eventually, the telephone stopped ringing long enough for the clerk to complete the entry into her terminal of all the data that had been collected from the customer. Once this was completed, the work order could be printed. The printer was located at another counter. Four or five pages came out. I was pleased to see the printer actually worked, as, considering how things were going, I expected it to run out of toner or paper at this point in the transaction.

The clerk returned with the four or five sheets of paper. She put some of them into a large clear binder, apparently to pass on to the shop floor. She handed several sheets to the customer. Then she told him the work would take about one hour to accomplish.

The customer took cash from his wallet to pay. The clerk cannot except payment. This can only be done when the work is completed. The customer senses that this means an additional ten minutes of delay in completing the transaction will be appended on the back end, once the work is done. He sighed and walked away. He's got to wait an hour--at least--to get his car serviced.

The telephone rang again. The clerk answered the telephone. Those four sheets of paper in the plastic binder sat on the sales counter. I was wondering when and how that paper was going to get carried to the mechanic who would change the oil.

Finally, at least fifteen minutes since I walked in. it was my turn. I explained I was there to buy a battery that Sears had just told me was on sale. Several minutes later, after the clerk got all sorts of information from me about my vehicle year, model, engine, two-wheel or four-wheel, air-conditioning, and on and on, the clerk determines the proper battery. This was the battery that I already knew I wanted, because I had copied the Group Number from the present battery. But, no, you can't just ask for that battery, you have to do through the data entry form on the sales terminal.

Now that the battery Group size and tier of models available is decided, I ask the price. The price is the full retail, everyday price. There is no sale, no bonus discount at the actual retail store and in-person. All of that was only for on-line orders.

"Wait a minute," I say, "are you telling me that if I clicked on some screen button on my computer last night, I could have bought this battery for $40 less than I can buy it now, here, today, in-person?"

To make a long story shorter, that is the situation. The clerk runs this up the chain of command, and the department manager comes over to explain that, indeed, this is how it works. He is powerless to implement any sort of discretionary adjustment in price to offer me the same deal that my email offered me last night. Today, in the store, for me, the price is $40 more than it was about ten hours earlier on my computer.

I have now been in the Sears store for about 30-minutes. During this time, there have been only two people in the store, me and the other customer. The other customer is a really old guy, probably about 80-years old. This makes the average age of a Sears customer in the auto-battery department this morning about 70-years-old.

I left without buying a battery. When I left, that plastic binder with the four sheets of workorder for the oil change was still at the sales counter.

What I learned from this experience:

--the only people who actually come to Sears to buy something are really old people; the average age of people who actually shop at Sears must be over 60-years-old. They are probably coming to Sear out of habit, as they probably have shopped at Sears for years. Sears is doing its damdest to make sure they never come back.

--the clerks at Sears give a telephone call the highest priority, so be sure to call them before going there. They will answer any telephone call instead of waiting on customers already in the store, and will do anything the caller wants immediately. If you are in the store you have to wait your turn, and any caller on a telephone jumps to the head of the queue.

--a sale offer at Sears may only last a few hours. It may only be applicable if you enter the order on-line. If you go in person to a store you will likely miss out on the best offers and best deals. So never go to the store. Buy from Sears on-line, like it was Amazon.com, I guess.

Also, I discovered that the DieHard brand of batteries is now being sold at other retailers. My local Meier's store has them. This is apparently a recent development in which Sears is allowing other retailers to sell some of their branded products like Craftsmen tools and DieHard batteries. This is another attempt to stop people from coming to Sears in person. Get those favorite Sears brands at other retailers.

posted 05-07-2014 12:41 PM ET (US)            

But, aside from that garbage, I have noticed the same things regarding the telephone call interuptions, and increasingly poorer service. Fortunately, I have only had to wait maybe 10 minutes.

posted 05-07-2014 01:21 PM ET (US)            

--the prices of anything at Sears varies by the hour and place, so if you want to get a good price on something sold at Sears you have to camp out, waiting for the very best moment and place to buy it. Don't think you can just walk in to Sears and get a good value--not going to happen. Someone might walk in to the same store and pay 40-percent less for the same item because hours earlier they clicked on some link on a webpage.

posted 05-07-2014 01:43 PM ET (US)         

It was a colossal bomb. People need to think they are getting a deal even if they are not. They stopped doing it almost immediately after they started.

We use to joke that the selling price never actually changes, they just keep adjusting the "regular retail price" to give the appearance of a deal.

Sears remaining walk-in customers are people who are too dumb to figure this all out, which isn't many - there is rarely anyone in any Sears store I've been in lately.

posted 05-07-2014 05:28 PM ET (US)            

I asked to use their computer, and ordered the battery online for pickup at the store I was standing in.
2 minutes latter I "picked up" the battery for the sale price.

The counter people thought the situation was just as ridicules as I did. They said it is a constant problem for them.

posted 05-07-2014 08:43 PM ET (US)            

Battery story: Went to Sears as I used to buy only Diehards. 20 mile one way drive for me. 3 people in line...one sales clerk who disappeared for 15 minutes. 15 minutes later, two more people entered. Sales clerk still working on customer number one. I waited another 10 minutes, then walked out, as did three other customers. Went to COSTCO and never bought another Sears Battery.

Tire story: I normally buy Michelin tires, either the Michelin brand direct, or the Sears Road Handler, which was made by Michelin for a number of years. Went in to Sears, bought a new set of Road Handlers...then started having trouble with them...unusual wear, balance did not seem to hold. Through several trips back to Sears, I did not get satisfaction (ie problems continued). Then I find out that the Road Handlers I got were made by Firestone not Michelin. Sears made the switch but did not publicize it. Now I was really steamed, because some years ago, I bought a used car with the infamous Firestone 500 tires (the ones that self destructed at high speed on a number of cars...or at normal speed on many more). My Firestone 500's were not covered by the recall campaign serial numbers and I could not get any credit for exchange. One by one, the Firestone 500s self destructed...by splitting the tire casings. (Lest you think I am a hot rod, the tires were on a Mercedes 200D...a diesel that might get to 70 MPH flat out after a couple minutes acceleration!) I will never buy another Firestone tire while alive, and not likely to buy one from Sears either.

I lament because Sears was a great store with good stuff. I still buy Craftsman tools. Sears was perfectly positioned for the Internet age with their catalog sales set up, but somehow missed the boat (like Eastman Kodak with digital cameras). So I will likely never go back to Sears for batteries or tires...and I used to be a steady customer.

Now we can also talk about what happened to another great American company: OMC. But that may take another thread.

posted 05-08-2014 10:01 AM ET (US)            

The results differ quite a bit depending upon the Group and CCA ratings.

Sears DieHards are frequently the top rated batteries but these are usually very high priced and often AGMs. Walmart's store brand also scores consistently well as does Costco's. AC Delco batteries are seldom among the higher rated batteries.

posted 05-09-2014 06:43 AM ET (US)            

I alternate changing out one of two of these batteries on my boat.

posted 05-09-2014 02:12 PM ET (US)            

AC Delco is no longer sold by the many auto part stores around me.

I need a side-terminal battery for my GM truck. Side terminals seems to be a favorite of GM vehicles. I was thinking about why a side terminal battery might be preferred. I could only come up with two ideas:

--a side-terminal battery has a lower profile, which, in designing cars, might be helpful to keep the hood profile lower;

posted 05-14-2014 12:40 AM ET (US)            

I have purchased a new battery from WALMART. I was swayed by the following:

--the WALMART battery was very highly rated by Consumer Reports;

--the price was $20 less than the equivalent Sears battery at its normal retail price;

--the comments from Chuck Tribolet, who mentioned the popularity of the WALMART battery among his Corvette enthusiast friends;

--the ease of buying the battery at WALMART compared to Sears; I did not have to wait in line for 30-minutes to reach the head of a queue so that a sales clerk could then interview me for five minutes to determine what battery I needed, and then further interview me and extract more data in order to complete the transaction;

--I did not have to worry that five minutes after I left the store the price would be dropped by $20 to $40 dollars on some limited time and limited scope promotion;

--the WALMART battery was clearly marked as being made by Johnson Controls; and,

posted 05-14-2014 09:21 AM ET (US)            

I've had good results with the two batteries that I have purchased from WALMART. I had to bring one back (my fault- the vehicle ran the battery down so much due to a parasitic draw it could not be recharged). They exchanged it under warranty- no questions asked.

Rich

posted 05-14-2014 10:55 AM ET (US)            

As for boat batteries, I'm still using a six year old Optima Redtop in my Montauk. I bought that one at Sears.

regards---knothead

posted 12-08-2014 10:33 AM ET (US)            

I have a Sears CRAFTSMAN shop vacuum. I needed a new filter. The filter element I really wanted was the least expensive model. My local hardware store carries all sorts of CRAFTSMAN products, including shop vacuum replacement filters, but the one they had on their shelf was a more expensive model, possessing some special characteristic I did not need.

The local Sears store had the cheaper filter, but the in-store price was several dollars more than the on-line price. I decided I would play the game with Sears and their preferred way to do business--order on-line.

posted 12-09-2014 09:15 AM ET (US)            

Buying things on-line from Sears for in-store delivery is something Sears appears to do well. I keep hoping to see the Diehard AGMs on sale soon.