Motobatt MB18U on ebay heads up

[blade]

I bought the MB18U for the 92 I am working on. At the time I bought it Murph did not have any listed so I went to ebay and got it from Motobatt.  When the battery arrived there was not enough charge to spin the motor, only 10.3Vdc. I put it on a tender and emailed the seller on ebay about it. After two weeks I had no reply from the seller and the battery does not seem to be holding charge for more than a few days. I sent a second email to which there was no response again. After another week I placed negative feedback. Fast forward to this week. The seller contacts me and says they will send a replacement battery once I send back the battery lid and caps, I have no problem with this as the one I have is crap at this point. I did tell them that I would only change my feedback after I have a new battery and can test it.
Today I get this response to my email

Okay, Stan, this is what we have. I have had the sales guy test 7 different batteries for me and they all have sulfated evidently. We are shipping several whole pallets back to the manufacturer for a different load. All the batteries were no good.

As a result they refunded full price with shipping (we all seen others that won't refund shipping) and I am the proud owner of a marginal battery, but not out any money on it.

So if you are thinking of getting a MB18U from Motobatt on ebay hold off for a bit if you can. No need to risk having a dud shipped to you.


As far as Motobatt batteries go, I have no problems with one I bought for the GS500 a while ago and I know that Murph sells them, so they have to be decent because Gary looks out for us. 

[Bob]

Thanks for the heads up!

[BrianM]

Funny, similar story (only whatever the right model is for the KLR) and it happened in Nov of 2010.  Only I spent over a month trying to contact them before disputing payment, posting on BBB, and leaving neg feedback on ebay.  I even tried phone calls that only went to VM and were never returned as well as a USPS letter.  The reply I finally received (via email) was full of negativity/hostility and the replacement they sent was clearly used, and was missing the post hardware.  At least it worked. 

I vote with my $$$, and they won't be getting any more of it from me.

[SteveJ.]

I ride my bike everyday to work, I do not want it laid up waiting on mail order, then waiting for another one if defective. Batteries come from a store, I don't need the down time. The El Camino is cool and everything, but it's not bashful about using gas. $60/week for gas vs one tank every other week for the bike to and from worksux.

I do buy stuff from Murphs' and others, just nothing as critical as a battery unless it is a preemptive replacement.

[Electroken]

Motobatt = China

Deka = USA, and not screaming yellow.

I've had both.

I've never been much of a flag-waver (The garage has 2 Kawis, 1 Honda, 1 Nissan, 1 Mazda) , but in this case I'd rather spend the extra couple of bucks for the Deka. The Deka in my Concours is 6 years old now.