Johnhav430

No big deal, replace the battery, right?

Well, the battery is only 2 mos. old. The world's largest etailer rippped me off 2X before I stone cold busted them.

When you walk into walmart, a 4 pack of 2032's costs over $7. But they are obviously legit batteries.

Well, there are plenty of "flea market" or gray batteries available online for a fraction of a buck each. However, the world's largest etailer offers retail packaged batteries for $3-$5 depending on their mood. But what they do, and there are 1 star reviews up and down to substantiate, is they fulfill orders where customers paid full retail price, with 3rd party sellers' gray goods. When they pulled this for the 3rd time, I said no more, you make it right, and they did. Retail packaging is like what you'd see in walmart, not single batteries in a tear strip shipped in a ziplock bag.

Anyway, imho the results speak for themselves, put a gray battery in, and they last 2 mos. My wife has a 2011 car, and her 2032 has never been replaced, granted, it's not a smart key. But my BMW has comfort access, that is similar, and the battery lasts usually 2+ years. It also gives you a warning on the dash when the battery is getting low--I did not see this on the LS.

So much caveat emptor these days, even from outfits one would generally trust....

2KHarrier

Some things I've learned, you cannot skimp on. Chinese food, condoms, fertilizer, super glue, guitar strings, bed sheets and footwear. Batteries seem to be in that category as well.

Johnhav430

I totally agree on the first item on your list, but some of the others are ok #'s 2,3,4,6 lol haha I dunno how brand loyalty is created, but I always use Dean Markley acoustic med lights, and back in the day they came with a cool sticker inside, which I believe is gone...I can't even find it online, man sittin and pickin with his dog?

But my point is the world's largest etailer ripped me off by substituting gray goods when I paid full retail, and they do this to others based on the reviews. Imagine such a practice? A 3rd party reseller told me there's some clause in the agreement that allows them to remove their stock which they are fulfilling for them, and compensating them. Say legit Energizers are $2 wholesale, but a 3rd party is selling a knock-off 10 pack for the same $2, they take 4 of them and dupe folks like me. That's cheating but you'll never get em', that dude is flying his family to space and meeting with the president.

2KHarrier

Ok, I see your point now. I have not experienced that with Amazon, yet...

Johnhav430

I never said it was Amazon that did the bait and switch, I only said it was the earth's largest etailer doing the bait and switch, and made references to Jeff Bezos. Now I may be crushed into the dirt by his organization!!

Gronemus

Some questions for ya John,

1) When you press any of the buttons on the fob with the "dead" battery does the LED light?

2) Did you buy your batteries from Amazon directly or was it through one of their "sellers" or was it "fulfilled by Amazon"?

3) Do you have a voltmeter? If so, what does the battery measure?

According to the manual, page 100 (2004), the car is capable of providing a Low Key Battery warning on the dash but the conditions are somewhat strange. Apparently it will only show up when the ignition is turned off after being on for at least 20 minutes. Then the message will appear for 5 seconds. I also got a chuckle where is it says after that "Replacing the battery (Type A) on page 42, we recommend you have it replaced by your Lexus dealer as it is easy to be scratched". I wonder what part they are worried about being scratched? The battery, the fob or your wallet???

If I don't hear a response from you within 24 hours I will assume that an army of drones have been dispatched to settle the score...

2KHarrier

Irony of ironies, the dealership using the very same batteries that have started this problem... Now that'll make you chuckle!

Johnhav430

Thanks Grone, to answer your questions...
1. no LED
2. it was from amazon directly, "retail packaging" (more below)
3. I tossed the battery but do have a voltmeter....I have more of these knock-offs but have a bunch of legit ones too--I could get out the voltmeter and test them new so apples to apples

On the batteries, they are $2.66 right now, and this price fluctuates from $2.xx to $6, same pack of 4. The legit ones have retail packaging and even have a sticker on the + side of them. The gray ones that amazon routinely substitutes upon fulfillment are tear strips, of questionable origin, and come in a ziplock bag with a printed bar code (imho very dishonorable practice)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D8P5T0U/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B00D8P5T0U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_viewpnt_rgt?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=critical&reviewerType=avp_only_reviews&showViewpoints=0&pageNumber=1

check out the one star reviews--they did this to many others. I decided to grab some more @ $2.66, as these are over $7 at Walmart. But if I get counterfeits, Jeff I will tell you now, I don't care that you want to fly your family to space and you have a hotline to the President. I will return them for legit ones! No 2 mo. life in my house!

Prolly just my imagination but there is a white Sprinter van that's been parked across the street for a while. Wife said it showed up Friday 10:00 EST?

edit p.s. I grabbed some 7440 bulbs for $2.44, I paid the auto store $7.99 for my high mount. There are a lot of deals like this where I think they are teasers.

Gronemus

Interesting. I had to extract the link address out of your post to get to the site. For some reason your links have a clublexus quote verbage added which makes the links useless.

Here's the actual link first link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...mp%3Bth=1&th=1

It seems like you are playing russian roulette when you buy those batteries from them. Lot's of recent positive comments but several bad ones too. I wonder what Energizer thinks about all of this? Seems to me that this is giving them a black eye as much as its hurting Amazon.

Since I don't have Amazon Prime this is an item that I would never think of buying from them since the shipping charge would outweigh the price advantage. That and the fact that I usually don't like to carry spares so when they do get to the point where I need to replace one I just drive the couple of miles to the store to get them...

Htony

Nothing new. There are counterfeit cheap batteries of all sorts. Bad is even known to damage the device. Visually it is almost impossible to tell the difference.