On the evening of 9-16-05, my wife drove our 2002 Chrysler Voyager in to Sears Auto Center in Clearwater. She got there after she got a "jump" on a dead battery. We asked for the battery to be charged overnight. No sooner than we got home, we got a phone message saying that the battery was unable to be charged and recommended that it be replaced.
The next day, she called Sears and was told that our two year-old battery was damaged and could not be repaired. Since we could not move the van, she auhorized a new battery to be installed ($83 job).
We got another call indicating that the alternator was also bad and needed replacement and that the alternator will just damage any battery we put in the car. They said that they will need to keep the car for about 2 days which is the time it takes to get a an alternator from Texas. At this point, we knew something was up and decided to take the car to the dealership.
We were told at the Chrysler dealership that there was no problems with the electrical system and that the alternator was working just fine. We incurred an $85.00 bill for the diagnostics.
I called the manager at Sears to complain that we were sold a battery that we did not need (and just needed to be charged) and told to replace an alternator that was functioning properly. He was not at all apologetic, offering only that he will return our old battery and take theirs out if we wanted. He never responded to the charge of recommending unnecessary repair on the alternator.
Having read some of the other consumers'reports, I guess I feel rather fortunate that I was not taken for more. I would be glad to participate in any classs action or efforts to discredit the company and put it out of business.
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