Brand new car - dead as a doornail

[cruisemates]

Okay, I brought a brand new Scion two weeks ago - from a dealer with warranty, etc.

I don't drive many miles - work out of my house. All last week wife & I were out of town. So, the car has just been sitting in my garage for a week. I have only personally driven it one time before.

I was getting all my gear assembled in the family room for a 12:00 recording session. Ready to load up my cool new car I grab my shiny new key fob and walk into the garage where she is waiting for me.

I hit the keyfob to unlock it - nothing. The car is totally dead - as a doornail. This is only the second time I have tried to drive it. (FWI: it had just under 2000 miles when I bought it).

The deal just had it for a week, installed bluetooth for my phone, and told me they put a brand new battery in it - BRAND NEW, before they returned it.

So - why is the battery dead as a doornail today? I am livid and ready to ask for my money back.

I had to take the tarp off my old car, find the key and load it up to drive to my session, where I was 20 minutes late. In 12 years the battery on my old car never once died.

How am I supposed to tolerate such horrible service. Really? My brand new car with under 2000 miles from a dealer who told me they installed a brand new battery just to be "nice" is 100% dead? Just Unbelievable.

[PVH5150]

Originally Posted by cruisemates

Okay, I brought a brand new Scion two weeks ago - from a dealer with warranty, etc.

I don't drive many miles - work out of my house. All last week wife & I were out of town. So, the car has just been sitting in my garage for a week. I have only personally driven it one time before.

I was getting all my gear assembled in the family room for a 12:00 recording session. Ready to load up my cool new car I grab my shiny new key fob and walk into the garage where she is waiting for me.

I hit the keyfob to unlock it - nothing. The car is totally dead - as a doornail. This is only the second time I have tried to drive it. (FWI: it had just under 2000 miles when I bought it).

The deal just had it for a week, installed bluetooth for my phone, and told me they put a brand new battery in it - BRAND NEW, before they returned it.

So - why is the battery dead as a doornail today? I am livid and ready to ask for my money back.

I had to take the tarp off my old car, find the key and load it up to drive to my session, where I was 20 minutes late. In 12 years the battery on my old car never once died.

How am I supposed to tolerate such horrible service. Really? My brand new car with under 2000 miles from a dealer who told me they installed a brand new battery just to be "nice" is 100% dead? Just Unbelievable.

Reasons I can think of a battery croaking that quick are: there might have been an interior light left on, a charger of some sorts could have been left in the power outlet, or (in the unfortunate case), the battery could just be outright defective.

I take it that jumpstarting or recharging it didn't work?

[FlyingDutchman]

Well looking a bit deeper into it, maybe a faulty alternator?

[Pfeister]

So, the dealer said they installed a new one before 2000 miles and now it's dead again.

I would suspect the alternator.

[bluesjuke]

Apparently there was a reason they replaced it after such low miles.

[PVH5150]

If the battery was still at full charge even if the alternator was completely defective, it would still start & remain running for about 5 minutes.

The battery at full charge will start a vehicle, the alternator's job is to keep it charged.

I smell an electrical problem. A short in some random wire somewhere.

[Teleplayer]

Originally Posted by bluesjuke

Apparently there was a reason they replaced it after such low miles.

This.

The dealer isn't going to install a new battery "just because". The car was exhibiting problems when it was at the dealership, or there is no way they would have installed a new battery.

[Papajuice]

Take back in for warranty, you have a drain. If they put in all the extras like the blue tooth and such you should have no problem. It does not sound like a battery problem, Cars now have computers that drain small amounts of power all the time and you need to start it periodically. Having been in the business I have seen people leave a Vette or when I worked for MB a SL sit for a month and think that there is a bad alternator. An alternator will usually cause a problem if if it is discharging while driving. A drain from anything like a lighted sunvisor mirror or an added accessory can drain in a few days, dependeing on the amps that are being drained. As I said call the dealer have them tow it and check for drains the only problem would be if you have none dealer added accessories. Some dealers will charge to disconnect them first to see if it the problem.

[cruisemates]

Thank you for the suggestions. I guess I will find out tomorrow when they open.

What happened is my wife took it to the dealer for a final detailing about two weeks ago - while in there they installed the bluetooth adaptor for my cellphone (but not having my phone available they could not do the sync operation).

My wife picked it up and they told her - "hey - while the car was here we needed a battery for another vehicle, so we took yours momentarily. We then replaced it with a brand new one instead of putting the old one back."

The car only sat for a week - I see no reason why a brand new battery would die in a week even though this is PHX and batteries dry up quickly, but it was only 100 degrees and it was in the relatively cooler garage the whole week.

[halorealm7]

I agree with most everyone else. Sounds like there is a drain or something. It is entirely possible that the dealership has a bad bunch of batteries as well. Use your warranty and best of luck. They will get it sorted out for you.

[Blindspot]

Assuming your story is accurate, and that I read it correctly, your dealership service department is staffed by possible morons.

I've worked at dealerships before - it is atypical at best for a service department to "borrow" a battery from a customer's car. The story strikes me as odd. They did something wrong, in my opinion - not sure what - fried something while installing the aftermarket electronics to your car - something, then replaced your battery, but failed to fix the problem at hand. I'm speculating, of course, but it sounds fishy. You need to be dealing directly with the service manager, and I would encourage you to also have a word with the general manager. Again, I'm just riffing here, but I would say something like - "I'm not sure what actually transpired, but my wife was told that the original battery was taken from my brand new car by your service department to use in another car - without our consent - then replaced, and since this was done my brand new car has developed battery problems, would not start, caused disruption to my work schedule, has us concerned about what else may have happened while you had the car, and we need explanation, resolution, and compensation before we take this issue to the Scion district rep. So, what say you, Service/General Manager?" At my dealerships, massive ass covering and customer smoothing out would ensue.

G'luck!

[Papajuice]

Originally Posted by Blindspot

Assuming your story is accurate, and that I read it correctly, your dealership service department is staffed by possible morons.

I've worked at dealerships before - it is atypical at best for a service department to "borrow" a battery from a customer's car. The story strikes me as odd. They did something wrong, in my opinion - not sure what - fried something while installing the aftermarket electronics to your car - something, then replaced your battery, but failed to fix the problem at hand. I'm speculating, of course, but it sounds fishy. You need to be dealing directly with the service manager, and I would encourage you to also have a word with the general manager. Again, I'm just riffing here, but I would say something like - "I'm not sure what actually transpired, but my wife was told that the original battery was taken from my brand new car by your service department to use in another car - without our consent - then replaced, and since this was done my brand new car has developed battery problems, would not start, caused disruption to my work schedule, has us concerned about what else may have happened while you had the car, and we need explanation, resolution, and compensation before we take this issue to the Scion district rep. So, what say you, Service/General Manager?" At my dealerships, massive ass covering and customer smoothing out would ensue.

G'luck!

Absolutely sounds like the old clean up guys let the battery go dead then grabbed a new one to cover themselves. Yea you really need to talk to the Service/General manager not just the service writer and let them know about the battery exchange not a normal thing at all.

[popinvasion]

sorry for your issues.. Most likely due to the radiation.. I say this slightly kidding. But read about modern toyotas and hondas right now hitting the states and people are having issues. Are these quake cars? Fallout cars? I don't have the answer, just saying.

[bluesjuke]

Yep, the battery story sounds not right to me and I wouldn't buy that for a second.
Good thing "another car" didn't need a transmission.

[frankthomson]

Originally Posted by cruisemates

Okay, I brought a brand new Scion two weeks ago - from a dealer with warranty, etc.

I don't drive many miles - work out of my house. All last week wife & I were out of town. So, the car has just been sitting in my garage for a week. I have only personally driven it one time before.

I was getting all my gear assembled in the family room for a 12:00 recording session. Ready to load up my cool new car I grab my shiny new key fob and walk into the garage where she is waiting for me.

I hit the keyfob to unlock it - nothing. The car is totally dead - as a doornail. This is only the second time I have tried to drive it. (FWI: it had just under 2000 miles when I bought it).

The deal just had it for a week, installed bluetooth for my phone, and told me they put a brand new battery in it - BRAND NEW, before they returned it.

So - why is the battery dead as a doornail today? I am livid and ready to ask for my money back.

I had to take the tarp off my old car, find the key and load it up to drive to my session, where I was 20 minutes late. In 12 years the battery on my old car never once died.

How am I supposed to tolerate such horrible service. Really? My brand new car with under 2000 miles from a dealer who told me they installed a brand new battery just to be "nice" is 100% dead? Just Unbelievable.

something wrong w/ that statement.