Ebay member "hopmeup"

[JThiessen]

Ok, this is going to be one of those "rant" threads. Over the last couple months, I purchased a total of 6 A123 battery packs on Ebay from "hopmeup". I had some issues with 3 of the packs, in that cells completely lost voltage after the first run. I did not measure the voltage of the packs when I recieved them (error!), and I did not overly concern myself with running them too low, as all the rage was about how tuff these were. I did not run them completely dead - I just treated them the same way I ran all of my Nimh's. My first run(s) with them were fantastic. They ran at what seemed like 100% for about 20 minutes, until all of a sudden, there was only 20%. I then drove the truck the 150 ft back to my "pit" and removed the batteries. I may have been the reason the cells went bad - but I dont know for certain, so I emailed them asking about warranty, just to see what my possibilties were.

The first response was "Hi, We will only replace these if they arrive with the voltage to low. Once you charge the pack, there is no further warranty."

I responded to that note with" What exact voltage is too low for a 2S2P pack, and how does one tell by measuring voltage if one cell in a series/parrallel pack is bad". I also went on to explain that I was not after a warranty replacement since I had in fact charged the packs, and had actually taken one apart and fixed it. I just wanted help figuring our why the packs were bad, and possibly a price break on purchasing a new one.
5 days went by with no response, so I left them neutral feedback on the last pack I bought - I gave thier shipping/delivery/etc high ratings, but low on the communication. In the explanation, I stated that I was only unhappy with the packs and the way they handled it.

So, its getting to be crunch time for me to get my stuff ready for the upcoming three day weekend, so I figured I'd just bite the bullet and order one more pack from them. But, I found that they had blocked me from buying from them! An email to them for an explanation as to why and their response "Hi, You were blocked for feedback. You can have it removed by eBay if you tell them you made it in error. When that is complete, you can contact us and we will remove the block. Dan"

This REALLY torqued me off. I did not leave them BAD feedback, just not positive. Their customer service really stinks, and they can/will hold me somewhat hostage just for being honest.

Another thing that makes me wonder, is that it looks like they burry negative/neutral feedback. IF you page through their feedback, they appear to have several hundred sales a day of RC parts. With all the competition out there, I highly doubt they sell that many parrts.

I went ahead and filed a dispute with them, just because of their lame duck approach to this. We'll see if Ebay even takes it serious.

Ok, I'm done ranting now!

[Arct1k]

How cheap were they - Have you checked out rclipos for cells

[JThiessen]

They were 49.95 for a 6.6V/4600 2S2P pack, plus only 7 bucks for shipping. Very cheap.

Yes, I looked at theirs. 16.50 per cell, without tabs. My LHS has a couple for 19 with tabs - and I'd almost rather do business locally. This is the second time I've been burned (by poor customer service) purchasing batteries online.

[sikeston34m]

Originally Posted by JThiessen

They were 49.95 for a 6.6V/4600 2S2P pack, plus only 7 bucks for shipping. Very cheap.

Ok, let me make some speculations here as to what happened. I was building/selling home made A123 packs on Ebay for awhile in the beginning. I robbed these cells from the original round of 36 volt Dewalt tool packs.

Even built and used a few myself. They performed well and sold well too since I was able to undercut most people on price. (including hopmeup)

Hopmeup had the 6.6v 4600 mah packs set at the suggested retail of $119.95 I believe it was. They were NOT moving any. I watched them for ages as long as I was selling them. That's what I do when I'm working with a product. It pays to know what the competition is doing.

Well, a LONG period of time went by. I stopped selling the custom packs when the price of the Dewalt Packs went up alot. It became hard to compete pricewise.

I would still check in on hopmeup from time to time. They began to drop their price, but they still weren't moving any product.

A couple of months ago, Lincpimp was looking for A123 packs. So I decided to sell him the packs that I had on hand. They only had a few cycles on each, but had set on the shelf for a few months. I made a deal with him and he wanted them.

Before I shipped them, I decided to check their status with a volt meter. They were Dead! 9 out of 10 cells were bad. I don't know what happened! What happened to the ever tough, never dying A123 cell?

In my Opinion, what you purchased was Hopmeup's OLD original stock that they couldn't move at $119.95 a pack. Agewise, If I were to take a guess, I would guess they are about 2 years old.

I have probably purchased from hopmeup 20 times or more in the past 2 years. I've never had a problem, but then again, i've never had to try and return anything. If you take a look @ their ebay store, you'll see they carry a good lot of stuff. People into 18th scale can get pretty much anything they need from hopmeup.

I hope this is an isolated case. I can understand limited warrantees on batteries, since people tend to kill them. I'm not sure how I feel about blocking for feedback. I guess it's his way of saying, "if you aren't happy with me, shop elsewhere". He wouldn't want to get another neutral or negative feedback against his store. As much as he sells to happy customers, why take that chance ?

One thing for sure, he should have worked or at least communicated with you about the issue.

J.

[sikeston34m]

If you want to verify the age. Open a pack and look at the date that is burned into the outside of the cell casing.

The date is right under the A123 logo, and it will look like it was done with a wood burner.

The original batch will say:
A123
FS300001-001
FB0610070-7-1$

In the last line, the FB06 is the production date

Feb. 2006!

Check it out.

[JThiessen]

Originally Posted by sikeston34m

If you want to verify the age. Open a pack and look at the date that is burned into the outside of the cell casing.

The date is right under the A123 logo, and it will look like it was done with a wood burner.

The original batch will say:
A123
FS300001-001
FB0610070-7-1$

In the last line, the FB06 is the production date

Feb. 2006!

Check it out.

Yep...FB0606 and FB0608 on the ones I have taken apart.

I hope this is an isolated case. I can understand limited warrantees on batteries, since people tend to kill them. I'm not sure how I feel about blocking for feedback. I guess it's his way of saying, "if you aren't happy with me, shop elsewhere". He wouldn't want to get another neutral or negative feedback against his store. As much as he sells to happy customers, why take that chance ?

I agree. Batteries would be very tough to warranty. I'm upset with the somewhat childish nature of the way he handled it.
My response to his last note was
"Not a chance of revoking my feedback. You need your ratings more than I need your cheap price".

[snellemin]

I responded to your rant on RCU.

[BrianG]

Like some others, I have gotten a few parts from that eBay user with no issues, but did not have to return anything.

Thanks for the warning. I will now close the thread to prevent possible flaming, rants, etc. If you end up working it out for the better, let a mod know so they can either re-open the thread to allow you to update it, or they can post a "resolved" response.