Jump-starting the new year...

It's starting to get cold here in Florida. December was a very mild month, milder than the December of 08. After many days of highs in the 70's and lows in the 60's the mercury has dropped now with 30's for lows and 50's for highs. "Hahaha" the 6 inch thick fur coat clad farmer in Lonetree, ND might laugh at me and cry at the same time, while looking through his window at the sidewalks covered in a foot of snow, but the fact still remains, your body gets used to the Floridian warmth. And for us Mumbaites, it feels right at home.

Back on topic; the battery on wifey's car which was purchased from Costco a little over a year back died this morning. It was dead, dead as a doornail, no, deader than the phone line after not paying the phone bills for 6 months. I tried jump-starting it with the battery on my bus, which is probably twice the capacity as the one on wifey's car. No luck. I tried leaving the jumper cables on and the bus running for over half an hour. No go.

I gave up and started my frantic search for the sales receipt for this battery. Drawer 1 messed up, not there. Drawer 2 digged into, nope. Drawer 3 which was almost empty was still strip searched and felt around but in vain. It wasn't in the drawers, it wasn't in the files, it wasn't in my wallet which still had a Free lunch coupon from 2006.

Giving up, I called Costco and asked them whether they would still honor the warranty if I have lost my receipt. The lady on the phone was pretty pleasant. She said it's not a big deal and that they can look it up using my member Id. She asked me to get the battery to their returns desk and they would take care of it. Duh, I probably should have called her before spending an hour searching for the receipt.

Removing the battery from the car was very straightforward, especially since I had installed it just a year back. The first time was a real pain in the rear but that's a story for some other time. Loading the battery on the bus, I left for Costco

The warranty replacement process was a cake walk. Basically, there was no warranty replacement! The lady at the returns desk explained to me that all I have to do is return the battery at her desk and then go buy a new one. Sweet!! A new battery and an all new 3 year replacement warranty for at least 20 bucks cheaper than the cheapest comparable battery in other places. She also told me that the price on the battery has gone down 3 bucks since the time I bought it last year.

So basically, I got a new battery, 3 dollars back and a brand new warranty, no questions asked. That's customer service. Why did the battery die within a year? The question still remains. Was it a cheap quality battery in the first place? Is there something else wrong with the car? Alternator not doing its job may be? Will it break down again tomorrow or next week? Only time will tell. For now, it's Thank you Costco you have earned yet another loyal customer.