Costco’s ‘free replacement’ car batteries aren’t really free, lawsuit claims

How can it be a Free Replacement Policy when they make you pay anyway at the store?

That’s what a Florida consumer is asking in a lawsuit accusing Costco Wholesale LLC of reneging on promises to provide free replacements of defective car batteries bought from the chain.

John Skrandel is the lead plaintiff in a suit that seeks class certification on behalf of all consumers who purchased the wholesale club’s Interstate Batteries believing they would get a free one if theirs died within 36 or 42 months.

But instead of receiving a free replacement battery, Costco credited customers for the amount they originally paid and required them to pay the difference between what they originally paid and the chain’s price for a new battery, Skrandel’s suit states.

This Interstate Batteries model is at the center of a federal lawsuit accusing Costco Wholesale Clubs of overcharging customers who come into the store with failed car batteries despite the term, "Free Replacement." — This Interstate Batteries model is at the center of a federal lawsuit accusing Costco Wholesale Clubs of overcharging customers who come into the store with failed car batteries despite the term, “Free Replacement.”

If certified, the class would include all U.S. and Florida buyers of Interstate Batteries between Sept. 1, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2019. Costco discontinued labeling batteries with free replacement guarantees in late 2019 and replaced them with batteries affixed with the words, Limited Warranty Replacement.

Many consumers are accustomed to replacement guarantees for car batteries, the suit says.

Walmart has been selling batteries with free replacement guarantees for years. At auto-part chains, the length of the replacement warranty depends on the battery brand.

“Costco’s scheme,” the suit says, “is deceptive to reasonable consumers, such as [Skrandel], who expect that when returning their defective Interstate Batteries under Costco’s advertised Free Replacement Warranty, they will receive a replacement battery at no extra cost, or, at the very least, have the purchase price of their Interstate Battery refunded and then be charged for a replacement battery at the same price.’

The suit claims that Costco’s failure to honor the Free Replacement Warranty and/or disclose to customers that they must pay an additional cost for a new battery violates state laws barring unfair and deceptive trade practices.

In a Feb. 9 court filing asserting that the case has met the standards for class certification, attorneys said that Costco had a policy in its Refund Manual requiring that any additional cost for a free replacement battery be overrode at the cash register.

But that didn’t happen for Skrandel, his original complaint states.

Skrandel purchased an Interstate Battery with a 36-month replacement warranty for $72.99 at a Costco in Palm Beach Gardens on Dec. 19, 2017, the suit says.

Skrandel returned to the store with his old battery 19 days before his warranty expired, the suit states. On Nov. 30, 2020 — just 19 days before his warranty expired — Skrandel returned to the store with the Interstate Battery, which had become defective and failed.

Instead of a free battery, Skrandel was given a refund of his original price and then told the new battery would cost $78.99 — nearly six dollars more, the suit says.

In its July 1, 2021, response to Skrandel’s complaint, Costco admitted “that its records show Plaintiff purchased an Interstate Battery with a 36-month warranty period and an error led to Plaintiff paying $2 for his replacement battery.”

But the company denied the other allegations in the suit and stated that consumers can return defective Interstate Batteries “consistent with its warranty and return procedures” and receive a replacement “at no additional cost.”

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Costco also asserted that neither Skrandel nor the proposed class have suffered any injury or are entitled to any relief in the matter. It urged the judge to deny the class certification.

In their review of Costco’s sales records, attorneys representing Skrandel said they identified 337,757 purchasers who returned their batteries as defective and were required to pay a higher price for a replacement.

Overcharges for the 337,757 potential class members totaled $2.42 million, the filing states.

Skrandel is represented by eight attorneys from South Florida from the Miami-based law firm Gordon & Partners.

Representing Costco are Johanna Elizabeth Sheehe of the Miami-based Sheehe & Associates P.A., and by the Los Angeles-based Morrison & Foerster LLP or Fort Lauderdale-based Kopelowitz Ostrow PA.

Daniel Girvan Williams, of Gordon & Dodle, is lead attorney, court records show.

Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071, on Twitter @ronhurtibise or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.