Batteries & Accessories for Home & Business in Sunnyside, NY

| July 28, 2015

John Eisenberg

This my second Interstate Battery in my 2004 Audi A6. The first MTP 94R/H7 was purchased in October of 2011 which replaced the OEM battery the car was delivered with. Today, I replaced it with the same battery. So, here's the not so funny part of the story. I am a member of AAA for decades, the July / August edition of C&T has an ad on it's inside front cover for battery service which includes: testing, delivery, installation and recycling. Call or Go On-Line for a quote; which when completed gave me a price of $168.00 (it was not clear if that included tax or not)SO FAR SO GOOD. EXCEPT,I then received a call from 54th Street Garage,the AAA approved repair center that covers Manhattan. He informed me that a Truck was on the way; HOWEVER, the driver DID NOT have the battery "on-board" I asked him why send a truck without a replacement battery as I know it's quite dead, refuses to hold a charge, etc... He arrived, tested the battery and told me it needed to be replaced (NO S#!T SHERLOCK) He calls the shop, they have it in stock and someone will be right out. OK, I'm somewhat annoyed at this point; but it is what it is... Then, 20 minutes later, the phone rings, it's 54th Street Garage and the voice say: "you battery is a difficult install and you'll have to drive the car to us or we'll flat-bed it over and now on top of the $168.00 (Which according to the voice, did not include taxes) they wanted an additional $70.00 for the "difficult installation" to which I responded Bulls#!T, it requires loosening two nuts and removing one piece of weather stripping and removing a plastic panel that simply slides forward and out one the weather stripping has been removed. NOW, here's the Very Happy Ending, I knew I had and Interstate battery and simply let your website do the work. So from the upper eastside of Manhattan, Sunnyside (How apt) was the closest Interstate Center. I called, spoke with Luis Valdez who could not be more affable and helpful. I drove over and it took Luis about 20 minutes to replace, recycle and bill me for my spankin, crankin brandy new Interstate. And BONUS, for less than the quote I received from AAA; so much for their "Special". KUDOs to Luis, please make sure this gets into his "jacket" Hey maybe you should consider running an ad on the inside from cover? Best Regards, John L. Eisenberg