Duracell Batteries, a division of Gillette - Acid leak from Duracell Battery destoyed my carpet

Duracell Batteries, a division of Gillette - Acid leak from Duracell Battery destoyed my carpet

Acid leak from Duracell Battery destoyed my carpet

Duracell Batteries, a division of Gillette

An acid leak from a new Duracell battery burned a two inch hole right through my carpet. It took less than five minutes of use for this to occur. I contacted Duracell in the U.K. where this happened, After examing the battery that leaked (along with the three others that had been inserted at the same time), the company, unbelievably, responded that the fault lay entirely with me, saying this: "The state of the batteries indicates that it [the acid leak] has resulted from a battery having been accidentally inserted into the circuit the wrong way round. Depending on design, an appliance may function for a short time with a battery incorrectly positioned, but while it is in operation the reversed battery will be charged by the others in the circuit. Pressure will build up inside the battery and the sensitive membrane will often vent in order to release that pressure. Electrolyte may be expelled as well." I certainly believed that Duracell batteries were safe for use by the general public, including children and the poorly sighted, in situations of poor lighting, etc. This presumption is certainly confirmed by the company's advertizing which is directed the general public and by the tiny-print instruction on battery packaging which is limited to stating that you should respect battery polarities.

If it is the case that batteries not correctly inserted may "often" vent and expell electrolyte that destroys surrounding surfaces (like your carpeting), Duracell advertizing and packaging are wholly inadequate. If warnings were clear, prominently displace and properly informed users of the potential for devastating leakage of acid, no parent would allow a child to insert a battery on Christmas morning, insertion would occur only where lighting was excellent, and persons not confident of their eyesight would be advised to avoid battery use altogether (or perhaps employ factory-trained battery insertion specialists).

We would use the product like the acid that it is. The company sent me a voucher sufficient to replace the batteries. It was not even sufficient to pay the cost of shipping the batteries back (as I was instructed to do) let alone compensate for the thousands of dollars it will cost me to replace the carpet. For that matter, I have since learned that they instructed me to send batteries in the mail in contradiction of postal regulations. The company's response was totally ridiculous.

annlgreer

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I too have had your batteries leak - TWICE- now. Apparently YOU are not making them correctly for I have used batteries for Y E A R S & am NOT stupid, as you tried to make out the other consumer to be! I know EXACTLY how to put batteries in!! VERY carefully checking which goes where. The fan was FINE until these last 2 sets of 4 D's!

The 4 D batteries I put in my fan LEAKED after 2 WEEKS, after, & so did the next set. They DESTROYED my table!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fix them, instead of putting consumers down!