Beware of hybrid battery doctor on ebay

Sorry to hear of your troubles, but we are hearing stories identical to yours all the time from so called battery repairers/rebuilders/remanufacturers. That is why we do not recommend any of those re-whatever services.

When you were researching your options, it is a pity you did not land here on PriusChat before you agreed to purchase that "service".

If it is any consolation, the only repairs to the HV battery that seem to work are transplanting the battery modules from a late model wreck or replacing all the modules with new. There are only two recommendations for new, one is 2k1Toaster's newpriusbatteries.com; the other is new from Toyota. For a short term fix to get you out a bind, you could also replace the 1 or defective modules yourself and then do a full recondition of the battery after that.

My opinion, sue that eBay seller and get your money back, then replace with one of the options above. If that is unsuccessful, cut and run. Chalk it up to experience.

I'm truly sorry for your pain, and I hope people that land on this thread in the future, learn from your experience.

All the best, with your journey.

 

Uh... yeah?

You bought a reconditioned battery. What does "reconditioned" mean? It means taking 28 random battery modules that are between 4 and 19 years old with unknown miles and unknown series resistance and slapping them together into a pack. The general consensus is you'll usually get 6 months to a year out of a well selected pack. This requires lots of battery modules to match them the best. A 6 month warranty or a 1 year warranty or 10 year warranty is moot. Most of these guys will either be bankrupt or ghost when you need to replace it. And everytime you replace it your car is down. Some vendors give "free" replacement but charge $100 to $250 for each time they come out to warrant it.

As long as you know what you're paying for you won't be disappointed.

 

Yep, You can complain to eBay hopefully you get your money back, if not perhaps they will drop the guy. Go with new, either Toyota Factory or 2K1toasters new kit. This video shows how to get into the pack if you want to DIY:

 

In the current period that the "installed base" of Toyota hybrid batteries are reaching "old age" in their projected lifetimes, the only reliable replacement battery is one from a Toyota dealer.

It goes to say, "if it's too good to be true, it is likely NOT." This is one case that you get what you pay for.

In the future, when I will need a battery, I'd "pay the piper" and get one from the dealer.

 

The only reliable option is a new battery. Dealer is no longer the only source of NEW batteries.

 

Sorry to hear about your bad experience.

I'm trying to understand a bit more about what you might be able to sue for?

They sold a USED battery, that, if it failed during the 6 months, would be replaced. (At additional agreed upon cost of $250?)
It sounds like the batteries were replaced each time they failed.

The company only needed to provide the coverage for 6 months, and if they performed to the letter of the agreed purchase during that 6 months I'm not sure what recourse there is? But I may be misunderstanding the agreement.

That said, I really appreciate you bringing this situation to light.
These kind of outfits definitely give honest guys like me a bad rep.

I often provide free advice to folks when they call, even if they don't choose me as their mechanic, just to try to keep them from getting ripped off by unscrupulous outfits.

Thanks again for sharing your story.