Sterling charger failed after less than 3years and they want £245 to replace

If I read the above correctly, Sterling haven't specifically contended that the failure was due to a mains spike (ianj99 raised the possibility), but they do seem to say that there was "major damage to the mains side". Given that chargers might reasonably be expected to be used in marinas, where the power supply can be flaky, shouldn't a supposedly top-end unit be protected from this? Would that qualify as an inherent design fault?
 
Jim@sea said:
I would check out consumer law. Are not things supposed to last for 6 years.
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Not necessarily. It depends what the things are.

There was a European directive a few years back, which had little effect here as our consumer protection law was already to a higher standard than it required, but it was widely misreported as "EU sets mandatory 6-year warranty on all goods".

Pete
 
rivonia said:
Sorry to hear of your plight.

I also have sterling equipment and it is all working fine.

However my Inverter blew up- (over five years old) Sterling repaired it and only charged me for the labour and not any parts used.

Happy with Sterling

Peter
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That was the outcome I would have been happy with and I expected, if I'm honest, from Sterling who i thought cared about their reputation and customer service.
 
Read this - http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/sogahome/sogaexplained/

No.12
It is important to remember that a guarantee does not replace or limit a customer's rights. Customers are entitled to raise a problem with you regarding a product for up to six years from the date of purchase (five years from the discovery of a problem in Scotland) regardless of the terms of any guarantee. Customers are entitled to rely on the remedies available to them under law (outlined in this guide) rather than their rights under a guarantee, if they wish.
 
GrahamM376 said:
Read this - http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/sogahome/sogaexplained/

No.12
It is important to remember that a guarantee does not replace or limit a customer's rights. Customers are entitled to raise a problem with you regarding a product for up to six years from the date of purchase (five years from the discovery of a problem in Scotland) regardless of the terms of any guarantee. Customers are entitled to rely on the remedies available to them under law (outlined in this guide) rather than their rights under a guarantee, if they wish.
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Thanks. Yes I saw that, but would have to sue the marina chandlery as my contract was with them not Sterling directly. My opinion of Sterling hasn't improved knowing that they would have had to do more to resolve this if I had bought from them direct, whereas they are just shrugging it off knowing I can't sue them.

Not the sort of company I want to do business with again.

Moral: buy direct from the manufacturer to avoid dragging the retailer into a situation not of their making if things go wrong.
 
ianj99 said:
Thanks. Yes I saw that, but would have to sue the marina chandlery as my contract was with them not Sterling directly. My opinion of Sterling hasn't improved knowing that they would have had to do more to resolve this if I had bought from them direct, whereas they are just shrugging it off knowing I can't sue them.

Not the sort of company I want to do business with again.

Moral: buy direct from the manufacturer to avoid dragging the retailer into a situation not of their making if things go wrong.
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Speaking as an ex-retailer, I disagree. Retailers need to keep their customers happy if they want recommendations/repeat business and the same applies to the manufacturers who supply them. You are just one customer and Charles Sterling can be a difficult person to deal with, whereas the retailer has more of a lever with him as he, the retailer, no doubt does a lot of business over a period which Sterling don't want to lose.

There's no harm in politely reminding the retailer of his obligations and see what happens. Replacing one unit is unlikely to create much of a dent in his turnover.
 
I bought a reconditioned inverter charger from Sterling in Nov 2011. It failed in June 2012. I wrote to them and they offered to send me the failed bit for about £560. I paid about £650 for the unit, so wasn't happy. I then wrote to them and emailed threatening Sale of Goods and legal action. They called me the next day offering the part for £160. I accepted as life is too short. Pretty sure I could have gone the whole hog and won in court.

The guarantee was only 3 months and, after 6 months, it's for the buyer to prove a fault, rather than it being assumed. I was just outside the 6 month limit, but think I could have argued the case.

After 3 years, I'm not sure where you would stand. However, given their response, they obviously aren't bothered about the repeat business. He should have left you with the 30% offer.

I was a fan of Sterling for some years..... But I'm not so sure now. I definitely wouldn't buy a Sterling Pro Combi inverter charger again - it has some in built stupidness whereby, if you are charging your batteries via mains power, and the mains is disconnected for any reason, the charger switches to inverter mode - which flattens your batteries!

I used to leave my boat for weeks on charge in various marinas - you couldn't do that with the Pro Combi.

Having said that, I can only wonder what the service of Victon and Mastervolt would be like in similar circumstances.
 
Richard10002 said:
I definitely wouldn't buy a Sterling Pro Combi inverter charger again - it has some in built stupidness whereby, if you are charging your batteries via mains power, and the mains is disconnected for any reason, the charger switches to inverter mode - which flattens your batteries!
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Duh? - Maybe I have a different model but there are TWO switches on mine - one for the whole unit and one for the invertor bit so I simply turn the inverter off when left on charge but leave the main switch on which also provides mains power to the outlet when on shore power. With the inverter switched on it will start draining the batteries (inverting?) if shore power fails.
 
cliff said:
Duh? - Maybe I have a different model but there are TWO switches on mine - one for the whole unit and one for the invertor bit so I simply turn the inverter off when left on charge but leave the main switch on which also provides mains power to the outlet when on shore power. With the inverter switched on it will start draining the batteries (inverting?) if shore power fails.
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Charles Sterling admitted that it was something that he was working to resolve, and it might be possible in a later model. He said this last January or so, so you might have a later, upgraded model.

There was discussion either here, or on canal world, where people with the same model said I was wrong, but eventually agreed I was right.

When did you buy yours new?
 
I have 4 different Sterling products on Eos, all working fine. However I did have cause to contact them some time ago to ask a question about a brand new alternator regulator. He (Charles Sterling) was quite rude and told me not to bother him and re-read the instructions. Not an attitude to encourage repeat business. Seems nothing much has changed.
 
"When mains power is disconnected the unit automatically reverts to operating as an inverter, supplying 230V from the battery, until mains power is again restored. All this functionality is contained within a single box with minimal wiring required"

Quote from the Pro Combi brochure on the Web site. The problem I describe seems to be marketed as a benefit?
 
Worked for a company several years ago, and had to learn sale of good act. Everything has an expected life if it went to court and for example a judge decided a battery charger should last six years and yours lasted 3 years then it only lasted half of its expected life he would award you the other half not the full amount
 
Talulah said:
A had an identical unit fail at 3 years.
I had considered replacing it with a Victron charger but reliability feedback put me off. In the end I bought another Sterling.
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How odd. Mine did about 3 years before going up in smoke, quite literally. I bought another, it lasted a few weeks before packing up. My £50 halfords wonder has been doing a sterling job ever since, though I've just got a pro charge ultra in the hope that they've sorted out the issues in the pro charge.
 
ianj99 said:
Barely 3years ago I bought a Sterling Procharge D 12v 30amp triple output mains charger from the marina chandlery - it cost me about £280.

On 4th of March it made some clicking noises then tripped the shorepower rcd and did this every time I tried to switch it on.
I returned it for 'inspection' as it was out of warranty (which is 2years).

Today, a week after they received it, I was told it was beyond repair due major damage to the mains side of it.

They then offered a 25% discount off its replacement - a ProCharge Ultra which would cost me £244.90.

I am extremely disappointed that in this day and age, they cannot make a reliable product - I can't remember the last time any of my electronic items failed.

I did tell them that I have no intention of paying them £245 for another charger and will be taking action under the sale of goods act under the 'fit for purpose' clause. (the warranty does not affect my statutory rights)

I've always believed Sterling's products were good and have two of their alternator regulators and have recommended their products to many, but never again.
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Normal failure mode for a charger, transformer has died. They've probably got no spare ones and have already incurred cost in stripping and testing the component.

I have to say I have more than a sneaking sympathy with Charles Sterling;- in allowing you a 25% discount on a new charger they've already effectively agreed that they'd have expected a longer life (the math works out @ 4 years) and I've NEVER considered them as the expensive end of the market - though I've always purchased direct and have never paid their full price.
I know of one person who's had 5 Victron units (of various kinds) ALL of which have needed attention within 30 months - Victron prices are about 150% of Sterling's.
Personally I always take Charles' enthusiastic claims with a little pinch of salt - hence the reason for sticking with the non-CPU controlled Adverc as my smart controller of choice.
Perhaps the OP's expectations are excessively high?

My €120 Shark charger died in exactly the same way and the £ 212 that Sterling asked me for a replacement makes finding and fitting a transformer an unpopular option.
Of course, if you inadvertently started the engine with the shorepower charger connected and turned on, such early transformer failure is most understandable.
 
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Personally I'd never buy another Sterling product, if only as a protest at their attitude.

You can buy three of these: http://www.conrad-uk.com/ce/en/prod...cid-Battery-Charger-Station-For-12V-Batteries

for the price of the Sterling, assuming you had 3 banks. They may take up more space but at least if one should fail you can always fit a chanegover switch. Engine batteries normally don't need much charging, so a Voltcraft 15a could be used for this and one or two 30amp ones used for the other bank(s).

Also, if the Sterling fails out of warranty, the best you'll get is a 30% discount off another without recourse to legal action, and even then the court will only award you the second hand value as of the day before it blew once its out of warranty.

The German made Voltcraft ones do all the Sterlings do support all the battery types, 4 step charging, power pack mode but are single output only. I've concluded this is not a disadvantage where you only have 2 banks - domestic and engine, as the engine can have its own smaller charger. For more banks just add more chargers - ie don't put all your eggs in one basket, especially a Sterling one!
 
charles_reed said:
Normal failure mode for a charger, transformer has died. They've probably got no spare ones and have already incurred cost in stripping and testing the component.

Perhaps the OP's expectations are excessively high?

My €120 Shark charger died in exactly the same way and the £ 212 that Sterling asked me for a replacement makes finding and fitting a transformer an unpopular option.
Of course, if you inadvertently started the engine with the shorepower charger connected and turned on, such early transformer failure is most understandable.
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If you believe that paying £280 for the original and then being asked for another £245 to replace the first one within 3years, is excessively high expectations, then you must have money to burn.
As for starting the engine with the shorepower connected - no I was in the process of reconnecting the plumbing having just replaced the engine after a gearbox change. I heard clicking noises from the mains locker and then all the power went off. The mains locker is dry - no condensation at all, and all connections were sound and no other electrical / electronic suffered from possible mains spikes, so it was catastrophic damage from a faulty component. The fact that another forumite has experienced failure of the same product and there are no spares available, tend to indicate it was a roque product superceded by the Procharge Ultra. I suppose I should have taken his offer and then flogged the replacement!
 
My sympathies lie in both directions. Designing power supplies is one of the analogue black arts, but I'm sure the components were selected using quality and derating rules, the MTBF was calculated and came out in years, the manufacturing process was well controlled and the prototypes were tested at extremes. The fact that the box survived 3 years tends to suggest that there was no inherent design or production fault and the lack of "me too"s posting here tends to discount systematic failure. So, despite an MTBF of 0.000? per million hours, a component fails and leads to an unrepairable mess. Who is to blame? The designer and manufacturer who have done there jobs well, or the user who used it connected to a (sometimes variable) mains supply and was fiddling with an engine whose connections had just been disturbed when it went wrong. It could just be a case of shit happens.

Ianj99 is adamant that nothing he did was the cause ("he would say that, wouldn't he"), and Sterling offer a discount on their new (and more expensive) model as an act of goodwill while declining responsibility. It's a bummer that it can't be repaired but do we really expect the supplier to maintain stocks of possibly obsolete parts for superseded models?
 
awol said:
My sympathies lie in both directions. Designing power supplies is one of the analogue black arts, but I'm sure the components were selected using quality and derating rules, the MTBF was calculated and came out in years, the manufacturing process was well controlled and the prototypes were tested at extremes. The fact that the box survived 3 years tends to suggest that there was no inherent design or production fault and the lack of "me too"s posting here tends to discount systematic failure. So, despite an MTBF of 0.000? per million hours, a component fails and leads to an unrepairable mess. Who is to blame? The designer and manufacturer who have done there jobs well, or the user who used it connected to a (sometimes variable) mains supply and was fiddling with an engine whose connections had just been disturbed when it went wrong. It could just be a case of shit happens.

Ianj99 is adamant that nothing he did was the cause ("he would say that, wouldn't he"), and Sterling offer a discount on their new (and more expensive) model as an act of goodwill while declining responsibility. It's a bummer that it can't be repaired but do we really expect the supplier to maintain stocks of possibly obsolete parts for superseded models?
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At last a voice of reason.
 
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