Hello, fellow QQ owners! Have you had similar problems.
Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2019 3:59 pm
Hi, I'm Geoff, and I own a QQ J11. (Sounds like an addiction meeting, doesn't it!)
I purchased my Acenta Premium last August (2019)from a used car dealer in Helston, Cornwall, where I then lived. I had some problems with the stop/start and keyless ignition system and by November I had become heartily sick of the frequent difficulties in starting - and twice blocking a road when the car stalled and would not restart! Eventually the dealer agreed to install a replacement battery, and this seemed to solve the problem.
I installed a Car Genie Dongle from the AA (which monitors the car's management system, my journeys and driving style, and crucially the battery charge), which gave me some peace of mind.
In December 2019, I moved from Helston to Dudley in the West Midlands, where I found I was doing shorter and less frequent journeys. I was therefore not overly concerned when I received frequent notifications from the app that the battery level had dropped. An occasional charge from a trickle charger seemed to suffice. In July of this year, I was surprised by a phone call from the AA to say that they had noticed the frequent battery warnings, and asking me if I needed their help (a free service, I was told). I declined the offer as the car was booked in for a service and MOT the very next day, and I had already arranged for the garage to check the battery and charging system. This was done, and no problems were found. However I continued to receive frequent warnings from the app until last week, when the inevitable happened and the car refused to start.
Now I decided to take up the AA's kind offer. But it wasn't that straightforward, they told me, for my membership did not include Homestart, so I asked for it to be added in order that I could obtain help to get started. A patrolman soon arrived, and carried out tests which suggested that the battery was failing to hold a charge. He suggested that I may need a new battery (quoting a price of £250), and was surprised when I told him that the battery was only one year old. Never mind, he said, it will be under warranty and I should have a valid claim against the supplier since the battery should not have failed. I declined his offer, and continued to charge the battery while I considered my options.
Now my difficulties really began. I contacted the dealer from where I had purchased the car (and who had fitted the battery last November) to ascertain if there was a warranty in force. There was!, so they contacted the supplier to arrange a replacement. The supplier (Mill Autoquip) said (no doubt correctly) that the warranty applied to the dealership, not to the car owner, so they could only exchange batteries if the faulty one was returned to the dealer in Helston - 280 miles away from its present location! Protesting that this was unreasonable, and I was not prepared to drive that distance, especially with a failing battery, I asked if it would be possible to arrange exchange at a location nearer my home. I was told that Mill Autoquip's nearest outlet to my home was at Weston-Super-Mare - a 'mere' 92 miles away, and tentative arrangements were agreed.
I made local enquiries and found that I could buy a suitable battery at Halfords for as little as £115. This was probably little more than the cost of driving down to Weston, si I decided to go with this.
Subsequently I chose a higher-spec, AGM battery which, with the fitting charge and application of my AA discount, cost me a little over £160. Now came a real surprise; the fitter explained to me that it was necessary for a new battery to be 'registered' to the car's electrical management system, otherwise it would be likely to have a severely shortened life. I had not heard of this previously, and I cannot find it mentioned in any of the documentation supplied with the vehicle. Nor was it mentioned in connection with the proposed exchange of batteries at Weston or Helston. Nor yet was it mentioned with regard to the battery installed by the Helson dealer a year earlier! Is this something that most of the trade either does not know, or maybe chooses to ignore? Could this be the reason that I have had so many problems, and, no doubt, many others, too? Comments, anyone?
Geoff.
I purchased my Acenta Premium last August (2019)from a used car dealer in Helston, Cornwall, where I then lived. I had some problems with the stop/start and keyless ignition system and by November I had become heartily sick of the frequent difficulties in starting - and twice blocking a road when the car stalled and would not restart! Eventually the dealer agreed to install a replacement battery, and this seemed to solve the problem.
I installed a Car Genie Dongle from the AA (which monitors the car's management system, my journeys and driving style, and crucially the battery charge), which gave me some peace of mind.
In December 2019, I moved from Helston to Dudley in the West Midlands, where I found I was doing shorter and less frequent journeys. I was therefore not overly concerned when I received frequent notifications from the app that the battery level had dropped. An occasional charge from a trickle charger seemed to suffice. In July of this year, I was surprised by a phone call from the AA to say that they had noticed the frequent battery warnings, and asking me if I needed their help (a free service, I was told). I declined the offer as the car was booked in for a service and MOT the very next day, and I had already arranged for the garage to check the battery and charging system. This was done, and no problems were found. However I continued to receive frequent warnings from the app until last week, when the inevitable happened and the car refused to start.
Now I decided to take up the AA's kind offer. But it wasn't that straightforward, they told me, for my membership did not include Homestart, so I asked for it to be added in order that I could obtain help to get started. A patrolman soon arrived, and carried out tests which suggested that the battery was failing to hold a charge. He suggested that I may need a new battery (quoting a price of £250), and was surprised when I told him that the battery was only one year old. Never mind, he said, it will be under warranty and I should have a valid claim against the supplier since the battery should not have failed. I declined his offer, and continued to charge the battery while I considered my options.
Now my difficulties really began. I contacted the dealer from where I had purchased the car (and who had fitted the battery last November) to ascertain if there was a warranty in force. There was!, so they contacted the supplier to arrange a replacement. The supplier (Mill Autoquip) said (no doubt correctly) that the warranty applied to the dealership, not to the car owner, so they could only exchange batteries if the faulty one was returned to the dealer in Helston - 280 miles away from its present location! Protesting that this was unreasonable, and I was not prepared to drive that distance, especially with a failing battery, I asked if it would be possible to arrange exchange at a location nearer my home. I was told that Mill Autoquip's nearest outlet to my home was at Weston-Super-Mare - a 'mere' 92 miles away, and tentative arrangements were agreed.
I made local enquiries and found that I could buy a suitable battery at Halfords for as little as £115. This was probably little more than the cost of driving down to Weston, si I decided to go with this.
Subsequently I chose a higher-spec, AGM battery which, with the fitting charge and application of my AA discount, cost me a little over £160. Now came a real surprise; the fitter explained to me that it was necessary for a new battery to be 'registered' to the car's electrical management system, otherwise it would be likely to have a severely shortened life. I had not heard of this previously, and I cannot find it mentioned in any of the documentation supplied with the vehicle. Nor was it mentioned in connection with the proposed exchange of batteries at Weston or Helston. Nor yet was it mentioned with regard to the battery installed by the Helson dealer a year earlier! Is this something that most of the trade either does not know, or maybe chooses to ignore? Could this be the reason that I have had so many problems, and, no doubt, many others, too? Comments, anyone?
Geoff.