Poor Black Diamond customer service- Don't buy their heated chalk bag!

I bought a BD heated chalk bag last May to give to my wife. She has a hint of Reynaud's and it seemed like a great solution.
Tested it- actually got really hot, more than I expected.
Charged the battery, disconnected it as instructed.
Took it out of storage this fall- nothing. Total fail. Battery dead and won't charge at all.

Filed a warranty claim with BD.
No response.
Emailed several times, then called.

After multiple calls, was told they weren't selling them anymore and I'd get a charge back to my credit card.

Didn't happen, so I called again.

Finally got refunded, except for $6.95 for shipping.
WTF? They sold me a defective product and don't want to reimburse me for all of my costs?

Emailed again about this issue- no response.

I've never had to deal with BD customer service before. Maybe this is typical.
But it's embarrassingly worse than the great treatment I've gotten elsewhere. Like Osprey. Or OR.

I mean, return emails, at least!

BD Site:

"• Do not leave the batteries connected to the charging system for
extended periods of time.
• Avoid prolonged non-use.
• Do not store lithium-ion batteries fully depleted; charge for 3 hours
minimum before storage.
• Store in a cool, dry room (from 5 °C [41 °F] to 20 °C [68 °F]). Disconnect
the batteries from the chalk bag.
• For long-term storage, fully recharge the batteries every 6 months.
Proper storage of the battery packs maximizes battery performance and
longevity"

Bought one for my gf. Working great so far.

Sorry to hear that. Always had a great experience with BD customer service. They replaced my Storm headlamp with a new one when the plastic housing cracked on the old version.

Nick Metzger wrote: BD Site:

"• Do not leave the batteries connected to the charging system for
extended periods of time.
• Avoid prolonged non-use.
• Do not store lithium-ion batteries fully depleted; charge for 3 hours
minimum before storage.
• Store in a cool, dry room (from 5 °C [41 °F] to 20 °C [68 °F]). Disconnect
the batteries from the chalk bag.
• For long-term storage, fully recharge the batteries every 6 months.
Proper storage of the battery packs maximizes battery performance and
longevity"

Did all that.

Didn't work.

Mark E Dixon wrote:

Did all that.

Didn't work.

Lithium rechargeable batteries should never be fully discharged, this  is why it is required to fully charge them each 6 months. If battery voltage drops below the preset value, your battery will be declared dead. 

There are instructions on the internet how to  charge LiPos that were fully discharged, it is a fun exercise to find those instructions, and then follow them. Have fun. 

I've never had to deal with BD customer service before. Maybe this is typical.

Bummer that you had this experience, but it's certainly not typical.  In my experience, their customer service goes above and beyond expectations, which seems to be their rep in the SLC community.  Hope you can get that battery working again.

amarius wrote:

Lithium rechargeable batteries should never be fully discharged, this  is why it is required to fully charge them each 6 months. If battery voltage drops below the preset value, your battery will be declared dead. 

There are instructions on the internet how to  charge LiPos that were fully discharged, it is a fun exercise to find those instructions, and then follow them. Have fun. 

Thanks, I'll look into this after our next road trip.

I don't know for sure it's the battery at fault.
It seems to be a proprietary charger, so I can't try a different one and see if that's the issue.
Same with the battery- it won't fit in anything else.

When I try to charge it now, the light on the charger comes on and goes off, as I would expect if it was working.
But when the battery is replaced in the bag, nothing happens when I push the on button- no light, no power, nothing.
So it could even be the switch.

The chalk bag is relatively heavy and kind of small on the inside, so not one I'd choose if it wasn't heated.

I was just going to abandon it in the basement, but you've gotten me motivated to see if it can be fixed.

I'm not the only person with this issue-

​BD Heated CB review​​​

Nick Metzger wrote: BD Site:

"• Do not leave the batteries connected to the charging system for
extended periods of time.
• Avoid prolonged non-use.
• Do not store lithium-ion batteries fully depleted; charge for 3 hours
minimum before storage.
• Store in a cool, dry room (from 5 °C [41 °F] to 20 °C [68 °F]). Disconnect
the batteries from the chalk bag.
• For long-term storage, fully recharge the batteries every 6 months.
Proper storage of the battery packs maximizes battery performance and
longevity"

None of this matters. It's just fine print companies use to avoid culpability.

Mark didn't get the customer service that he deserved, and they were nickel-and-diming him for a product that was defective, BD should return the 6.95 for shipping as well.

Mark E Dixon wrote:

When I try to charge it now, the light on the charger comes on and goes off, as I would expect if it was working.
But when the battery is replaced in the bag, nothing happens when I push the on button- no light, no power, nothing.

Packaging and chargers might be proprietary, but chemistry for LiPos is all the same. They all have safeguards against discharging. If voltage drops below preset value, chargers will not charge.
Determining cell voltage with multimeter is not hard.

My wife hates cold hands, I got her Zippo hand warmer - uses white gas and platinum catalyst to generate heat. It is not large, will keep hot for hours.
​Amazon->Zippo Hand Warmer​​​

Tradiban wrote: BD should return the 6.95 for shipping as well.

I kind of agree with you, but I don't think returning the shipping money is typical, is it?  

Chris treggE wrote:

I kind of agree with you, but I don't think returning the shipping money is typical, is it?  

If you return a fully functional product because you don't like it, maybe not. If you return a defective product, usually yes. 

amarius wrote:

Packaging and chargers might be proprietary, but chemistry for LiPos is all the same. They all have safeguards against discharging. If voltage drops below preset value, chargers will not charge.
Determining cell voltage with multimeter is not hard.

My wife hates cold hands, I got her Zippo hand warmer - uses white gas and platinum catalyst to generate heat. It is not large, will keep hot for hours.
Amazon->Zippo Hand Warmer

I got one of these for myself and have been pretty happy.

Use it to warm up my hands while on the ground.

Rechargeable hand warmer

I am "4 post" blocked, so will edit this one.

Jason, I'm pretty sure I did this, but will check again, since I've been known to be an idiot.

I am annoyed the bag doesn't work, since I think my wife would really enjoy it, but I'm most bothered by the lack of responsiveness on BD's part.
If they had just responded to my emails or calls and given me a straight answer I might have still been unhappy, but not also needlessly frustrated.

Edited again- tried Jason's advice, still didn't work.

I just got a pair of gloves replaced under warranty by Outdoor Research. I'd owned them about a year and a key strap had failed. They had none to send me in the Warranty Dept so they just credited me the full retail price of a pair of those gloves + sales tax. I went and bought another pair and ate the $6 shipping. I thought that was great customer service.

It sounds more to me like you're pissed that the fun heated chalk bag turned out to be a bust. Which I understand. But it seems they did okay on customer service. 

Mark, I recently had a similar experience (got it in April, used it a few times, let sit over the summer, busted it out on a cold day last weekend but couldn't get it to power on.) The red light on the charger comes on, stayed on for a long while while charging, then went green. I put the battery in the chalk bag, pressed the button a number of times and nothing. I started to fill out a RMA on BD's site then remembered something--one has to press the button and hold it for a few seconds for it to turn on (versus just pushing it.) Of course, now, it powers on when powered on properly.    Clearly I'm an idiot--I won't argue that. I'm not implying you're an idiot like me but have you tried the long-press?  

FWIW, I've always had good experiences with BD customer service the few times I've needed it. 

Yeah BD customer service is usually top notch and goes above and beyond.  Don't let this one situation sour it for you.  

Chris treggE wrote:

I kind of agree with you, but I don't think returning the shipping money is typical, is it?  

Goodwill is the best advertising, hook Mark up and it will pay dividends. It's just smart business. Sure, a few folks take advantage of good customer service (REI returns) but for thr most part saying "yes" no matter what will help your business.

I have to agree with the others. I have only had great customer service out of BD.

Matt Thomsen wrote: I have to agree with the others. I have only had great customer service out of BD.

x2. seems like an outlier to me...

Personally I wouldn't expect them to refund shipping.  If I bought something next day air and it was $30, should I get that refunded?  

Matt S. wrote: Personally I wouldn't expect them to refund shipping.  If I bought something next day air and it was $30, should I get that refunded?  

That would never happen, you are from WI and therefore extremely cheap. You would never buy next air.