aandncaravan Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Recently we completed testing of a battery from the 'NCC Verified Leisure Battery Scheme' and it failed to deliver even a quarter of the NCC 'Verified' cycle life. We did this because we have evidence that the "testing process conducted by suitably certified and audited test houses" was never carried out and we needed to prove it to ourselves before we took the next step.We suspect that none of the NCC 'verified' batteries have been subjected to an independent battery test. We are going to take this further as part of our campaign for clarity and accuracy on Leisure battery descriptions, like where a Starter based battery is claimed as a Deep Cycle battery when it isn't.See : http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/campaign-for-battery-change.php I am after a favour in relation to the above. I am sure the original claims for the NCC scheme stipulated that it would actually be organising the battery tests itself, via Independent test houses. But the text on their webpage now is different to what I remember from the time of the Launch. Does anyone have any of the original press releases or launch publicity from the very early days? If you do, please can you send us as complete an item as possible that is likely to stand up to Court scrutiny? We won't be quoting sources of the documentation, just in case that is a concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Allan, Is this the text you are referring to on the NCC website... "Battery verification comes via a comprehensive, industry leading, testing process conducted by suitably certified and audited test houses" http://www.thencc.org.uk/our_schemes/ncc_verified_leisure_battery_scheme.aspx Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted March 24, 2018 Author Share Posted March 24, 2018 Thank you Keith, that is the one I have now, but I think the text when launched a few years ago was different, I seem to remember it specifically mentioning 'Independent' house testing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deneb Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 The first Wayback Machine archive of that page is dated 25th December 2015 and shows a page itself dated October 2015. The text is pretty much identical to the current page, albeit with a different layout. https://tinyurl.com/y7z4bfxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 This 2016 link https://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/motorhomes/articles/practical-advice/choosing-a-ncc-verified-battery tells a different story ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanedwin Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 Extract from press release Aug. 2015. Battery verification comes via a comprehensive, industry leading, testing process conducted by suitably certified and audited test houses. Batteries will be verified, and labelled accordingly, into three categories, A,B,C, depending on their capacity and intended purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted March 25, 2018 Author Share Posted March 25, 2018 Thank you all very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 Well we finally have a response from the NCC in relation to our request for copies of the Independent Battery test results that are allegedly used to compile the NCC Verified Battery Schemes Tables. We wrote, "Hello, Please may we request copies of all the NCC Verified Leisure Battery test results that are used to compile the schemes Tables?". They wrote back, "You ask in your email for copies of all the data we have used for verification, unfortunately I am unable to share this with you because, as I’m sure you’ll understand, this information is commercially sensitive and remains the property of the scheme’s members. Sharing this data with a third-party would be a major breach of the code of confidentiality we have to operate within.". Surely a scheme set up by the NCC, to the NCC rules, that claims to be acting for the consumer would insist that those who take part would agree to all documents being in the public domain? Doesn't the consumer have a right to see the scheme is as fair as it claims? Why is the consumer being deliberately obstructed by the NCC from seeing the performance of the battery the NCC is 'verifying' as fit for purpose? This is the NCC's own scheme, they set the rules, why set it up to be so secretive? Importantly the NCC do not deny the existence of the requested, "Leisure Battery test results" we requested. They also write, "There are some points that we believe are simply inaccurate and potentially libellous. We would therefore ask you to remove the articles from your website immediately........ and would avoid us being reluctantly forced to consider resorting to taking legal action to defend the reputation of the NCC". They do not detail what the inaccurate statements are, but we have asked for clarification. What a shame the NCC response was so threatening yet contained nothing to support the schemes claims of help for consumers. Oh dear, looks like we might be on course for another round of Legal Action. We will update this webpage with the latest when the holidays are over : http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/campaign-for-battery-change.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanedwin Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 Methinks they do protest too much........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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