"Fake Duracell Industrial batteries"

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Soldato
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I have just received these from a well trusted ebay seller they seem to be doing the rounds a lot from quite a few places.

Be warned these batteries are not Duracell Alkaline batteries but cheap fake copy's which from googling the part no under the jacket seem to be low quality Zinc Chloride based and not Alkaline as stated.

The pic below shows Genuine batteries on the left and the fakes on the right. If yours look like the ones on the right they are more than likely fake and you should not use them they could potentially leak all kinds of nasty crap.



Just thought I would share help keep the world safe and all that... :)
 
Vanquish-Storm said:
I can check for you if you like? If you wouldn't mind sending the eBay sellers name in trust also?

Do both boxes have the same EAN/Barcode number?

Off the top of my head the box on the right is the actual correct box with a serial ending in OJ. I have never seen the box/packaging for the ones on the left.
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The ones on the left are the genuine ones. The ones on the right are the fakes.... :)
 
Vanquish-Storm said:
The box and packaging for the ones on the right is the correct box.

The box on the left is not an official Duracell packaging box unless its very old.

Do the batteries have a serial numbers on the outer wrap?
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The ones on the right do not have the inkjet serial the ones on the left do. The left ones were supplied by Duracell trade...

We have been getting them in the box on the left for a few years only the bigger batteries come in a box similar to the right one.

When you see them in person and compare the two the ones on the right are very obviously not real. The colouring is wrong and the quality of the print is poor compared to the left ones.
 
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I just spoke to someone and all AA & AAA Duracell batteries have the laser etched serial/Batch number on the battery. If they do not have this then they are not Genuine battery's. This is not conclusive as this can be faked too but it's a start. The AA & AAA I received today from ebay do not have these numbers. The batteries I already have from Duracell do. Pic below of my Existing AA & AAA battery's...

In short if your AA or AAA's do not have the etched serial/Batch no they are definitely fakes...

 
#Chri5# said:
These are what I got earlier in the week - can't remember any serial numbers on the AAs...

MtofTJKm.jpg
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All genuine Duracell batteries will have the serial/Batch number laser etched on the battery at the bottom as per my pic above.

I have emailed Duracell and awaiting a response to confirm.

the ebay seller I purchased from has sent me a copy of a suppliers invoice and is claiming they are genuine. Tbh I think they have been unknowingly supplied fakes. They are being a bit defensive.
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
I ordered some off Amazon last year, 5 lots of 10's for approx £15.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00UTGZJGK

If you look at the product pics, they actually look like the fakes in the OP's post, although the item I received was more like the genuine one on the left of the OP's post with BBE dates and the rounded flip etc.
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That is the same seller I received these from and they are fakes (Awaiting Duracell to confirm) I do not think it's the sellers fault I think they have unknowing been supplied fakes by the supplier.

The 1 & 2 star Amazon reviews also raise concerns on non genuine batteries being supplied tbh.
 
tom_e said:
When even the NHS can end up buying knock off drugs it's not surprising that a lot of sellers may be flogging fake batteries with no idea.
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True.

It does raise concerns especially if these are Zinc batteries as a google search of the number under the label suggests. The potentially for leakage or even explosion is considerably higher and I would not wan't to be risking them in Kids toys or expensive equipment..
 
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beachBOYken said:
Apparently a non fake duracell, you should not be able to remove the plastic wrapper?

Unless its just a lot easier to do with a fake vs real.

I got a pack from Amazon and Im pretty sure they are genuine, but I can remove the plastic wrapper with a little force.
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Yeah I'm not sure about that bit as I can remove the wrapper on my genuine ones as well. It did take a bit more effort than the fake ones though and came of in bits rather than a whole.

Best guide at the minute is to make sure you have the laser etched serial/batch number. It at least means there is a chance they are genuine.
 
I'm waiting on Duracell getting back to me to confirm but everything I have read suggests that all genuine batteries have the laser etching. Just need confirmation on this from Duracell....
 
I had a reply from Duracell that is a bit generic but says they should have the laser etching and they cannot do much else unless I send them to them. I did send them lots of pics but it seems they did not really look at them.
 
delta0 said:
I've bought small Duracell button batteries from what appeared to be a reputable reseller on Amazon. It was a set of 2. I went to change the battery last week a year after buying them and the battery was swollen. It definitely wasn't like that when I bought it. I'm glad I found it before it exploded. I have no idea what is real and what is fake now for batteries. How can I be sure I get real ones?
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Duracel told me that all of their batteries that are genuine have a laser etched serial on the battery. (See my pics above). Although even some of the fakes have this as well from what I have read. Your better just buying batteries from large company's and supermarkets so if something happens you should have some comeback.
 
They should have a laser etched batch/serial on each battery according to Duracell. So many fakes now it's hard to tell.

I buy Tesco or Maplin batteries now save the hassle.
 
Drukk said:
Look at my post #87. Reply from duracell customer service. Packaging is recycled paper and batteries from Belguim do not have the laser etched number. Those could quite easily be genuine.
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They told me they all have the numbers etched. I have had some Belgium ones with the etching ?

Tbh I gave up buying them as it seems a complete minefield of fakes...
 
I gave up buying Duracell’s and was buying Maplin batteries as they are just as good. Bit of an issue with that now so when I run low will need to find something new.
 
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