Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This will be a mixed review of sorts. I bought an Optima SC35DA Yellow Top directly from Amazon in August of 2009 and it worked fine until March of 2011. The plastic around the negative battery post just split with gas and gel oozing out. I did not think there was any problem because this Optima battery comes with a three year full replacement warranty. Now the warranty merry go round started. I called Amazon and I was told to call Optima, Optima told me they would not warranty the battery because Amazon is not an authorized reseller, so back to Amazon, then back to Optima and so on. The final result is that Amazon wound up giving me a full refund of the purchase price of the battery. I would rather of had a new battery but I got tired of the BS and aggravation and then I did what others did, I went to a local discount store and bought a cheap battery. What is the point of spending $174.00 on what is supposed to be the best battery only to have it fail very early in its life cycle and then have to argue over getting it replaced? The Optima battery worked for less than two years. So why spend the money on one when you can buy a Wal-Mart special for less than half the price, get it replaced locally or just throw it out and buy a new one. I do have to thank Amazon for finally giving me the refund but there was too much aggravation involved. From all of the complaints I have read about the lack of a warranty when the Optima Battery is bought from Amazon, you would think Amazon would stop selling it. This is exactly why I gave it only one star. I can only recommend that no one should by any Optima Battery Product from Amazon unless they are fully aware that there is no warranty at all.