Do you think my HV battery is on the way out?

ebay is better in terms of refunds and not having to ship it back...

 

Bummer... I feel your pain... I have never made a more exasperating purchase effort for something online. Make sure to ask for a full refund. There needs to be consequences for people who sell broken garbage that doesn't work as claimed!

 

Please return it and buy the Bluetooth version. The connection will be much more stable

 

Of course Bluetooth is less secure than wifi, so if you're concerned about assassination attempts it wouldn't be the best way to go due to the bluetooth signal being a security threat: Jeep hackers at it again, this time taking control of steering and braking systems - The Verge

 

How many Gen 2 Prius' have been hijacked on the freeway?

 

None and if there was an attack it would likely be a high level military espionage assassination effort and would be reported in the media as an accident. Like the general in charge of Afghanistan who had his career ruined by journalist Michael Hastings and wanted revenge on him:

"After Hastings died in a bizarre one-car crash along a straight Los Angeles street, former counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke noted the accident was “consistent with a car cyber attack” and that it was easy to hack cars. It seems he was right, as 60 Minutes demonstrated in a chilling fashion." Car Hacking Report Refuels Concerns About Michael Hastings Crash - WhoWhatWhy

 

I had read about the BT ability to put a vehicle into diagnostics mode (while driving), but the car under test wouldn't actually change modes until the speed was under 10 kph.

 

I was raised by a father that would talk to a manager and keeping escalating his complaint until they gave in... He taught me that most consumers are suckers who will go along with getting ripped off because feeling victimized is easier than confrontation for them. He also taught me that everyone you have a consumer complaint with will act differently and you will get different results so you have to refine your technique to best fit the person you are dealing with.

Point being... Don't take no for an answer! Them telling you to pay $25 for something that is their fault not your is not just wrong, it's a ripoff! There are consequences for selling broken products, and not just for the person buying them!

I went thru this routine several times buying an OBD2 on Ebay and in all instances I got a full refund, including shipping costs and I threw the broken OBD2 where it belonged in the garbage can!

If they refuse, tell them you want to escalate to a supervisor. If they also refuse, escalate to an executive or owner. Be careful what you say and don't stop saying it and you'll make it their loss, not yours. Also in the US we have the Better Business Bureau (BBB) that will formalize your complaint in a formal letter for free and most businesses take that seriously because it so rarely happens. Perhaps in your country you have a similar consumer advocate?

As in you're responsible for not being ripped off, not them. And if you put enough effort into it they'd rather absorb the loss so you go away rather than have to deal with you any longer. Also this is why I prefer Ebay over Amazon, because their rating system for sellers holds sellers accountable. Sellers will do almost anything to avoid a negative rating.

 

Another good thing about ebay, is it's currently infested with illegal drop shippers who have Amazon Prime accounts and only buy what they're selling after you purchase. This violates the terms of service of both Ebay and Amazon... So if your ebay purchase has no shipping info and then inexplicably shows up in only two days in an Amazon Prime box...

This scam usually nets them way less than a dollar in profit. Also, it means the person who sold it to you has to decide between refunding the amount you paid in full without having to return the item or having you report them and risk losing both their ebay and Amazon Prime accounts.

 

I also tried a Wi-Fi version, but it was never a consistent connection. The 2nd version I bought was BluTooth, and it connects every time, even between different cars

 

Yeah, my Veepeak wifi one was a fail, my suspicion is a lack of compatibility with phone security. For example if Dr. Prius is the app that turns bluetooth on, my Pixel2 phone WILL allow it to do that, but it because it turned bluetooth on it won't allow it to connect to a signal. But if turn the bluetooth on manually, then it works great.

I've also rebooted my phones several times to get a connection to work during problematic moments.