Final outcome on Interstate Battery
Interstate wanted to rout me to another distributor, but as the original distributor had physical possession of the faulty battery, Interstate did nothing, so I am out over $100.00 for a faulty battery as the distributor was unwilling to honor the manufactures warranty.
Several others have raved about their Interstate Battery distributor! It would appear that in the Cincinnati area you may want to think twice about buying an Interstate battery, and in other areas you may want to find out what others recent experiences with your local distributor has been.
When dealing with Interstate I would say that caveat emptor (buyer beware) is the golden rule. I have never been crazy about Sears batteries, but knowing Sears I am pretty sure they'll back them, so I'll take that over Interstate who apparently will not stand behind their warranty if a distributor thinks it's too much effort, or what ever, for them to do so.
Beyond that, routing a customer to a distributor miles away, with current gas prices, is not really that great a deal anyway. In my opinion, the boat dealer should not have had to worry about the distributor sticking them with the battery when it would not charge, and the distributor after promising to charge it and have it ready the next day, when they were unable to do so should have honored the warranty, and Interstate surely should have backed their own warranty, but none of this came to pass, so as an industrial electrician I will be sure to tell all I know to buy ANYTHING buy Interstate in S.W. Ohio, and at work we'll never again buy an Interstate Battery!