Hang on, I’m confused, having come into this thread in the middle and waded through the various posts.
Did this not ever happen? Why was the car still there and the alarm still going (if softly) at 7:32 am this morning?
I’m very nearly speechless.
A few minutes ago a very sheepish and apologetic young man visited my home. I was #3 on this young man’s tour of apology.
I refer to him now as a young man because he is, having heard what happened, and of his own volition, visiting each of his neighbors to accept responsibility and offer to atone for having put us through this. He has already disabled the alarm, and promises to remove it from the vehicle as soon as the weather permits. He even called and spoke with the Sheriff to find out how much trouble he was in and to see if there was anything he needed to do (Answers: none, nothing).
That was pretty amazing in and of itself. I have had very little personal interaction with this young man, but he just impressed the living hell out of me. Ask either of my daughters - they will tell you that that is no easy task.
Here, though, is the jaw dropper:
The battery in question is:
(envelope, please …)
::faints::
A 3 year old Wal*Mart house brand Everstart MAXX - 78N
I would have bet real heavy money on almost any other …
I’m going to go lie down now.
Lucy
This is where 300 dopers are going to jump in and ask me why I’m so surprised … It’s what they’ve got, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum … Answer: read the next to the last line above.
Well, shoot.
disassembles his screech-seeking missile project
Well, it’s very cool that the young man in question is behaving so well about this.
Are you going to offer to sell the story to Wal*Mart for their next advertising campaign? 
First, I guess I should note that we are in the Pacific time zone, so that post was actually at 5:32 AM PST this morning.
Second, Naw - nobody bothered coming back to disconect the alarm. After about 9 PM you really had to strain to hear it, and if it hadn’t been dark this morning I wouldn’t have noticed the headlights trying to come on and probably wouldn’t have heard that very soft mooooo. Either that or I would have thought it was one of the neighbors cows.
Third, someday, I promise, I will learn to preview to see if there are any new posts I need to address before I hit submit. 
Now I really need to go lie down.
I must admit to being very ‘cooled’ by him as well. Most of the kids around here are so … Hey! You!
Get off of my lawn!
(Sorry. Damn kids …)
:dubious:
Ya think they’d be interested? “Our battery will drive you neighbors batty for hours on-end …”
(See, I can be taught …)
And what are all you folks doin’ here? You’re supposed to all be tuned in to ABC watching the actors’ love-in.
Lucy
Well, good for him. I would suggest a summer’s worth of car washes (by hand) as a good start on the atonement.
We just got a new battery from Wal*Mart - here’s hoping it’s the same kind.
Well that was classy of Young Man. I take back one-third of the death I wished upon him.
Also, I know what battery I’m buying next time I need one!
FWIW, after a little googling, I came up with this post on another message board about this battery.
People still buy car alarms?
I thought those went the way of the dodo a few years ago.
Gee, you should have at least made him perform oral on you.
I’ve bought this line of battery in the past, not knowing its pedigree. Never had a problem with it.
While listening to car alarm audio on an iPod?
The kid or Lucy?
Hmm. Why is it that a Motorcraft Silver lasted 6+ years in my Contour but an Advance Auto Titanium only lasted 2?
Interesting thread, I can understand why everyone was upset, but I was thinking to myself that the owner of the car was probably a young guy and had not imagined his alarm would be going off for so long without him around.
For 25 hours, 40 minutes.
On my car, there is no way to separate the alarm from the door locks, as far as I know. If I lock the doors, the anti-theft device is armed. Isn’t it that way with most late-model cars?
Granted, I am one of those dumb fucks with an expensive car- maybe if I drove a piece of shit, I could manually push the door-lock button down on each door without activating an alarm… of course, I’d have to remember to hold the handle up when I push the door shut…
;), kind of