New Gtech K9 Mk 2 handheld vac not holding charge

[CambridgeWorks]

Bought Nov 30 2025, charged up and tested ok. Christmas, tried to use and one led of 4 green lit meaning flat battery.
Used it 10 mins, fully charged to 4 led and put it away. About Jan 16 2025, got it out to clean car saets and again one led.Put it on charge and cleaned car seats with old dyson vac.
Today, got it out again and 1 led, but did work for the 2 or 3 minutes needed.
Put it on charge again.
Full charge is 4 hours approx and run time given as 20 minutes.

Rang customer service and was told nothing wrong as designed for regular daily use then recharge and it is expected  the battery will go flat if not used for 3 weeks! This is because the battery never switches itself off when cleaner is switched off.
Told was my fault for incorrect use.
I tried explaining my background and understanding, but no joy.

Anyone any idea what is happening with this battery.

Thanks, Rob

[ppppenguin]

If you decide you don't want it, return to retailer as faulty. Your contract is with them, not the manufacturer.

[CambridgeWorks]

It was bought from gtech direct online, being this handheld together with an upright cleaner package deal.
The upright has never misbehaved. Though it gets more regular use. It works extremely well.
Although using a different design battery case, the charge / discharged 4 individual led indicators behave in the same way. Just one is in a row, other in a circle. Both are 2200 mAh. Both Chargers are identical as well.

Im not yet bothered about my consumer rights, but just wonder if anyone else has heard such a story?
It was also such an opinionated attitude to take with me I thought. Put me in my place!

Over a short time, if it is discharging more than I am happy with I can tackle them on the unknown fire hazard there could be. See how they like that!
Especially if some possible publicity might be mentioned. 

For the time being, my plan is to monitor the handheld battery indicator when powered ON rbriefly but regularly to see how many days before it shows some discharge. Say 25%?

Thanks, Rob

[boater sam]

The BMS in the battery is always on. You should not use it when only one led is lit and it needs charging as you are pulling the lithium battery lower than its optimum discharge limit which will reduce its life.
Similarly when fully charged it should be used briefly to bring the capacity down to its optimum level for storage.
Lithium battery use is not the same as NiMH or NiCd.

[ppppenguin]

If they've designed it properly then the battery management system will look after the battery on the basis that it's normally plugged in if it's not in use.

[colly0410]

Late Mother in law had same problem = she'd not use it for a a week or so & the battery had gone flat. I explained about trickle charge but she took no notice. She said "I'm not leaving it plugged in all the time when not in use". so I gave up, think she dumped it eventually...

[ppppenguin]

I still think it's poor design to effectively require it to be always on trickle charge. Our phones and laptops don't need to be plugged in when not in use. I have a portable floodlight that likes to be charged every few weeks to stay happy. It has Lithium batteries so the self-discharge ought to be small but it's a cheap unit so perhaps they are not as good as some.

[PerdioPal]

A good BMS (batter management system) should only take but a few micro amps. Lets say 10uA and a 2000mAh battery (not an uncommon small size) that works out at 25 years to flat! Sounds like a bit of a mis design to me.

[CambridgeWorks]

So far still showing full, and has had no meaningful use, just a quick operational check to see battery state.
The upright bought at same has never had this problem and is the same mAh and voltage.

Regarding comments about being left on permanent charge, we have never done that. One exception being our 3 dect phones with nicads.
Kitchen and the bedroom one are kept in own chargers except when being used for a call, then replaced there.
2 lounge ones alternate on charge as only one charger/ base.
Rob

[Slidertogrid]

I also had a poor experience with gtech customer service. The battery on my handheld melted one of the contacts, there are two in parallel one was making a bad connection so the other carried the current and melted. The cleaner was out of guarantee but had seen little use. They wanted to sell me a new cleaner at a slightly reduced price. No individual parts are available.
I had the same trouble when the tac switch used for power on/off failed on the upright. I repaired battery contact on the handheld and it is still working. I replaced the tac switch on the upright with one form an old VCR front panel PCB but after a while it suffered mechanical problems so I binned it and bought a Bosch. The Bosch really showed up what a feeble toy the gtech had been. Despite a Union flag sticker on the Gtech they are made in China...
The handheld is used occasionally for the car and stairs it is OK but I wouldn't buy another, The runtime is not as long as it used to be so the tip beckons...
Recently I took some rubbish to the recycling centre I noticed a a car next to me with a couple of gtech garden tools being skipped, I made a polite enquiry, the guy commented they were absolute crap.
Rich