Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Cross-posting from the two-pack SKU... with an update as of 12/12/12. My two battery packs, although 3 years old, have probably been charged less than 75 times and that's probably an overestimation. I'm just a homeowner and they sit in the basement, sometimes on the charger, sometimes not. They have just both failed in the span of a month and the charger refuses to try to charge them. Makita Service center says that there is no systemic issue with the battery pack design and all of us complainers have either abused them or simply worn them out. I just purchased two more packs before I read of these issues, but will never purchase again. UPDATE 12/3/12 I put both old battery packs on a laboratory power supply set to constant current with a maximum voltage of 17.5v. I started charging the battery packs at ~50ma and gradually turned it up to 400ma. A couple hours later the power supply stopped pumping current when the battery pack voltage reached 17.5v. Removed the batteries from the power supply and let them sit for a bit - open circuit voltage stayed above 17v. Tried the battery packs on the Makita charger again - Still locked out as before, refuses to recognize as a good battery pack. Used the battery packs all afternoon in the basement - there is nothing wrong with the cells. This is a Makita design issue as other users have pointed out. UPDATE 12/12/12 Continuing to use the "bad" battery packs after manually charging them via a laboratory power supply. They work (almost)as new. They still will not charge in the Makita charger - registers as a bad cell. Open circuit voltage is still 17.x volts, obviously not a bad cell, but bad design flaw in the electronics.