I think your battery guy is a crook and apparently doesn't want your business. I had a red top go bad near the end of last race season. I run 2 so I just disconnected the bad one. I had forgotten about until I started racing this year. Mine said 3 year free replacement on it too. I gave it to my interstate battery guy and he looked up the date I bought it. He told me when I bought it and it was a month past the 3 year mark. He took care of it anyway and he knows I use it in a race car.
I know there has been some issues with the optima batteries and it seems like the problems have been with the red tops. My battery guy said they have had quite an increase in returns for defects on them but he thought it might be because there are a lot more of them sold. My supplier has taken care of my defects and I will continue to use the optima. My attitude about warranties is you don't know how good a warranty is until you have a problem. Maybe I just have better product support but people that sell to me know I won't take any crap, if you beat me once you won't get another chance.
Sorry cepx111 but you can keep your "neverstart" I've seen more of those and the "durajunk" batteries bad at less than a year old then I can count. If you're going to use a conventional battery at least use a quality one. I won't use a regular lead acid battery in my car because no matter how good it is the acid will slosh and leak on a car that leaves hard. A gel cell like the optima or orbital won't leak no matter what. That not only protects the car but it makes it safer.