Just bought a Duracell battery charger yesterday for rechargeable AA and AAA
batteries. (model no CEF24UK)

The first disappointment was that it only charges *two* AA or two AAA at a
time. (usually chargers of this size charge four batteries at a time).

When I got home it specifically says in the instructions only to charge
Ni-mh batteries, and not any others.

So I rang the free phone number and said I've got a lot of the older Ni-Cd
batteries (like you have...right?) and would it do any damage to the
batteries or the charger to charge them?

Could I get a straight answer, could I hell.

I was very persistant, but she would not answer in a straight way. When I
asked if I could be transferred to a technical department, she said, "we
have 'all' the information".

All you staring blankly out of the window, waiting for something to
happen...
It's a free phone number...... 0800716434

The question I kept repeating was, will any damage be done to either the
charger or to the older ni-cd batteries, if charged up in this charger?

If you can get a straight answer from this women you're a better man than I.