apc connected equipment guarantee?

[unhappy_mage]

Has anyone had experience trying to claim a connected equipment failure from apc? I had 3 computers (folding farm ) hooked up through my "Back-UPS ES 500" on the surge protection side. There was a power glitch, and now I have 4 dead motherboards. The power supplies work ok (!) (?) but the motherboards are all toast. They all have swelling caps. I do have replacements for them handy, but I still lost 4 good folding boxen .

The UPS itself is apparently broken now, as the plastic around the wires connecting the battery to the main thing is melted slightly... When I plug it in it does not see the wall current at all, it just runs off stored battery power (I can hear the convertor buzzing).

How difficult is it to claim equipment failure from these guys? I plan to call them today, but if they're gonna send out an auditor or something it's not really worth it. I would like a replacement for the ups itself, since that is definitely dead, but the motherboards could somehow not be their fault, and I don't want to have to go through mailing them (heavy) boxes or my ups or anything.

Your input is welcome.

 

[kidicarus74]

i actually work for APC at their St. Louis R&D division. They're pretty good about thier claims policies so long as you have filled out and sent in the warranty card that came with the unit before you make the claim. also, it helps a lot if you have proof of purchase for the ruined items as well as current retail value on hand just in case. don't get frustrated or upset if it takes forever to get any money, or replacement parts... it takes a REALLY long time for them to sort out and investigate claims. if it's a legit claim, you get your money no problem. hope that helps!

 

[slowbiznatch]

Are you sure the caps weren't blown before the surge? If the motherboards are a few years old you might just have shitty caps.

 

[unhappy_mage]

the motherboards were on and working right before. the surge hits, the motherboards stop. i think that narrows it down.

kidicarus: warranty card? crap! is that really required? according to this you just need date of purchase or they can get it from serial number. guess I'll call and see.

thanks for the prompt replies.

 

[unhappy_mage]

well, I called, and the guy on the phone was very helpful. they'll ship me a new ups and some forms about what was attached. then I send them back, and hopefully they'll have a check in the mail for me soonish. he mentioned that the season for this is winding down (why is there a season?) but the hurricanes are causing more requests than usual.

thank god for $50k connected equipment guarantee. of course, I only had a few hundred, but still good to know.

 

[DiscardME]

We use nothing but APC here at my company for good reason. They are easy to work with.

Glad to see home users have the same access to APC that corporate users have.

Thier line conditioners are awesome - I always suggest them to people who don't want a UPS , but want more than a surge protector. We run LineRs on all of our bldg wireless systems.

 

[defakto]

Good lesson here for everyone too, NEVER plug your APC directly into the wall, they are pretty expensive. Instead buy a good quality surge protector, put that into the wall, then the APC into that, that way the relatively cheap surge protector will go before your nice APC.

 

[Frosty_axe]

Good lesson here for everyone too, NEVER plug your APC directly into the wall, they are pretty expensive. Instead buy a good quality surge protector, put that into the wall, then the APC into that, that way the relatively cheap surge protector will go before your nice APC.

I belive that APC sugests against that. And, if APC is willing to send you a brand new unit after something like this happens, who cares? I'd rather let the APC do the job and get a new one, because then you KNOW its going to work next time around. You can pick up home-usage versions of their ups's for under 200$ at local stores and thats a very very small insurance to pay for 2-3K worth of computer equipment.

 

[defakto]

Why would you risk damage like this though? Not only do you have to wait for claims to process, which from an ex-employeee they stated in this same thread takes a LONG time, in which that time you have no computer. Where if you put a little redundancy in your protection, you are much better off. Now the guy has a bad mobo AND bad APC and who knows how long until his claim actually comes through, if ever.

It's possible he could have saved alot of headache involved with this buy putting a $50 or 60 dollar surge protector between outside power and his apc. I'm not saying it would have prevented damage, but it certainly couldn't have hurt.

 

[Frosty_axe]

Why would you risk damage like this though? Not only do you have to wait for claims to process, which from an ex-employeee they stated in this same thread takes a LONG time, in which that time you have no computer. Where if you put a little redundancy in your protection, you are much better off. Now the guy has a bad mobo AND bad APC and who knows how long until his claim actually comes through, if ever.

It's possible he could have saved alot of headache involved with this buy putting a $50 or 60 dollar surge protector between outside power and his apc. I'm not saying it would have prevented damage, but it certainly couldn't have hurt.

Well, the first reason I would suggest you not do this is because the manufacturer reccomends you not hook any of their UPS products up to surge strips. The next thing that comes to mind is that if your ups gets hit with a jolt big enough to kill a quality ups and the equipment connected to it, chances are that your little power strip dosnt have a prayer of doing much. Another good reason not to put a ups off a surge supressor is that some supressors have been known to cause enough noise on the power line to cause the ups to go over to battery. If this happens, you will be replaceing batteries often.

Another think to keep in mind is that MOV (metal oxide varistors) based suge supressors do have a limited life span, meaning they wear out.

 

[unhappy_mage]

the apc guy did ask whether I plugged it directly into the wall, and sounded disappointed when I said yes.

defakto: this _was_ my $50 surge protector... and I had 3 other similar mobos around, so my farm isn't down. my main computer was plugged into another surge protector, it's fine.

 

[SJConsultant]

Somehow I doubt the APC unit malfunctioned. The Back UPS ES 500 is only designed for a *maximum* sustained load of 300 Watts *total* between surge and battery protected outlets. With 4 systems connected you most likley had the UPS overloaded.

If you did have the UPS overloaded, APC can elect to not honor the equipment replacement warranty.

 

[unhappy_mage]

1) they were barebones: only mob, proc, mem.
2) only 250-300W psu's on each.
3) they were on surge protect only side, battery was under no load.
4) the ups itself is broken.

but I guess apc is the arbitrator here...

 

[SJConsultant]

1) they were barebones: only mob, proc, mem.
2) only 250-300W psu's on each.
3) they were on surge protect only side, battery was under no load.
4) the ups itself is broken.

but I guess apc is the arbitrator here...

I understand the UPS is broken, but what I am trying to point out is how it may have gotten to that state. Many people go under the assumption they can plug as much stuff as they possibly can into a unit without any regard to the electrical limitations which are much less power than plugging directly into a household outlet.

I find it very difficult to believe that a power "glitch" had that much effect on an APC UPS and it's connected equipment without having an effect on other electrical or electronic devices in the same house that did not have nearly as much surge protection.

In retrospect, I would like to hear how easy it is for you to do a replacement. In all the times I have put in APC units, I have yet (goes and knocks on wood) to have the need to file a claim.

 

[unhappy_mage]

well, my new ups arrived. I'm sending back the old one as requested sometime today.

It's a simple process which is not explained at all. You open up the box and it has in it a new ups, and a sticker with UPS shipping label preprinted on it. So, I kinda assume you take the sticker and stick it over the existing label, and stick the old ups in the box and mail it back to them. That's what I'm doing, anyway.

SJConsultant: Well, I find it difficult to believe as well, but it happened! seeing is believing, my friend. So far I'm finding the return pretty easy: i talked to a guy on the phone, he said ok we'll send a new one out and some paperwork for your broken stuff, bye. The biggest issue I've run into was holding a sweaty piece of plastic next to my ear for 25+ min while talking to the guy. I HATE phones.

 

[Chrs]

well, my new ups arrived. I'm sending back the old one as requested sometime today.

It's a simple process which is not explained at all. You open up the box and it has in it a new ups, and a sticker with UPS shipping label preprinted on it. So, I kinda assume you take the sticker and stick it over the existing label, and stick the old ups in the box and mail it back to them. That's what I'm doing, anyway.

SJConsultant: Well, I find it difficult to believe as well, but it happened! seeing is believing, my friend. So far I'm finding the return pretty easy: i talked to a guy on the phone, he said ok we'll send a new one out and some paperwork for your broken stuff, bye. The biggest issue I've run into was holding a sweaty piece of plastic next to my ear for 25+ min while talking to the guy. I HATE phones.

have you gotten your check yet?