Equipment Protection Policy

[Anonymous user]

I have several RS 1500. All loads of these are below 300W 9They are rated up to 850W). This morning when I got to the office, one of the units was making an awful buzzing noise and the PC that was plugged into it was down. I tried unplugging the UPS and stopping the buzz to no avail. I ended up plugging the PC into one of the other UPS units. When I plug in the bad UPS, it buzzes and then the front panel freezes up. Sometimes it will work for a minute or two, but then the buzzing starts and the front panel is frozen. Sometimes when I move the unit, it will work correctly for a few seconds, then the buzz returns. I have tried disconnecting the battery... same problem. There is no load on the unit, it just doesn't work... all outlets in the back do not work. I have tried everything and still does not work. Shows a fully charged battery before the freeze. Shows no load before the freeze. Shows 167 minutes before the freeze... etc., etc., etc. I cannot even do a test... it freezes before I can get that far. The unit appears to be hatched. I started a trouble ticket and I am wating for support to contact me. It was purchased on 12/31/2007.

Question...

When this unit failed, it blew away the raid setup on my PC. This machine was running an email server for several companies. It took the mirrored drives and split them into 4 partitions. I had to reconfigure the machine and reinstall some software (a band-aid approach) just to get it up and working. Now, the machine wasn't necessarily damaged, as far as I can tell, but I need to have a tech come over and reconfigure the raid. I then need to reinstall all the software, configurations, etc. I also need to transfer the accounts to a temp machine while the old one gets fixed. Now this is going to cost our company money and time. Can I claim something like this through the Equipment Protection Policy?

[Anonymous user]

I have several RS 1500. All loads of these are below 300W 9They are rated up to 850W). This morning when I got to the office, one of the units was making an awful buzzing noise and the PC that was plugged into it was down. I tried unplugging the UPS and stopping the buzz to no avail. I ended up plugging the PC into one of the other UPS units. When I plug in the bad UPS, it buzzes and then the front panel freezes up. Sometimes it will work for a minute or two, but then the buzzing starts and the front panel is frozen. Sometimes when I move the unit, it will work correctly for a few seconds, then the buzz returns. I have tried disconnecting the battery... same problem. There is no load on the unit, it just doesn't work... all outlets in the back do not work. I have tried everything and still does not work. Shows a fully charged battery before the freeze. Shows no load before the freeze. Shows 167 minutes before the freeze... etc., etc., etc. I cannot even do a test... it freezes before I can get that far. The unit appears to be hatched. I started a trouble ticket and I am wating for support to contact me. It was purchased on 12/31/2007.

Question...

When this unit failed, it blew away the raid setup on my PC. This machine was running an email server for several companies. It took the mirrored drives and split them into 4 partitions. I had to reconfigure the machine and reinstall some software (a band-aid approach) just to get it up and working. Now, the machine wasn't necessarily damaged, as far as I can tell, but I need to have a tech come over and reconfigure the raid. I then need to reinstall all the software, configurations, etc. I also need to transfer the accounts to a temp machine while the old one gets fixed. Now this is going to cost our company money and time. Can I claim something like this through the Equipment Protection Policy?

[Anonymous user]

Yeah... I know I will get a new unit out of the deal. Problem is that this is going to cost some money for a flakey UPS... I guess I should have known that the EPP policy would have been only for hardware. Probably up to a couple grand in time.

Nothings for free, eh?

[BillP]

yeah i hear ya..

i mean you could always put it on the claims questionnaire when you receive it..and note the time and labor on it..then if they deny it, submit a rebuttal letter. but that may take even more time.

let me know if you have any more questions

[i4004_apc]

i have few question about e. protection policy when apc products are bought overseas, ie in europe:

first of all why not just simply register the product online, without that paper questionnaire (which only lacks something like "fill out with pen, and no writing errors will be tolerated" ). i mean isn't this the information age anyway? you just need to check if the inputted serial number matches...

(if i understood your leaflet correctly (also some comments on amazon web store seem to point in that direction), i must submit paper warranty to you, online product registration has no legal weight? i'm referring to this amazon comment

http://www.amazon.com/review/RELPSNS6ZDV4B/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0012YFXSW&nodeID=172282&... )

2nd, you mention warranty card should be provided within10 days of purchase, but is it 10 days for you to recieive it, or 10 days in the deadline for me to send it? also, how can you check when was the item purchased anyway?

3rd, i somehow doubt local post service will mail this envelope without charging for it, no matter what is printed on the envelope (i didn't ask in the post office, but i doubt)

and finally would you happen to know some average time it takes from submitting a (valid) claim and receiving the money?

thanks

[BillP]

My understanding is that according to the policy, this is only applicable to customers located within North America. (Here is the updated link: http://www.apc.com/site/support/US/en/service/epp/) 

Can you clarify your situation - are you located in Europe using a North American product or vice versa or something else? Please also confirm the SKU - if it is the same one at the amazon URL?

That may help me get answers for you but if you are not using this product in North America, then I don't think the policy will be applicable, no matter if the device is a NAM unit or not.

[i4004_apc]

obviously, it's a 240v device and returns (in case of damage to the conected equipment) seems to go to your branch in ireland (in galway).

i'm in croatia. i don't have the same product as mentioned in that amazon link, i have APC PH6T3-GR model.

warranty card came in 3 versions, english, dutch and german, address on the envelope is west kingston, usa... so you do have the policy in place, but it doesn't seem to be practical or viable, for that matter.

registering the product on the web would be practical and viable. but i dunno if after that i'm eligible for equipment protection warranty?

(if not, why would i bother?)

if i put the priority to definitions written in the paper document, then i'm not. as it doesn't state that i can do either of the two (web registration or send mail to usa). it says i should send snail-mail.

in essence then one wonders why do you have the web registration option at all?

[BillP]

OK, let me clarify. I contacted our EMEA support which supports Croatia to verify the accuracy of information since I am based in North America/USA. Here is what I know:

The EMEA version of EPP is valid in all EU countries and Croatia joined in 2013. So it is valid there even though we don't list EPP on the web for PH6T3-GR and Croatia. The EMEA policy is listed here - with the main difference that EMEA doesn't cover Smart-UPS at all: http://www.apc.com/site/support/IE/en/service/epp/

While registration is a REALLY GOOD idea, I would not worry about it too much in relation to EPP and it voiding any possible claim. And web registration is fine. You do not need to mail anything to the USA.

I hope this clarifies for you. Essentially, don't worry too much - you purchased PH6T3-GR and in Croatia, EMEA EPP applies if you ever need to make a claim.

[i4004_apc · Accepted solution]

ok, thanks.