CyperPower Refuses to Honour Warranty

rubygoldie on 05/05/2020 - 22:17
Last edited 05/05/2020 - 23:22 by 1 other user

So in May last year I purchased a CyberPower UPS from RT Edwards when they were closing down.

Fast forward a few months later, I set up the UPS for my home security camera system. I happened to lose power and found that the UPS did not work. Apparently the battery was not holding any charge the UPS shut down as soon as power was lost.

UPS was used less than 2 months and was less than a year from date of purchase. I tried to do a warranty claim with CyberPower and they are refusing to honour the warranty. They claim that the serial no of the unit indicated that the UPS was manufactured 5 years ago, hence being old stock, is not covered under manufacturers warranty.

To me this is ridiculous. As warranty period should begin from date of purchase, not date of manufacture. Also, there is no use by date as such listed on the product.

I have threatened CyperPower that I will escalate the matter and report it to Fair Trading, and yet Cyberpower refuses to honour their statutory warranty responsibilty.

Any comments anyone?

• 

  Hybroid on 05/05/2020 - 22:28

  Do CyperPower legally exist as an entity in Australia and/or were RT Edwards an official authorised distributor?

  If no to either then you might be SOL unfortunately. Only other option is a credit card chargeback if at all possible.

  • 

    rubygoldie on 05/05/2020 - 22:56

    Hi Hybroid, the warranty claim is with CyberPower Australia. Im not sure if RT Edwards was an authorised distributor. It seems a real shame that Cyberpower does not stand by their own products.

    • 

      Hybroid on 05/05/2020 - 23:05

      +1

      It's a 5 year old product that may not have been sold through official channels. They don't seem to have an office here only phone number and e-mail address so might not be registered here beyond a distributor trading name.

      I wouldn't immediately say it's their fault for not wanting to honour a sale they may not have had anything to do with. As JimmyF says below, it's the risk of buying cheap from a store that's closing down.

    • 

      xuqi on 05/05/2020 - 23:43

      +1

      RT Edwards were most likely not an authorised distributor of the product.

      They may have purchased this from a reseller for their own use, and had it sitting about until their closure.

      Have you tried replacing the batteries? They won't last years sitting unused in storage, so replacing them should be all that required for it to function.

      2 of any of these will work fine in the device:

      https://www.batteriesdirect.com.au/shop/product/26222/up-vw1…
      https://www.batteriesdirect.com.au/shop/product/25255/12sb36…
      https://www.batteriesdirect.com.au/shop/product/24690/centur…

      If you've already attempted to claim via their site, and have been refused then your state consumer affairs department may provide some help. Whether its worth your time/effort vs. replacing batteries is up to you.

      https://partner.cyberpower.com/RMA/RMAClaimSheetClient/RMACl…
      https://www.cyberpower.com/au/en

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  JimmyF on 05/05/2020 - 22:35

  They claim that the serial no of the unit indicated that the UPS was manufactured 5 years ago, hence being old stock, is not covered under manufacturers warranty.

  You both have valid points, but batteries die with age, so the fact that it 5 year old stock is a problem.

  What model CyberPower do you have? Honestly you might be pissing and moaning about $50 worth the batteries. It was the gamle you took buying from a place doing a clearance when going out of business.

  • 

    rubygoldie on 05/05/2020 - 23:02

    The model is 1300VA which retails for $299

    https://www.cyberpower.com/eu/en/product/sku/cp1300epfclcd

    • 

      JimmyF on 06/05/2020 - 09:02

      +1

      which retails for $299

      but what did you pay for it?

      Honestly you might be pissing and moaning about $50 worth the batteries

      ok, yes you are. From the model its just a pair of standard 12v 7AH batteries, used in about a billion things

      CP1300EPFCLCD uses 12v, 7AH x 2

      You can get 2 new brand name batteries that match this unit for under $60, or no name brands for under $40.

      Honestly it was the risk you took buying it from a company going out of business and leaving it sit for ages before testing.

  • 

    bdl on 06/05/2020 - 09:18

    +1

    Agree completely, better to just replace the batteries and move on - I've bought them from LANplus numerous times for Eaton UPSes that have died and they've been fine: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Replacement-Battery-VRLA-SLA-12V…

    • 

      JimmyF on 06/05/2020 - 09:58

      +1

      Yeah all my UPS eat batteries like no tomorrow. I normally pay around that for a battery including shipping, so $52 for the OP to replace the batteries.

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  MilkDrinker on 05/05/2020 - 23:09

  +2

  What Jimmy said sums it up. Buying anything from a closed up business means the receipt is kinda useless and the company that made the item can use the manufacturing date as a warranty point. Unless you can get a goodwill refund seems like your money is gone.

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  MagicMushroom on 05/05/2020 - 23:18

  My understanding is that retailor (RT Edwards) is responsible for dealing with warranty and the manufacture (CyberPower) is not responsible although they can out of goodwill. So threatening cyber power with fair trading won't do anything.

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  aussieprepper on 06/05/2020 - 00:17

  +1

  If you take the battery out and manually charge it, you might be able to still use it depending on how low the voltage is. Most likely the system won't charge a battery below a certain voltage but manually you should be able to.

  This appears to be the battery most likely 2 12v batteries in series for 24v.
  https://www.cyberpower.com/au/en/product/sku/rbp0124#specifi…

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  rubygoldie on 06/05/2020 - 06:37

  Thanks everyone for the feedback.