I’ve complained enough about bad service in the past that it’s only fair that I report an instance of good customer service.
I bought replacement batteries for a Tripp-Lite UPS. It turned out they were the wrong batteries, but they fit another Tripp-Lite UPS that I own, so I decided to keep them as spares. A Tripp-Lite tech person told me I should charge them at least every six (or was it three?) months to keep them from deteriorating in storage.
Eighty days after I received the batteries, I installed them in my UPS, to charge them, and found them to be, apparently, dead. I called Tripp-Lite, and after some unsatisfactory interactions with first-tier tech-support people I reached a manager who was easy to deal with (returned my calls and emails) and agreed to replace the batteries as a warranty item. When I installed the replacement batteries I found them also to be, apparently, dead and contacted Tripp-Lite again. They didn’t have any new suggestions, but I suspect they would have replaced the batteries again if I had insisted. However, I did some fiddling and found that the problem was not the batteries at all but a loose connection on a wire that connects the batteries to each other. This was easily fixed with pliers, and now both sets of replacement batteries work.
I wasted more time on this problem than I should have, but the outcome was essentially good. While Tripp-Lite’s tech support is a bit rough around the edges, the people I dealt with, and particularly Joan Smith, the manager, sincerely attempted to resolve my problem. (I don’t know how frequently such problems are caused by loose wires, but I suspect it is not often, and I am not sure it is fair to expect Tripp-Lite’s techs to suggest such a possibility. Their fallback suggestion to me was always to test the batteries using a voltmeter, which makes sense except that most customers, if they are like me, probably don’t have voltmeters.)
So, on the whole, a satisfactory resolution. My impression has always been that Tripp-Lite’s products are well designed and good values as compared to alternatives, and I have bought them on a number of occasions over the years. After this experience I will not hesitate to buy them again.
You don’t have a VOAM?
We are going to have to revoke your license to own a Y chromosome. ;-)
I have a meter similar to the one you link to, but it’s designed for flashlight and camera batteries and doesn’t even have a numerical voltage readout. I suspect that a UPS battery would fry it, and I didn’t want to go out and buy a new test instrument that I would probably only use once.
Jonathan,
I have a meter similar to the one you link to,,,
Wuss! Just lick the terminals like a real man!
At like a real man who doesn’t live very long.
Yeah, it was either lick them or wire them to my nuts, but I solved the problem before it came to that.
For the big stuff, I’ve got my dad’s old analog meter that I suspect would work if I plugged it in to a power station. It must weigh 5 pounds.
Hah – lick them! We used to have these huge 22.5 V and 45 V batteries in the laser lab. They had looked like a extra-long 9 volt batteries and had the same kind of terminals. If you stuck those terminals to the thin skin on your forehead, your temples would buzz for half an hour. It was not wise to lick them.