APC-Caveat Emptor: MNC name does not mean quality. Review on APC Inverter

I am also an APC victim.. going through the reviews here, I realise (too late) that I, too, bought this lemon. In India, we need a UPS, as the power is never reliable, friends abroad tell me that the power never fails.. I dream of such a utopian life here, but, I digress...

I bought this for several reasons: 1. The well known APC(American Power Conversion) brand name. (APC!!! ARE YOU LISTENING, IT'S YOUR BRAND NAME ON THE LINE!!) I KNOW, I'M SHOUTING HERE!.. well, less said the better 2. Contained battery in a solid metal case, my son loves to fiddle with these things, and I wanted to prevent shocks 3. Looks good... Now I know, beauty is only skin, or metal plate deep. I bought the inverter in 2006. It fails with cheerful regularity, maybe once a month..

Autopower, the company that sold it to me, replaced the inverter unit twice...Even then, it doesn't work well It still fails. The battery was presumed dead once and they changed one 2 months ago. Now they tell me that I need to replace both, at a cost of 16, 000... you heard right, more than I paid for the whole thing. Could they not have detected that while I still had warranty coverage? I guess not. I knew that my warranty would run out in May 2008, and with this white elephant.

I knew I needed an AMC, so I called them in march and in april.. no one came to renew it, so I called them and they kept having staff problems Finally, after the warranty expired, It failed again, and they came in looked at it, tut tutted and said I needed anew battery, despite having just changed one a few months back and charged me 300 bucks... I need a new inverter, but one with a childproof case.. am considering Su Kam or some other Very disappointed with the MNC UPS It is now gathering dust. They came and said they would contact me in a few days with the details on the batteries, its been a fortnight now. have just mailed them a complaint, am not expecting much of a response Never buy!