May 20, 2019 by Donna De Vico, Sales & Marketing Director, Zero Surge Inc.

$10,000 connected equipment warranty! $25,000 connected equipment warranty! Most of us have seen these surge protector warranties that sound too good to be true, and when you read the fine print, you realize you’re right.

All reputable businesses have product liability insurance to protect consumers so why are connected equipment warranties so popular? They are merely sales and marketing tools used by companies to sell products with the hype of a sensational feature. Those warranties, however, are often riddled with loopholes and disclaimers making them difficult, if not impossible, to collect on them.

When choosing surge protection, it is better to buy a product that will not fail than to buy something sacrificial with the possibility of recouping some money when it does fail. Even in the rare occasion when the policy pays out, it does not cover lost data, downtime, and other inconveniences.

Some of the disclaimers I’ve seen in the policies that void the warranty are:

• Inadequate maintenance or care of the protector

• Normal use wear and tear

• Damage due to low-voltage disturbances (sags or brownouts)

• Aquarium use

• May not protect solid state or electronic equipment from all lightning-induced or other large power surges

Another caveat is that you must file a loss claim through your homeowner’s insurance first. They also require you to return the failed surge suppressor to the company at your expense and sometimes also the connected equipment that was damaged so that it, too, can be examined.

All Zero Surge products come with a 10-year warranty. They have been certified by Underwriters Laboratories to withstand a minimum of 1,000 worst case surges (10 years’ worth) without degradation or failure. They are also withstanding the test of time as their in-service life has exceeded 30 years with no degradation or failure!