FAKE APC SMART UPS 1500 in LIBERIA!

Contributed by Cecelia Cooper

On the 14th of July 2011, one of our clients had a problem with their Uninterrupted Power Supplies (UPS) (a total of 5) not booting correctly and some not booting at all.

We made the following diagnosis:

We observed that one of the UPS wasn’t booting correctly. We checked the power cable and checked the power button but it wasn’t a power connection problem.

We then checked the battery and noticed that the battery was completely dead and was not re-charging. The only solution here was to get a replacement battery.

These UPS batteries are not imported and stocked in Liberia. Our Head of Operations sent an email to our associates in the US and asked them to source the battery from APC. We were asked to send the Manufacturers serial number barcode on the UPS which we did. We were shocked to receive a reply that 3 out of 5 serial number’s were non-existent therefore the 3 APC UPS were not genuine and manufactured elsewhere! The other 2 were Genuine numbers but unfortunately the validity period was over and therefore could not be covered by the APC replacement guarantee.

APC has a policy that in case the battery goes bad they would replace the battery free of charge if it is within the one year validity period. Otherwise we would have to pay for the battery.

We have advised the client accordingly and are awaiting their confirmation before placing the order for new batteries.