The Trouble of making a Warranty Claim

That's probably something you just have to do before you return anything to the shop where you bought it and claim warranty. The six-point powerboard came with a surge protector. Fine, basically, Peter thought. The surge-protect function works as long as the little LED lamp is on, most of them shining red as this one.

(Microsoft Media)

But the lamp on Peter's powerboard didn't shine any more, only about three weeks after he'd bought it. Something had to be wrong, Peter was certain of it. Before risking the attached computer in case of a power surge, he thought it wise to return the board to the shop where he'd got it, and ask for a replacement.

After he had pulled out all the plugs from it to conveniently pass by the shop on the way home from work, Peter subjected it to another test, just to be on the safe side since hardly anything is more embarrassing in a shop than a warranty claim for no apparent reason; for when the shop assistant tries it for himself and everything seems to be just fine, what is one to say, Peter mused. So he tried it once more himself. And it was just fine!

(Microsoft Media)

Oh, all right, he pondered. So it didn't look like he had to go and claim warranty after all. But he first wanted to try it yet once more on another power point. Still fine; then a third one, just to make sure. And there it didn't work. That was strange. Peter turned the power board off and then decided to try and see what happened when he turned it back on once again. And it worked. Off and on. It still worked.

Odd though it was, Peter took it and went back to the original power point, right next to the computer desk. It still worked there! Off and on. It still worked. Well, be that as it may, Peter thought, He'd just have to have an eye out for it in the coming days to see if it kept working. He couldn't possibly expect the shop assistant to attach too much meaning to his little story anyway, and a seemingly working powerboard won't generally convince anyone a warranty claim is justified.