I was going to write a cute title for this bog, but then I decided to just write a one sentence summary.

That's basically it. Short and simple. If you want to stop reading at this point, then the only thing missing will be the details. Since I believe that "the devil is in the details", let me offer my story of woe.

Tampa is the lightening capital of the United States. No one told me this, but I could have assumed it before the newspapers began touting our dubious title. We get more strikes and fried golfers than all the other US states. I'm not sure why Tampa gets all the fun, but it's something we have learned to live with.

When I installed my home entertainment center, I also purchased a Panamax MaxSat unit to protect it from power surges. The unit was designed to protect satellite and audio equipment from lightening strikes and related power spikes. It carries the "Panamax Lifetime Warranty" and a $50,000 connected equipment policy. The unit connects to the power plugs, coax feeds and DC power connects on my home entertainment system. In short, it filters all the wires which connect my system to the rest of the world.

In July of 2005, our property was hit by lightening. I'm not sure if the strike hit our house, the ground, or a power pole. There was a big flash, large boom, and the lights went out.

3 hours later, the technicians at my hillbilly electric company were able to restore power.

Afterwards, I discovered that my TV, A/V receiver, and satellite receiver were damaged.

This perplexed me, since they were all connected to my MaxSat power surge protector.

To make a long story short, Sears fixed the TV under warranty, I sent to satellite box off for repairs, and called Panamax to start a warranty claim.

I spoke with a nice lady named Gala, who told me they would immediately send a "claim pack" to assist me with this issue. The pack would contain a shipping box for my surge protector, along with materials for processing any claim on connected equipment.

She said they would need to test my old MaxSax protector to see if it was damaged in the strike. Since I would be without surge protection during this time, she offered to sell me a new unit at discount. I figured this would help with my claim, so I decided to purchase their super-duper 5 million dollar warranty unit.

A few weeks later, the kit arrived from Panamax. I packed off the old unit, and installed the new one. I also filled out their "Connected Equipment Claims forms", along with the required diagrams, receipts, repair estimates, and formal affidavits. My claim number was 05083E19686.

I sent the whole thing off expected to receive a quick reply from their claims department.

A few weeks later, my MaxSax unit came back from the shop. The letter inside claimed that there was no damage to the unit, and it was performing perfectly.  To my knowledge, a surge protector is "working perfectly" only if it PROTECTS my equipment. That unit was supposed to intercept the power spike, but it just transferred it right to my equipment. The letter also stated that "Please note that the conditions of the Expanded warranty do not require the surge protector to show signs of damage for a claim to be determined valid".  This was good news, since the power surge must have come through the Panamax unit. I also had the proof, since the repair estimates showed blown power supplies.

I was going to call about the testing performed on the unit, but the letter was signed by someone named "Testing Agent 1". Calls to Panamax failed to locate the secret whereabouts of this mysterious "Agent 1".

I called Gala at Panamax to ask about my connected equipment claim, but received no reply. Two months went by before I could contact Gala at Panamax.

When I was finally able to converse with her, she told me that a "warranty representative" would handle all cases of damaged equipment. When I asked to speak with this person, I was transferred to a voicemail address. Every subsequent call was also transferred to this same bottomless pit.

3 MONTHS after I filed the claim, I received my answer from Panamax. It was a nice letter containing brochures for their products, copies of their "Iron Clad" warranties, and a denial of claim letter. The letter was signed by Wayne Goldston, who didn't even take the time to sign his name correctly. Apparently, my claim was denied because there was no damage to my MaxSat unit.

My reply to this:

The reason there was no damage to unit is because Panamax surge protectors are useless pieces of crap.

I trusted Panamx to protect my equipment, and they failed me. Their unit did not function as advertised and allowed damage to my components. The final insult is that Panamax denied my claim based on THEIR analysis of THEIR product. I find that just a little too convenient and biased.

I'm not a certified electrician, but since their unit was between the wall outlet and my equipment; how can they say it didn't fail?

The repair estimates show that my equipment was damaged by a power spike.

The Panamax was the only thing between the power and the equipment.

If it didn't fail, then why was the equipment damaged? Huh?

Panamax has refused any more phone calls from me.

In April of 2005, they were acquired by the Linear Company, which means they have other things to worry about.

I'm hoping Linear fires all the Panamax employees, dumps the products, and just continues to use the name and customer base.

For me, that would be sweet revenge.