The morning of Hurricane Sandy,I left the house with my Lutron WholeHome system working and came back an hour later and it was not turning lights on that were connected to it. I had power but not in the rooms that were connected to the Luton panel. I called H.O. Electric because as I searched Google for a Lutron electricians they popped up. They responded very fast and was told that they will send out someone within a couple of hours. I again asked if they were familiar with the system and was told that they've installed hundreds. Two very nice young men showed up an hour later. I showed them the pane in the basementl. They stayed down there for about 25 min. When they came up they told me they had bad news because since the system had no surge protector it got a power surge and burned out and it would cost me $5,000.00 plus about an other $500.00 for a surge protector. I asked them if they were sure about this and they told me they were and they have taken photos and emailed them to Lutron and to a friend who was a Lutron engineer and both of them agreed that the computer was burnt out. When they left I went on Lutron's web-site and emailed the company if it was possible that the system comes without a surge protector. They emailed back that it does come with it but it is possible that a big surge can burn the protector out. I again went on the website and requested a Lutron representative to get in touch with me. Next day I got a call from a representative to whom I told the story and she gave me the name of a company that they always work with in the Boston area. The company itself got in touch with me within minutes and they asked me a few questions and asked me to send them a photo of the panel. They also said that since I told them that there were several green and red lights flickering was a good sign that meant that the computer system was still working.Next day an electrician (engineer?) came out and within minutes established that the processor and not the computer was burned. He had to go 30 min. away to a supply store to get two of them,just have one extra, for$25.00 each. His service call with travel time came to $300.00. The whole thing cost us $325.00 plus a spare processor.
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