Am I being too picky or the seller did the wrong thing?

[blueskull]

I bought a KEI 2002 a couple days ago, and it is way out of spec in terms of noise, despite comes with a dodgy cal cert. I returned it, and accepted a replacement unit.
The replacement is okay in terms of spec, but has unresponsive rubber keys that has to be pressed hard and very old front panel -- yellowed and full of scuffs.
Their eBay listing of the unit is "in very good condition", and the photo as well as the previous unit looks almost in mint condition.
Am I too picky on the replacement unit, or the seller just deceived me?

PS. I'm not buying with some funding or with company money. All $3000 comes from my own pocket, and that is my 2 month's stipend.

[bitseeker]

If the condition of the replacement is significantly different than the original description, then it isn't a valid replacement. I don't think that's too picky. It doesn't have to be identical to the picture, but it should be reasonably comparable in visual quality.

If a comparable replacement isn't available, either negotiate a partial refund or return it altogether.

[Delta]

What is it?  My goooogling says it's a car!

[Brumby]

What is it?  My goooogling says it's a car!

I took out the space - and Google came up with a Keithley 2002 bench meter.

[Delta]

What is it?  My goooogling says it's a car!

Keithley 2002.

Does a car come with any cal cert?

Not usually, but they do come with a noise figure...







...your exhaust can't be too loud or you can fail your roadworthiness inspection!

[Falcon69]

yes, cars come with Cal Cert...sort-of.  California Emissions Certification.   

[deadlylover]

$3000 is too much money to be unsatisfied, I'd probably return it if I were in your shoes.

It sounded like an attractive deal originally because it came with a cal cert, but if it's not an accredited cal then it's basically worthless on a meter of this calibre.

[TheSteve]

They really should have sent pics before sending an uglier unit - although many people wouldn't notice. I know for my 3K I'd be pretty darn picky.

edit - didn't your first one also include a recent Cal.? Yet it had ugly noise. Makes you wonder how good the calibration they are providing is anyway. You need some pretty darn good gear to cal an 8.5 digit meter. You'd think they should have noticed the noise on the first one.

[TheSteve]

Well its true you can - Maybe the seller thinks that what it means to Cal. the meter - update the date!

Assuming a proper calibration house handled it part of the process would be to update the date. I am thinking they just verified a few data points matched some in house standard within spec and decided to call that "calibrated".

Did they give a proper Cal. report with the equipment used etc?

[deadlylover]

The cal cert states it was done per manufacture manual, and the equipment used is Fluke 5720A.
The cal provider is Techmaster, which according to its website, is an ISO9001:2008 and ISO17025:2005 certified cal service provider.
The calibration, according to cal cert, was done under controlled temperature and humidity.
BUT, how can they messed up with cal ROM? Either is was done improperly and fast-n-dirty, or the cal cert is fake.

Their facility might be accredited but that doesn't necessarily mean the cal certificate you got was done at an accredited level. Most cal labs have a normal 'traceable' cal service and an accredited cal service.... I wonder which one they used for eBay items. =P

They should have marked it clearly if the test report was accredited for compliance to ISO17025, and they should specify the uncertainties of measurement of your DUT at time of calibration including the uncertainties of the standards used for calibration, not just the equipment used.
There should also be a section defining the uncertainties stated in the report, like at 95% confidence interval with x degrees of freedom and stuff like that.

[deadlylover]

Nothing like that. They only said equipment used, interval, date and serial number of both dut and calibration order. The seller said it is a nist traceable calibration.

Ahh okay that's the basic level of calibration then, unfortunately it's not worth much more than toilet paper. 

Good call on returning the unit. 

[Delta]

Hahahahahaha!  You paid three grand for a second hand multimeter?!!!

You can get brand new multimeters for a tenner!

[Galenbo]

Hahahahahaha!  You paid three grand for a second hand multimeter?!!!

You can get brand new multimeters for a tenner!

Element14 says 7490€+btw = 9063€, so some people must have their reasons to want this device, and only pay 33% for a used one.

Can you give a typical test/cal setup where the specs of the Keithley2002 are needed, but can also be done with your cheaper device?