General > General Technical Chat
Are any Sydney members a 'certified technician'?
TerraHertz:
I'm asking because I have a shipping damage insurance claim in progress, and the carrier (via the reshipper) wants "a letter from a certified technician confirming that the item is non-repairable or if repairable to provide the cost of repair. The letter must be from a certified technician on company letterhead, signed and dated by the technician."
Details of the equipment and damage are here: http://everist.org/8594/
And also as a single zip file: http://everist.org/8594/writeup_htm.zip
The damaged item:
ORDER DATE Jun 15, 2021 ORDER NUMBER 13-07213-16445 via ebay USA
SOLD BY digitalfoundrytx
ORDER TOTAL US $487.95
HP 8594E Spectrum Analyzer W/ OPTS: 004, 041, 053, 140, 151, 160 SN 3746A05203
(293946970341)
Delivered on Mon, Jun 21 (to Shipito)
USA Tracking number: 1Z14V39A0317260675
Shipped on 06/16/21
ITEM PRICE: US $400.00 (This is the actual price paid. Less than the original listing because the seller accepted my offer of $400, due to problems he had found with the units since placing the original listing.)
For anyone interested, here are the costs incurred for the reshipper and postage from CA to Sydney Australia:
Package processing fee $2.00
Shipping $154.14 disc: $146.43
Insurance $8.00
Oversize package fee $10.00
Additional services $2.00
AU GST on goods $40.00
AU GST on services $16.44
TOTAL $224.87
All prices are in USD.
My response to the request for the letter:
--- Quote ---07/29/2021
Hi Sheryll,
Ho ho, that's a new one. They see photos of the fractured diecast metal frame, and they want to know if it's repairable.
Obtaining a replacement frame part: The unit was manufactured in 1997. This equipment model is no longer made, and in fact the manufacturer (Hewlett Packard) no longer exists. The 'descendent' company Keysight does not support such old models.
Yes, it's repairable - by buying another whole second hand unit on US ebay and importing it to swap the frame. Cost: similar to this one. Which is actually what I'll probably do - find one cheap due to known serious electrical fault, and buy it as spare parts. 'Cheap' being a few hundred $US plus shipping. There is virtually no market source of such things in Australia.
Incidentally I'm a retired electronics design engineer, but not a 'certified technician' even though I worked as a repair technician for many years at the start of my career. Which is why I find this amusing. I have no idea even what 'certification' they mean.
But I'll ask around and see what I can come up with. This may take a while. And will make for an interesting post on the main Australian electronics forum.
What time limits am I dealing with on this claim?
Regards,
Guy
--- End quote ---
In my opinion the carrier is hoping to stall the claim. They're certainly aware of the difficulty of getting a technician to inspect the instrument under Sydney's current COVID lockdown absurdities. Regardless of those you're welcome to inspect it if the photos aren't enough. Suburb is East Hills 2213. PM me if you like. Also I can provide more detailed photos if required.
Whales:
I just searched the TAFE sites, they don't use the word "technician" in any formal way there. In fact I'd say "technician" is a very informal term this century; making it theoretically impossible to find a "certified technician".
--- Code: ---
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Technician \Tech*ni"cian\, n.
a person trained or skilled in the technical details of a
particular art or science, especially one skilled at
operating, maintaining, or repairing equipment, in contrast
to the theory or informational content of a craft; --
formerly also called a {technicist}.
Note: In computer software companies, individuals skilled at
the details of using programs and employed to help
customers to install or use software or troubleshoot
software problems for are also called technicians.
[Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
technician
n 1: someone whose occupation involves training in a specific
technical process
2: someone known for high skill in some intellectual or artistic
technique
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thesaurus]:
56 Moby Thesaurus words for "technician":
Admirable Crichton, adept, aficionado, amateur, apprentice,
artificer, artisan, artist, attache, authority, buff, connaisseur,
connoisseur, consultant, cordon bleu, crack shot, craftsman,
craftswoman, critic, dead shot, dilettante, diplomat, diplomatist,
elder statesman, experienced hand, expert, expert consultant, fan,
freak, graduate, handicraftsman, handy man, journeyman, marksman,
master, master carpenter, master craftsman, mechanic, no slouch,
nut, politician, prentice, pro, professional, professor,
proficient, pundit, savant, scholar, shark, sharp, specialist,
statesman, technical adviser, technical expert, wright
--- End code ---
"Electrical Engineer" with a degree is probably close enough (even though the degrees don't teach anything relevant to case repair; but hey it's their request). I'd offer to do it but I don't have a ABN/company that would be appropriate.
It would be worth mentioning multiple repair options in a numbered list or table:
(1) Cost of buying another unit and swapping parts (as you mention).
(2) Cost of buying original or reproduction spare parts: infeasible, not available. (as you mention)
(3) Cost of disassembling, removing all decals, bending frame, plugging hole (epoxy?), sanding, painting, re-applying decals, re-assembling, testing and then re-calibrating the unit. Give them units of "estimated technician hours", "estimated technician hourly rate" and then a final cost.
ie you need to give the impression that you're not cherry-picking the information you give them. Also add in a figure of "cost to have packaged this unit in a manner that would have prevented this damage during shipping" to rub it in.
All I can say is "at least it works", but I can see that you're not happy with it arriving different to what you paid for. Apart from aesthetics: it also impacts resale value (use language that insurance & shipping people can understand: "dramatically reduced resale value" and "non-original, damaged condition").
Halcyon:
I guess technically I'm "certified". I'm certified in many things. Does that count? It sounds like they are just using the word, without thinking about what it actually means.
I could give you an "expert" opinion on a letterhead no problems, based on my skills and knowledge. I'm not breaking any laws if I'm wrong. Let them prove otherwise.
Nusa:
Don't get hung up on the word "certified". Just provide a signed repair estimate on company letterhead, which is what they asked for. They did not ask for you to provide proof of certification, assuming they even know what that means themselves.
Just assume that all company owners certify that their employees are qualified. That should cover it, especially since we're talking a metals job, not an electronics job.
TerraHertz:
Hmm... Yes, what 'certification'? I'd assumed that my not knowing what they meant was due to my ignorance of contemporary qualification standards. But now you mention it, who repairs anything these days anyway? Exactly what 'certification' do they mean?
I think I should insist they be more specific. Let them prove they have something real in mind rather than just diversionary waffle.
At the same time, maybe an inquiry to Keysight might be worth a try. See if they will give a quote on repair, just for a laugh. If I can get a letter from them stating they are no longer HP, don't repair old HP equipment (nobody does), but if they did it would cost X thousand dollars...
It's still all ridiculous. Perhaps I'm one of the few people in Australia that has actually tried straightening a bent piece of that crappy diecast metal. (Rack handles, and side frames of older HP gear.) Flatly, you can't.
One eg: http://everist.org/NobLog/20131122_an_actual_knob.htm#frac
It can initially bend slightly in one direction, but cracks at just a couple of degrees bending. Even if there is no crack already, trying to deform it back to original shape absolutely will cause total brittle failure before it deforms at all. Heating it up before trying, makes no apparent difference.
As for company letterhead, I've been retired for over a decade. Hermitic even. I've absolutely zero industry contacts anymore.
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