Digikey bad experiences

[DavidDLC]

The more I know Digikey the less I like it.

I was chatting with technical support, the guy was not able to help me and he gave me a phone number to call and get a free sample to see if the part he was recommending will work for me.

I called the number and got nothing, the lady on the phone told me free samples are only for manufacturers that will produce hundreds and hundreds of parts.

What bothers me is why I didn't get this information on the first place ? Why the technical support does not know that ? I just wasted my time by calling them.

Before this I had a bad service support experience with them as well. I got a part that I was not looking for, it was similar but not exactly, they said they have mixed parts on the bin, and they will send me the correct part again, well I received the exactly same wrong part, so I called them again, and now they told me that the description was correct that I ordered the incorrect part, I explained to them that somebody told me they have mixed parts and based on the description I was correct, they said no I was incorrect, what the heck, if the description says golden leads, you expect to receive golden leads and not silver!

I will buy less stuff from Digikey and slowly switch to other vendor.

 

[T4P]

I have used Digikey - once and that's it.
But the slap dash service seems to change around the world, i'll explain why

I bought the MSP430 TI Watch from tideals.com... 24$ complementary shipping by TI (32$SGD to simplify things)

Guess what? I opened my bank and i saw that i got charged 82$ ! I sent a ticket and they replied to me and also refund me the difference in about 3 days ( That's normal here )

Good that they replied fast but i'm a bit worried to buy anything from DK that involves discounts ... A mistake once doesn't mean i will trust them anymore
Sure, they refunded me the difference, but it's a ruined experience.

How long have they been opened? Still can't even sort out their discounting system!

[krenzo]

Really?  I've been using Digikey for over 10 years and have never had a problem with them.

[DavidDLC]

Really?  I've been using Digikey for over 10 years and have never had a problem with them.

Yes, really.

Lucky you.

[free_electron]

Same here. Digikey customer since 2000. Zero problems. Apart from a few times a wrong part. I had the right order code , it had the right label on it but the part in the bag was wrong (was a 14 pin chip as opposed ot an 8 pin... mixup in the end letters... the other was a 2MHz crystal as opposed to a 20MHz crystal...)

Both times they overnighted me the right one. I could keep the other.
Stellar service.

truth be told, i am in the US. as for international stuff. i can't comment. i know people that have no trouble and i know people that have trouble , mostly with stupid customs rules and market protection ( like digikey not being able to sell maxim parts in some european countries because some german outfit has a monopoly contract on those for a number of countries... )

Customs are a pest. i had a situation years ago where i needed oxygen sensors for scubadiving. I tried to buy them in Belgium . 200 euro a piece... and the manu date was unknown ( these things die after 3 to 4 years by themselves because of the chemical reaction stopping, this is normal behavour. you just need to buy 'fresh ones' ) So i hop on the web , find a scuba story in new york that sells em for 48$.. i order 3... ship 3 day using UPS. day 4 , nothing , day 5 , nothing , day  6 nothing ( every day i called ups. answer :stuck in customs...

Package was properly labeled 'oxygen sensors ,with invoice , so no wishy-washy 'gift' or '0 dollar' value . Day 7 i get a call from customs. What is this ? what are you going to use this for ? why do you need 3 ? are you going to sell these ?

So i explain them my hobby is scubadiving and these are used to analyze the nitrox oxygen content and that i was building my own analyzer. Eventually they clear them ( i had to pay like 25$ duty ).

The final comment from customs officer was  : we will let them go since you are not a company , but these things classify as 'medical equipment' and can only be imported by a company having the right paperwork. The official company that is registered for this product is in france... i called that company.. want a sensor ? ok its 200 euro a piece. oh you are not a company ? sorry no sale.

Here i am trying to design an oxygen analyzer and come up with an innovative idea and i am being blocked by some stupid rule.

i had the same with a motorized ball valve i needed a slow opening and closing motorized valve to do the gas blending. Valve needs to be able to hold 7500psi.
I find a company in germany... sorry , no sale , you are no company and besides you need paperwork. This is classified for petrochemical apps and you cannot re-export this... i gave up. Since a few weeks later i was going to florida for a scuba vacation i simply walked in the first compressor store there and bought a few. Perfectly legal , over the counter. Same for the gas sensors. Any serious scuba store in the US carries those.

As for free samples ... if you are not going to buy a few million aftwards most manufacturers will not give you anything. Especially if your email address ends in @yahoo.com or @gmail.com. If it ends in a big company name the floodgates open wide.

[Psi]

Same, i've had really good service from digikey.

A few wrong items over the years, but a quick chat with sales on the website and they shipped me the right item.

Once it was a large tube of 100 to220 fets instead of 100 tiny zener diodes ,LOL.
They wanted those returned which was understandable. All i had to do was put them into a box, write the address on it and drop it off at the nearest 'Business Service Center' with a letter they supplied. They took care of the rest and paying for the return postage.

The other time it was 10 thermal fuses instead of 10 TVS diodes. They didn't want those returned and send me replacements right away.

I've also used the website text chat feature to ask some unusual questions and they've always been able to answer me.
Once i wanted to know how often and when they update their currency conversions. (1st of every month)
 

[Freighternut]

Looks like Digikey like Kiwi's.

I have had no issues at all over many years purchasing from DigiKey. I purchase a lot small quantities and have never had an issue with wrong parts etc.

I usually spend up to and above the NZ$125 that qualifies for free shipping to New Zealand.

4 -5 day's is typical delivery time.

[Short Circuit]

Customer for more than 14 years, bi-weekly shipments on average, probably 3 wrong parts in all that time. Once production quantity which I missed being wrong and shipped back and forth between my office and assembly house. Took about 6 months to find out, then contacted Digikey about it, and parts exchanged, no problem.

[Bored@Work]

For a time Digikey didn't manage to print the right INCOTERMS on the shipping papers, not even if their lives would depend on them. That caused more than the usual hassle with customs and when we had enough of that it did cost them some business.

[Time]

I think your first mistake was assuming technical support at digikey was supposed to know about 1 out of the thousands (millions maybe?) of parts they carry.  A lot of companies give free samples to anyone no questions asked but given the also vast amount of parts makers they can't really keep tabs on who does and who doesn't.

and maybe they were tinned gold leads?

They are a distributor.  Not a company who designs any real devices so don't expect them to have much in the way of technical advice.

[T4P]

If they dare to distribute, they should know what they are doing!
Element14/Farnell does know what they are selling   

[free_electron]

Element14/Farnell does know what they are selling   

And that's not nearly as 1/100 of what digikey has in stock.. Element14 and Fartnell are good for screws and ducttape... Parts ?? meh ... they don't do full linecards, meaning if digikey represents a certain manufacturer they can supply any part form that manufacturer in any package any temp grade. Farnell and E14 pick specific parts they thing will sell well in small quantitiy. Good luck ordering 20 reels of a certain part at these guys. They won't have enough stock at hand. Digikey and mouser will

As for parts handling.. i've had tqfp's shipped stuck in a bit of foam. Arriving with bent pins. That doesn't happen with digikey. They package in trays.

I used to buy lots of stuff from farnell in the 90's but it became more and more troublesome to make designs with modern parts. They simply did not carry them. Then i discovered digikey in 2000 ... the catalogue was only a centimeter , about 3  pages in 12 point font... today .. we hit 3000 pages in a font that requires a microscope to read...

and the digikey websearch is way better than farnell or e14. The sites are too slow and too much flashy graphics. digikey works like google. put  in a few keywords and you have a fast drill-down table.

[T4P]

I use element14 only for one reason : FREE delivery.
For me i don't see a lack of parts oddly  But if i do want 2 reels i have to look up the mfr and see who is distributing them

But yeah, element14's too flashy

[DavidDLC]

I have been buying stuff from them for a long time as well, but....

All the companies should have a big focus on Customer Experience, before this happened I was happy always trying to get all my stuff from them.

But then when you face issues and you notice how do they handle it, it's when your point of view start to change.

I was thinking: How much it will hurt them to send me a dollar sample ? Nothing, and by doing that they will keep a happy customer, my situation was not that I requested the sample by myself, it was coming from a suggestion from technical support.

Sometimes is good for the companies to "spend" some money to keep a customer happy on the long term.

I have seen several complains about this company, including on Dave's videos, so there is something there to take care.

David.

[Short Circuit]

...
I will buy less stuff from Digikey and slowly switch to other vendor.

Actually quite interested knowing this other vendor, having comparable linecard, proto and production qty stock and pricing...

[free_electron]

only one comes close and that is Mouser. i find myself more and more buying from mouser. They often are a bit cheaper than digikey prices.

[DavidDLC]

only one comes close and that is Mouser. i find myself more and more buying from mouser. They often are a bit cheaper than digikey prices.

Yes, Mouser is one of them.

[Psi]

I usually spend up to and above the NZ$125 that qualifies for free shipping to New Zealand.
4 -5 day's is typical delivery time.

I've noticed that if i order NZ Monday i don't get the package until NZ Friday or Monday.  (4-7days)

However..

If i order on Friday (or even Saturday at 1am) the package usually arrives Monday morning. (2-3 days)

[free_electron]

only one comes close and that is Mouser. i find myself more and more buying from mouser. They often are a bit cheaper than digikey prices.

Yes, Mouser is one of them.

and the others are ?

Arrow ?
Avnet ?
Future ?
EBV ?
Newark ?

[Mechatrommer]

Zero problems. Apart from a few times a wrong part

big problem! yes its no problem if they are next to your house. yesterday the swmbo got the wrong clothing color, its 1000+ km away from seller (not 100,000++km like digikey), i think i'll just let her "learn" the managerial thing on how to get a replacement.

I use element14 only for one reason : FREE delivery

i can understand that. its back of your house . yeah e14 provide better shipping option (singapore branch), faster etc... but the high price of most items and lack of stock sometime made me back away, but surprisingly, some components are cheaper than digikey.

[Zopsi]

Funny that you started this thread as I've had two bad experiences with Digikey over the past 3 weeks. They provided inadequate packing on materials and it was damaged due to their negligence in packing. Then their customer service refused to refund the purchase and pay return shipping because they didn't believe it was their fault. I then provided them with pictures detailing the inadequate packing and they finally agreed to refund it. In all it took two weeks and a manager in order to get them to agree to refund those items.

I also had an issue with them where they charged me for something I did not buy. Needless to say that was interesting.

Before I used a combination of Newark, Mouser, and Digikey. Now I just use Mouser and Newark. I will never look back. 

[Psi]

I always provide pics when i talk to them about issues (incorrect parts etc).

Expecting them to just take someone at their word is probably asking a bit much.

[Zopsi]

I always provide pics when i talk to them about issues (incorrect parts etc).

Expecting them to just take someone at their word is probably asking a bit much.

As do I, I sent preliminary pictures in my first conversation with support. They didn't believe me so I took something like 16 pictures detailing damage and pointing out specific things in the pictures. I have no expectation of someone taking me for my word as I wouldn't trust someone accusing me of something without providing evidence. I had to keep calling and emailing until I got someone who would listen to me.

[48X24X48X]

I personally don't have any bad experience with Digikey or Mouser.
I usually use Element-14/Newark and RS for smaller prototype purchase.
Mouser for bigger volume purchase and Digikey if Mouser ran out of stock for certain parts.
You'll notice that passive parts like resistor, capacitor, and certain types of made in China connectors are cheaper in E-14/Newark compared to Digikey and Mouser. And E-14 used to give free shipping for any amount order, but now you'll need to purchase a minimum order to get free shipping.

[nukie]

x-on.com.au really scrappy website but search function works quite well. Useful if you know your part no. and I am surprised with the huge array of parts. I use them for small shipments where total order do not qualify for free shipping else where.

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