Dave,
I'd like to thank you for contacting Extech for me, I really appreciate the help. I just wanted to let you know that I didn't post here with the intention of having anyone do anything for me, but I surely appreciate it. I was just venting. I wasn't trying to damage Extech's reputation, it was more along the lines of finding comfort in having other people agree with my irritation.
Hi Ian/Slipjointed,
Middle-of-the-night greetings from the Northeast US. I'm terribly sorry and embarrassed to hear you got a veritable run-around with your call to our offices. It is unacceptable and we will be discussing it in depth as a learning experience.
We want to make it right and hopefully you would be willing to give us another shot. If you wouldn't mind PM'ing me with your contact information over the weekend, we can work with you to expediently correct this and exceed your satisfaction.
Back to my teething 14-month-old....
Andre
Thanks for your response. I went ahead and PM'ed you some further details. Sorry if I was a bit harsh this morning; I tend to be cranky before my coffee. Truth be told, other than the screw issue, I'm quite happy with the meter itself, and with the accessories it came with. It has a good feel, fast response, and a nice display. My only major gripe- I wish there was an alternate mode for the backlight where it would stay on.
I understand that all companies nowadays are trying to offer a better value for their customers, but I can tell you that I certainly would have no problem paying an extra $5 for any meter that included machine screws with brass press-in inserts instead of plastic self tapping screws. It's one of those "weak link" things.
I understand the need for the special fasteners on this waterproof meter, but it creates a problem for anyone trying to repair the meter down the road. I bought the meter with the intention of having it for some time.
Also, please understand that while I felt the CS staff that I spoke with really didn't go out of their way to help me, I can't say they were maliciously rude. The rude I was speaking of was more along the lines of a rigid, canned response, and the feeling that they didn't have interest or ability to bend a little bit to help out.
I just want to let you know that this isn't something they should be written up over, only perhaps think of a way to handle situations like this where the customer doesn't feel they've been presented Door A, Door A, or Door A.
With the power and standing Dave has on the electronics community and many manufactures, along with the fact that Extech view the forum I am leaning again toward a couple of Extech meters.
Times like this i wished i lived in the US for a day, having to pay %25 more for the meter itself, along with the GST charge which is ~%10 and shipping which is up to $40 it is ridiculous and very limiting on meter selection!!! Extech have distributor that are Australian based/ operate throughout Aus making their meters better value for money and affordable.
Cheers
Joker94
I don't necessarily have any problem with Extech's product. In fact, I very much like this meter. The leads are very nice, and even the case it came with is a very nice touch.
One of the reasons I posted this rant was because I was so surprised... I've done a lot of business with their parent company, Flir, and so had certain expectations of what would happen when I called them.
The other reason I was surprised, was that I had called Extech previously on another occasion for a different reason, and the lady I spoke with went out of her way to help me out.
Such timely follow up is great to see but it is slipjointed who has the problem meter, not I, so I will bow out and leave the continuation of this story to him...
Just to save future confusion on the forum, I am also Ian.
Another easy way to tell that my name is Ian, I also obsess about things like screw head types.
My company just hired another engineer named Ian, which is quite nice, because he's even worse than I am, and so has taken some of the heat off.
In one of my meters I had a screw strip, it was one similar to that in the extech. My solution was drill out the lugs inside, fill them with a mixtue of 30min epoxy and micro balloons (I had from my aero modeling), when the glue was semi hard i drilled out a hole a size smaller than the machined screw i wanted to use, screwed the screw in and out leaving me with a hardened insert. This allowed me to do away with the poor screws for some decent machined screws with a standard head.
TrioSmartCal sell Extech meters in Oz:
http://triosmartcal.com.au/253-extech-instruments
The EX505 is only $135 ex GST and includes a free mains stick:
http://triosmartcal.com.au/1854-extech-ex505-heavy-duty-industrial-multimeters.html
Not bad considering the list price is US$115
Prices are MUCH better in Oz now than they used to be! Even the price-gouge experts Fluke have had to change their ways and drop their prices to reasonable levels in Oz now.
Dave.
Yeah, stumbled upon triosmartcal.com.au a couple of days ago, in particular the EX505 model. At this stage I'm looking at 1 EX505 and 1 EX330. then i'll have 2 decent meters. With my current project ideas i am in need of decent meters(at least 2 like you say) for power supply testing and so on.
Until Dave helped me out, I had planned on using my lathe to machine some small threaded brass inserts, drill out the threads to size, and then epoxy and press fit them in, then use standard machine screws.
Generally though, I like to try to leave things as close to stock as possible due to my OCD.