Products > Test Equipment
A broken 34470A and Keysight's terrible customer service
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6thimage:

--- Quote from: bd139 on August 23, 2021, 07:25:43 pm ---Wankers. Sue them.

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I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.


--- Quote from: Cerebus on August 23, 2021, 07:48:54 pm ---As it stands I shall be forced to recommend to anyone who doesn't have a registered company and/or is not VAT registered that they avoid Keysight products at all costs until this mess is sorted out. That's personally embarrassing as it means that I have to backpedal on around 40 years of saying "Buy HP, they'll always see you right.". It's a bloody stupid company that goes out of its way to avoid acquiring new customers, it's bloody stupid company that spends years building brand loyalty and then puts a loyal and enthusiastic customer (me) in the position that they have to start saying "Sorry, it isn't the HP we knew and loved anymore, take your money somewhere else.".

I'm in a quandary myself. Sure, I've got a VAT registered limited company that would satisfy Keysight Germany's bureaucrats but I've got a lot of HP/Agilent/Keysight gear that I own personally and use with my 'hobbyist' hat on. What do I do, finagle it all through my consulting company if I need to, or just start unloading my HPAK kit and replacing it with someone else's kit so that when/if I wind the company up I've got some hope of getting support for it?

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I really like Keysight gear, their bench multimeters are better than any other manufacturer and their scopes are fantastic, but if this is how they treat you then I'm not going to buy anything else from Keysight. I'm in a similar position to you, it's personally owned, but I could potentially use my work's company - it just doesn't feel right and I definitely shouldn't have to.


--- Quote from: bd139 on August 23, 2021, 07:53:03 pm ---That’s one reason I only buy rancid old stuff with service manuals from HPAK territory. You’d be insane to put money into anything expensive now unless you can afford for it to drop dead the day after the warranty is up. And the cost benefit there points more favourably to the likes of Siglent and Rigol.

I would evaluate whether or not you are actually a business customer or not though and kick up a stink via that route as they certainly don’t get to dictate terms to consumers.

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I do miss old manuals with the schematics in them, they made life so much easier. I'm going to look into the consumer side of it, but I know very little about law.


--- Quote from: Zucca on August 23, 2021, 08:11:15 pm ---I am sure most Keysight people will be pissed like you as well.

DO NOT SELL IT, I think there are still something to do at the Keysight side.

I PM Keysight DanielBogdanoff I am sure he will clear the air up.

I am an home hobby TEA guy as well, and KS treated me like a king in the past. You just got the wrong idiot guy on your path.

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I'm hoping I can convince them - I'm more likely to try and fix it myself rather than selling it in its current state. I'm hoping Daniel might see this, but I will PM him. I've interacted with them on many ocassions before and they've been brilliant, which makes their current stance so awful. I doubt it's just one person, I've been going back and forth with them for the last two weeks without any success.


--- Quote from: bdunham7 on August 23, 2021, 08:48:57 pm ---Is it still within the factory warranty??  Where did you purchase it from?

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Unfortunately not, it was purchased in 2015 (from Farnell).


--- Quote from: nctnico on August 23, 2021, 09:28:53 pm ---Quit whining and register a business. Gets you a lot of perks as well like being able to shop at all kinds of stores selling to companies only.

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It's tempting to, but it seems like a lot of effort when I don't really need a registered business for anything else.


--- Quote from: TheSteve on August 23, 2021, 09:30:56 pm ---Have you tried calling them on the phone?

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That is my plan for tomorrow - I prefer email as I have a record of everything, but it might be worth a shot.
mikeselectricstuff:

--- Quote from: 6thimage on August 23, 2021, 09:39:27 pm ---
--- Quote from: bd139 on August 23, 2021, 07:25:43 pm ---Wankers. Sue them.

--- End quote ---

I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.


--- End quote ---
What would you sue them for ? If it's out of warranty, you don't have a case unless you can show a manufacturing defect that was always there.
Cerebus:

--- Quote from: nctnico on August 23, 2021, 09:28:53 pm ---
--- Quote from: 6thimage on August 23, 2021, 06:14:09 pm ---I'm based in the UK, where there is no such thing as a business license and VAT registration is only required for turnovers greater than £85,000 - so Keysight are effectively discriminating against small businesses just in case someone wants to buy a 7.5 digit multimeter for domestic use.

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Quit whining and register a business. Gets you a lot of perks as well like being able to shop at all kinds of stores selling to companies only.

--- End quote ---

So you're volunteering to pay his registration fees, accountancy costs, and to keep on top of the annual statutory paperwork for him? No? Thought not. Easy to advocate something when you have no idea whatsoever what's involved. The overhead of having an official small company in the UK is a few thousand a year, which is precisely why so many people in the UK go down the self-employed route, where all you have to do is file a tax return, and you have to do that anyway even as an ordinary employee.
joeqsmith:
Was it still under warranty? 


--- Quote ---Keysight products are designed, manufactured, and tested for professional and industrial use.
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Seems like an odd statement.   As I look around my home lab, I see seventeen pieces of Hewlett Packard and Agilent branded equipment.  I would expect my environment is pretty light and easy compared with industrial.   Now if I am a professional or not, I think that's up for grabs.   

I wonder why the meter died.  Sounds like you had been into it at one point to sniff the bus prior to it failing.  Maybe lack of proper ESD control.   I figure, once I take it apart, they are off the hook. 
6thimage:

--- Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on August 23, 2021, 10:03:15 pm ---What would you sue them for ? If it's out of warranty, you don't have a case unless you can show a manufacturing defect that was always there.

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There's a possibility it's a manufacturing defect, but proving it would be almost impossible - I just hope I don't have to talk to a lawyer!


--- Quote from: joeqsmith on August 23, 2021, 11:44:00 pm ---I wonder why the meter died.  Sounds like you had been into it at one point to sniff the bus prior to it failing.  Maybe lack of proper ESD control.   I figure, once I take it apart, they are off the hook. 

--- End quote ---

It does seem odd - in my mind there I've either missed a power supply on the board (all that I've found are at the correct voltage) or it is the main processor that has failed. Yes, I had been into it many years before this happened (and I know ESD isn't always instant), but whenever I've it up I've used proper ESD techniques.
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