| Products > Test Equipment |
| Keysight (lack of) calibration & other services |
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| Cerebus:
--- Quote from: tggzzz on July 17, 2021, 04:41:51 pm ---As I understand it, in the UK it is entirely possible to trade as a business without a VAT number and without Companies House allocating you a number. --- End quote --- I have my own limited company that is VAT registered, and in the past I've also run a business as an unregistered sole trader so I know the ropes. In the UK, you have to register for VAT if your turnover is, or is reasonably likely to be more than £85,000 in any year (full set of thresholds here: https://www.gov.uk/vat-registration-thresholds). Below that threshold you do not have to register for VAT, but you may register if you so choose. Once you have registered you are required to charge VAT, supply quarterly VAT returns, keep suitable formal records and obviously pay over VAT to the government that you have collected over and above the VAT that you have paid out to suppliers, so the advantage of registering and claiming input tax is offset by the records keeping and reporting requirements. Thus many people who may register but are not required to do so choose not to register. Most people will acquire the addition expense of paying a professional accountant if they opt to or are required to register for VAT. Many, many, sole traders and partnerships run a business in the UK without forming a corporation, without registering for VAT and without being required to hold a general 'business license' as is common in the more bureaucratic parts of the world. It's very common for tradesmen like electricians and plumbers to operate a business on this basis. There used to be an intermediate ground between being a sole trader/partnership and running a registered company of having a Registered Business Name, but that was abolished some years ago in 1982. You only had to have a registered name if you wanted to use a trading name other than your own, other than that it was entirely optional. I used to have a Registered Business Name back in the 70s because it allowed you to open a bank account in that name and avoid having to refer to yourself as "Jerry Mouse trading as Mousetrap Consultants" on your letterheads, invoices etc. One requirement that is placed on electricians working as sole traders by the IET wiring regulations/BS 7671 - having test equipment that is traceably calibrated. Bit of a gotcha for them if they opt to buy Keysight test gear but Keysight will subsequently refuse to recognise them as legitimate businesses because they aren't VAT registered or haven't formed a limited liability company. |
| rf-messkopf:
--- Quote from: Oldtestgear on July 16, 2021, 10:08:38 am ---This warning applies to ALL customers of Keysight that are NOT either an Incorporated Business or VAT Registered. --- End quote --- This warning must be extended to Rohde & Schwarz as well. Recently they terminated without any notice all accounts on their GLORIS service platform that they believe belong to private individuals. See the attached screenshot after an attempt to log in; I get "Ihr Konto ist deaktiviert." ("Your account was deactivated.") From what I hear they also no longer respond to emails from individuals. This means that I no longer have the possibility to issue service requests or order spare parts. Even worse, I no longer have access to the download section of GLORIS. That means no user and service manuals, no firmware, no drivers, etc., unless they are linked on their public web page. This is not only a problem when it comes to older equipment, but also for newer and current equipment not all documents are publicly accessible (e.g., option manuals and service manuals). The fact that I am no longer able to order any spares as I am unfortunate enough to count as an unimportant private individual in the eyes of R&S, my testgear effectively becomes a collection of time bombs for which I paid several 10,000 Euros. --- Quote from: Cerebus on July 16, 2021, 06:26:10 pm ---I'm struck by the double stupidity of this. Surely everybody knows that the best way to build a future for a professional brand is to get it into the hands of students. One of the ways to make sure that students won't use your gear is to make sure that there's no support available if you're anything other than a employee of a tidily documented corporation with a purchase order burning a hole in your pocket. --- End quote --- I couldn't agree more. With this move the Chinese manufacturers look more and more attractive when it comes to low end and midrange gear. Add to that things like the rather mediocre newer power supplies by R&S that barely meet their specifications, and several UI blunders. If someone from R&S is reading here, there is a saying in German: "Hochmut kommt vor dem Fall" ("arrogance goes before a fall"). |
| tggzzz:
That's useful information about R&S. I haven't got any of their equipment, and now I never will. |
| bdunham7:
--- Quote from: rf-messkopf on July 17, 2021, 06:40:19 pm ---This warning must be extended to Rohde & Schwarz as well. Recently they terminated without any notice all accounts on their GLORIS service platform that they believe belong to private individuals. If someone from R&S is reading here, there is a saying in German: "Hochmut kommt vor dem Fall" ("arrogance goes before a fall"). --- End quote --- I thought it was just me or that they didn't like the fact that I inquired about a spare part (just a rear foot....) for a 9-year old CMU-200. Their reply, by email: Dear Brian *******, There is an updated status available on your ticket 262449. The status has changed from Waiting for Customer to Resolved. What does this mean? We have a proposed solution for your ticket: no answer - no Validation - set obsolete And when I went to log into Gloris to see the actual support ticket, I found that my account was similarly deactivated with no explanation--so I'm left with just 6 words of terse contempt. IOW--F-U dude, you aren't our type. For me, no big deal as the CMU-200 was a cheap spectrum analyzer/generator project for me, so I can cross them off my Christmas card list and forget about it. If I had a more modern, support-expected instrument that I'd paid real money for, I'd go up in flames. I've actually seen similar behavior before in a companies where I had some knowledge of what was going on, and in those cases they were aggressively "leaning" their operations so as to make the company look better for someone to acquire them. The acquisitions happened, but the fate of the actual company operations, product line, etc was not good--they were essentially dissolved and the acquirer just took the bits they wanted. So good luck to all of you at R&S. |
| Bud:
I am sorry to see this happening, and believe me i am with you, as i am in the same boat in terms of using aftermarket equipment, but this is really just seems to getting back to how it was before companies started onboarding individuals. There was no access to parts back then , when was it, before mid-2000 or something ( could had been earlier than that). In fact i was stunned when big boys like Agilent started working with individuals, it was like - "really? I can't beleive i can order stuff now!" So what is happening now may represent a shift in paradigm back to the original model, after some years of trying to get engage private individuals and non- incorporated small businesses. Perhaps that did not improve the bottom line to the brands. As to me, i am coming fro the old school when i did not expect to be dependent on Big Boys support, so frankly i give no sh!t to this change, i have never been depended on it. |
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