Products > Test Equipment

Keysight officially lost the plot - don't buy if you're a hobbyist

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Caliaxy:

--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on December 17, 2021, 03:11:29 am ---
--- Quote from: Caliaxy on December 15, 2021, 02:12:14 pm ---Sorry if it’s already mentioned and I missed it, but could the OP let us know what kind of support was denied for his DSOX1204G? Was it warranty or something else?

--- End quote ---
OP said in the first post in the thread that

--- Quote from: TwistedTransistor on December 10, 2021, 11:53:08 am ---I recently contacted Keysight support but they have point-blank refused to talk to me because I am not a company. This is their reply:

--- Quote ---Dear ...,

Keysight products are designed, manufactured, and tested for professional and industrial use. They are not designed or tested for personal, domestic, or household use. While we thank you for your interest in our products and/or services, we are unable to provide you with technical support without a VAT ID or equivalent  proof of business license.
--- End quote ---

--- End quote ---
which –– at least to myself –– indicates that it was not the support that was denied, but that they refused to even "read" the support request without proof of business license.

--- End quote ---

I got that. I was only curious about the requested service.

If you call them and say: “My brand new DSOX1204G is dead as a brick, can you check it under warranty?” is one thing.

If you say: “I accidentally bent a pin in the Ethernet socket then broke it while trying to straighten it. Can’t find a perfect replacement, can you sell me the original part? I know how to replace it myself, I’m a hobbyist” is a different thing.

If you say: “Can you please send me another faceplate overlay with Cyrillics, because my mother in law from Vladivostok is visiting us for Christmas and she might want to use the scope and I don’t want to have any troubles over the holiday season? She was a nuclear physicist before retiring” is even a more different thing.

My point is that in US (at least, not sure elsewhere) many lawyer-redacted agreements are not there to be necessarily enforced point by point, but only to give a legal reason to back out off a deal (or deny a service or take a specific action) at the issuer discretion, when they wish so for reasons they might not what to bother to explain. Like in my state, it’s illegal to drive in the left lane unless you want to pass a vehicle driving in the right lane. Nobody gets pulled over or gets a ticket for that, and everybody is doing it. I know a guy who asked the police officer who pulled him over for speeding if his radar was recently calibrated. He learned his speed had been only estimated by “clocking” (not by radar), so he only got a warning for speeding and on top of that a $100 ticket for driving in the left lane. Happened to friend of mine ;) (he fought it in court and won, not because he had the law on his side, but because that was his only moving violation in the last three years and the judge wanted to encourage him to keep his good driving behavior; “Not guilty!”).

My personal limited experience with Keysight as a private customer in US was not that bad. I bought a DSO from their eBay store and found an issue. I called the US customer support. They picked up immediately, spent time on the phone, fixed the issue. They also provided a direct phone number to call if the issue reoccurs. I got some free software upgrades, too. It was a couple of years ago. True, I was within the return window and the conversation started with “I’m not sure if I want to return it for a full refund or try to fix the issue”. The issue was intermittent ethernet connection if it matters (fixed by a deep hardware reset, or something like that). I also have a separate work account with them (using my employer issued email), but I don’t think they knew that while providing the support.

I don’t mean to offend the OP in any way.

pqass:
I'm not sure what to make of this thread.  I'll just add my single datapoint.

I purchased a DSOX1204G in December of 2019.  All was well until the following May when I installed the latest firmware at that time.  Post installation, I'd discovered that I could no longer reach the device via LAN (http).

The next morning, I'm pretty sure that I opened an online ticket (rather than call their 800 number) and quickly received a callback.   I was then put in contact with a tech that knew of the issue and asked me to email him a photo of the scope LAN config screen. He walked me through a reset procedure and a couple of reboots later, all was well again. I was pleased with their response.

However,
(1) I had initially registered the device when I purchased it so my details were already on file, and
(2) on the initial support callback I was asked to email my purchase invoice (from canada.newark.com) to them to "transfer the asset to your account".

Maybe there is different treatment depending on country of purchase.

Anyway, carry on with the dogpile.

Nominal Animal:

--- Quote from: Caliaxy on December 17, 2021, 04:36:50 pm ---I got that. I was only curious about the requested service.
[...]
I don’t mean to offend the OP in any way.

--- End quote ---
Nor I you.  Do note that their answer does not say "we refuse", it says "we are unable to provide you with technical support without a VAT ID or equivalent proof of business license".  I don't know about the UK – where OP resides –, but in the EU, that response is very problematic.  Depending on the purchase chain, and whether a manufacturing defect or other defect the manufacturer is legally liable for, that response may be illegal in some cases.

HobGoblyn:

--- Quote from: bdunham7 on December 11, 2021, 01:39:13 am ---
--- Quote from: nctnico on December 11, 2021, 01:13:00 am ---Utter nonsense. There are lots of professional equipment dealers around. And the ALDI like stores simply outsource servicing; lookup a company called Medion.

What you are overlooking is that manufacturers don't want to deal with the raw sewage of bogus claims & user errors coming from users so they leave that to resellers to sift through.

--- End quote ---

Perhaps things are different in your locale?  Here it is very common for things sold at retailers--from ceiling fans to generators to patio furniture--to come with a notice from the manufacturer in the package telling you not to bother the retailer if you have a problem.  Service by the manufacturer is the norm for many things, including most things we would discuss here. 

--- End quote ---

While as others have said, in the UK your contract is with the retailer not the manufacture, while legally that’s true, in practice, often the product will tell you to contact the manufacturer direct, and often if you do contact the retailer (which is a good thing to do so that your fault is logged with them), they will give you the manufacturers phone number and still ask you to contact them direct.

The one time I questioned a retailer for doing this and politely pointed out my legal entitlement, they effectively said,

“Well you have a choice, phone Sony on the number I’ve given you and have it replaced within days, or leave it here with us, we have to send it back to our xyz, they then will log it etc and if you are lucky, you might have it back within a month”

I bought an expensive (well expensive to me) Korg Workstation/synth (Kronos) from my local music shop. They contacted Korg for me initially, but I then dealt with Korg direct, up until the point (weeks later) I still wasn’t happy with it, at that point the shop took it back over, and they swapped it with the later model.

trophosphere:
To add another data point.

I had, a couple of years ago, purchased a rubber bumper set for one of my Keysight (Agilent) instruments and they happily sent it to me. Come this year I ordered another bumper set for another Keysight instrument and they canceled the order citing that I needed to provide a business address for them to ship it to as they will not ship to a residential address. In addition, they removed the ability from my account for me to even place a purchase from their Keysight store until I fulfill their request. This is in the setting of I'm still work from home so the office where I work at is closed and corporate is in another city.

I could have just provided them the business address and sent them an email asking them to please ship it a residential address/re-routed the shipment after they shipped it but now it's more on principle that I don't hold them as high regards anymore.

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