Keysight giving scopes away again

[mikeselectricstuff]

http://www.keysight.com/main/editorial.jspx?ckey=2792311&id=2792311&nid=-11143&cmpid=twcw16t1&lc=eng&cc=GB

[george graves]

Chance to win:  1 in 300,000
Chance to get spammed to death for the rest of your natural life: 100%

 

[kxenos]

Reading the terms from
http://www.keysight.com/main/editorial.jspx?cc=GR&lc=eng&ckey=2792307&nid=-11143&id=2792307

3. Promotion Description/Eligibility. No purchase necessary. This promotion is limited to specific countries and is only open to entrants aged 18 years or older at the time of submission who are legal residents of, and physically located within Austria, Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec), Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States (excluding Florida, New York, and Rhode Island), and Venezuela. Government agencies and institutions (including public universities), and their employees, are not eligible to participate or receive prizes, nor are individuals who appear on the U.S. Government Department of Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals List. Employees of Keysight Technologies, Inc., its affiliates, subsidiaries, Channel Partners and agents, and immediate family members of each, are not eligible. This promotion is void where prohibited by law.
Entrants are restricted to companies with a valid business address. No residential addresses are eligible.

[Brumby]

Australia's still out.  Sigh.


DAVE - have you checked your dumpster lately...?

[halexa]

No option for Sweden = 

[CJay]

Always nice to put a face to a name, Daniel makes an appearance.

[bitseeker]

This is only between (28 November – 2 December) if I'm understanding it correctly.

Correct, it's only for one week and a different scope is given away each day, as follows:

- Nov 28, 2016: 200 MHz 2000 X-Series oscilloscope (MSOX2024A)
- Nov 29, 2016: 500 MHz 3000T X-Series oscilloscope (MSOX3054T)
- Nov 30, 2016: 1 GHz 4000 X-Series oscilloscope (MSOX4104A)
- Dec 1, 2016: 2.5 GHz 6000 X-Series oscilloscope (MSOX6004A)
- Dec 2, 2016: 4 GHz S-Series oscilloscope (MSOS404A)

[nctnico]

That MSOS404A looks mighty interesting. Is it new?

[ez24]

You can enter once per day during the Cyber Week promotion period. Or share with your friends for an extra entry!

Does this mean an entry before the Cyber week does not count?   Or you can enter multiple times before the week?  ummm ?

I just entered and by reading between the lines, I guess I wasted my time 

[kmel]

Entrants are restricted to companies with a valid business address. No residential addresses are eligible.[/i]

This should increase the chance to win. And had been disqualified many March winner.

[ez24]

Entrants are restricted to companies with a valid business address. No residential addresses are eligible.[/i]

Wished this was more visible, would not have wasted my time 

Suggest OP put this in bold letters at the top of the first post so other people do not waste their time. 

[AlxDroidDev]

They exclude Florida, New York and Rhose Island residents but allow Venezuelan residents to participate in the promotion?

Sorry, but I fail to see the logic in that. Since I am in South America as well, I do get a lot of news from Venezuela that may not be relayed to the rest of the world, and that's why I am baffled by this rule. Since I don't want to start a political argument, I'll quote Forrest Gump: "and that's all I have to say about that".

[wraper]

You can enter once per day during the Cyber Week promotion period. Or share with your friends for an extra entry!

Does this mean an entry before the Cyber week does not count?   Or you can enter multiple times before the week?  ummm ?

I just entered and by reading between the lines, I guess I wasted my time 

Read "Terms & Conditions"

[ez24]

Read "Terms & Conditions"

I think for such a major and unexpected condition - it should be on the first page right up front.  After all on the entry form it did not ask for company address (it did ask for company name).  A lot of sites ask for company name without some weird condition.  I was able to submit without any warnings.  This is too major to be in fine print.

I guess they could have a contest where under the terms and conditions no one wins so they could collect email addresses.

Keysight reminds me of a funny thing - cleaning my desk I saw a "InfiniiVision X-Series oscilloscopes".   I was shocked to  find one when I did not know I had one.  This lasted about 2 seconds when I realized it was a flashlight/screwdriver that I had "won" previously.  Does anyone know how to open it (to get to the bits)?  Boy was I disappointed that I did not have an InfiniiVision scope 

[steverino]

You can enter once per day during the Cyber Week promotion period. Or share with your friends for an extra entry!

Does this mean an entry before the Cyber week does not count?   Or you can enter multiple times before the week?  ummm ?

I just entered and by reading between the lines, I guess I wasted my time 

Read "Terms & Conditions"

Apparently, those states have conditions that keysight doesn't want to satisfy. I found the following statement regarding sweepstakes in these states:

"when designing a sweepstakes it is important to be mindful of the total prize amount, because prizes above certain cash (or cash equivalent) thresholds may trigger specific sweepstakes registration and bonding requirements in three states: Florida, New York and Rhode Island."

[JPortici]

reason, flag

[Brumby]

They exclude Florida, New York and Rhose Island residents but allow Venezuelan residents to participate in the promotion?

Sorry, but I fail to see the logic in that. Since I am in South America as well, I do get a lot of news from Venezuela that may not be relayed to the rest of the world, and that's why I am baffled by this rule. Since I don't want to start a political argument, I'll quote Forrest Gump: "and that's all I have to say about that".

Apparently, those states have conditions that keysight doesn't want to satisfy. I found the following statement regarding sweepstakes in these states:

"when designing a sweepstakes it is important to be mindful of the total prize amount, because prizes above certain cash (or cash equivalent) thresholds may trigger specific sweepstakes registration and bonding requirements in three states: Florida, New York and Rhode Island."

If I were in Keysight's position, I would not be particularly keen on satisfying those conditions.  Just looking at Florida, New York and Rhode Island is enough to put on the brakes.

For starters, there's going to be some paperwork - and that is going to take time to both research and complete.  Also, I would expect the requirements between states to be different, so it won't be a matter of filling out one set of documents and copying the information onto the other forms.

The next thought I have is a guess, but something that would be discovered during the paperwork research... and that is taking into consideration any legal obligations that may ensue.  There are so many possibilities here that I dare not even try to list them, but, for example, if they require Daniel to offer his right arm and left leg, then there may not be enough of him to go around.

Then, there's going to be an issue with monetary commitment.  I don't know what the requirements are, but I would not think it unreasonable to require a security bond equivalent to a percentage of the total prize pool value ... and that percentage could be 100.  You can bet each state is going to have their own requirement, independent of any other.


While the prospect of doing this for 3 states of America may be daunting enough, one could argue that, for a company like Keysight, it would be doable.  Keysight may or may not agree but, to me, there is the far more worrying issue of setting a precedent.  Once Keysight jumps through the hoops for any state/country, then people in other states/countries will start asking "What about us?"  The pressure will be enormous - far more than it is now - and for Keysight to continue to travel down that road will almost certainly result in an expensive and very time consuming journey.

It is not an exercise that is going to be practical, let alone justifiable.


I wish it were otherwise.

[Bicurico]

No option for Portugal! That sucks! 

Regards,
Vitor

[Arjan Emm]

At least 180 countries out of 200 are not listed. No need to post about all of those...

[jc101]

Hmm, I work for my own company, from an office at my home address (although office is a separate structure), does that count as residential I wonder?

[Bicurico]

At least 180 countries out of 200 are not listed. No need to post about all of those...

Yes, but Portugal is part of the EUROPEAN UNION and as such it gives a really bad light to Keysight's policy if they treat member States in different manners.

They do the same with the USA. I consider it unacceptable.

And this is why I post about it.

Regards,
Vitor

[lukier]

I completely fail to understand the marketing point of these giveaways. They should just put them on their eBay store with some discount and the final effect would be the same - it seems numerous scopes from the last ScopeMonth were awarded either to people with no clue and ended up on eBay/Craigslist or were awarded to companies that have equipment expenses in their budgets anyway, put as an expense (so no tax) and also get VAT return.

I wonder what percentage of ScopeMonth scopes ended up with people that really use them and couldn't have afforded one otherwise (!= corporations).

[Bicurico]

I agree.

This is probably how it happend:
The production manager said: "Hey, we have these devices in stock for too long/they are outdated/what so ever - let's do a huge marketing campain by just giving them away randomly!"
Then the legal department said: "Hmmmm... There may be some issues with some countries, regarding to free give aways..."
Then the commercial manager said: "Easy Peasy: let's give them away only to our best selling markets, where we are 100% sure, there is no issue."
The marketing manager however, did not say anything, because the CEO thought it was a waste of money to have one!

The result:
1) The great give away offends many people living in non-supported countries/states (including in the US!!!).
2) There is no aftermath to the give away: anyone can apply and then sell the device at eBay (never looks good for a brand to have their new products being sold at eBay for cheap)
3) Best selling countries are in less need of such a campain
4) This kind of campain fails to reach all those AMATEURS who WISHED they could put their hands on such a device
5) It makes no sense to offer these devices to companies: companies should purchase them!

Suggestion to do it better:
1) Have people submit WHY they want the price
2) Winners have to show one application on a blog/forum
3) Make the give away available globally, even if that means adding terms and conditions like: shipping, taxes and customs are at the expenses of the winner

Regards,
Vitor

[nctnico]

The result:
1) The great give away offends many people living in non-supported countries/states (including in the US!!!).

Though luck!
The problem with giving stuff away for free is that people always start whining about how something isn't fair or it isn't exactly what they want. Keysight would do themselves a favour to sell the equipment at 95% discounts or something like that. An MSO2000X series for the price of a Rigol1000Z for example.

4) This kind of campain fails to reach all those AMATEURS who WISHED they could put their hands on such a device

AFAIK several forum members managed to get one of the scopes given away earlier for (relatively) low prices so in the end all is well.

[lukier]

AFAIK several forum members managed to get one of the scopes given away earlier for (relatively) low prices so in the end all is well.

That's why I said it would be simpler to just put them on Keysight eBay Store

I was thinking about this marketing and I still don't get it. For example sample programs - clear as day, get our parts free either for education or when building a prototype and then you'll be ordering production quantities from us.

What ScopeMonths/CyberWeeks are supposed make me do?

a) I'm responsible for ordering a scope for my workplace (uni) or let's imagine I'm doing a startup company. I don't care that some guy won a scope, I cannot build my business model around blind chance. I have budget for equipment, required features for the project, deadlines and what I want is to get the features I need at the price I can pay, so here marketing would mean various deals like bundles, discounts, lower price for academia or discounts when buying in quantity etc.

b) I'm a hobbyist, I cannot put this as an expense and claim VAT return and the distributor prices are quite high, even for people with decent salaries. Of course I would like to win one, but the chances are poor, a lot of people win them just to put them on eBay/Craigslist or build water heaters at best. This too somehow doesn't convince me to spend few months of my savings on Keysight in particular.

On the other hand maybe I'm too harsh and maybe not all the scopes put on eBay/Craigslist after ScopeMonth were from people with no interest in electronics and wanted to make quick buck. Come to think of it I would probably do the same, as after selling 3000X or 4000X one can then buy much better used scope.