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.
1000 times this! I have my spider senses telling me that this could be true and not a single dumb case.
1) Money is money and a customer is a customer. What is this VAT ID bullshiiit? Did you take or not take my money in the past? Did you ask for my VAT ID?
2) The glorious Ebay Keysight store will go down like a Boeing 737 max.
3) HP --> Agilent --> Keysight -(I have the next for you)-> VATIDisKey
VAT ID people are probably stressed and bored at work. Hobbyist have so much passion and can't wait to use their awesome gear again.
Well done KS, all your most passionate customers are jumping off your boat. I am sure the lower KS eng. are with us. I am in the fortunate position to met some of them in the past.
Awesome people.
This is monumentally stupid. Somebody with a good salary, a nice tie and good smell at KS will regret this.
More likely this is a consequence of tighter consumer protection laws in the EU. We all voted for making Apple, Amazon, Tesla, etc to respect our consumer rights (with right to repair as well) so don't go crying when their is some unexpected failout. As Keysight's business is mainly coming from companies it is logical that they don't want to deal with consumers if that means adhering to laws that are a moving target. Keysight has good service but they provide that on their own terms.
The problem is not that, it is Keysight deciding to use their own narrow version of "not a consumer sale" that excludes many professionals and other end users who would be quite happy to say "this isn't a consumer purchase" and would probably be adjudged by a competent court of law to be buying in a non-consumer capacity, but not so judged by Keysight's own barrack room lawyers. I have no problem with Keysight dodging
consumer protection law here, just with the way they are doing it.
The truth is that we don't know for sure that "consumer protection law" is the issue thanks to the stunning silence on the issue except for the repeated parroting of
"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.".Needing a VAT ID to buy stuff from other countries is mainly due to trying to prevent criminals and terrorists to move money around.
One doesn't need a VAT ID to buy stuff from other countries. <- That, that I say boy, is a
full stop.
If you're going to make an argument and don't want to get laughed at, don't make one that is immediately contrary to the personal experience of the audience you're making the argument to. I would bet that over 90% of your readers here make personal purchases from countries other than their own all over the world, all the time, and have never needed to produce a VAT Id.