Keysight not honoring warranty ?

[mrnuke]

I have a U1253B DMM that is having issues with the display, and freezing. I provided Keysight with the receipt from Fry's showing that the meter was purchased in Oct 2017. Keysight wants me to agree to a pay $363 to have the multimeter replaced. I did ask about the warranty, and this is what Keysight advised me:

I would recommend checking with Fry's Electronics to see if they're able to find a warranty on their end as the receipt does not pertain to us or our authorized dealers.

Has anyone had similar experiences, and how did you resolve this?

[Muttley Snickers]

Keysight have a very good reputation in regards to product support so it sounds like there might be something out of order, perhaps it was old stock and no longer covered under warranty. You can check the warranty status by going to the Keysight Support page and enter the product model and serial number, and be sure to take a snapshot of the result for your own record. I would recommend that you do a Google search for "Keysight Warranty" so as to show results for your specific region, also have a good read of their warranty terms and conditions as well.   

service.keysight.com/infoline/public/

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi,

Quick question, is Fry's an official Keysight Distributor?

They may have been in the past, but they do not seem to be on the list now.

This could be where the problem lies.

Regards,
Jay_Diddy_B

[NoisyBoy]

Is Fry’s an authorized retailer for Keysight in the US?  There are a dozen retailers in the US, and Fry’s is not on the list.  If not, that may explain their response.  When I buy my test equipment from Keysight, they are all automatically registered under my account, along with all warranty info.

If they are not an authorized reseller, you may have to take that up with Fry’s to get it repaired.

[mrnuke]

My understanding is that Fry's used to be a Keysight partner/authorized dealer around the time I bought the meter. I'm a little surprised by Keysight's response, because in the past, I did not have issues updating the warranty on gear purchased form Fry's.

[Muttley Snickers]

I didn't think it mattered to a certain extent where you bought Keysight products and that they would pretty much cover them regardless. My first U1272A was purchased second hand on Ebay and well out of warranty but Keysight still replaced it with a new U1282A due to the EMC issue. Below are prior posts from a Keysight representative in relation to Fry's and warranty concerns.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/keysight-u1273a-heavily-discounted-at-fry_s/msg1472150/#msg1472150

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/keysight-u1273a-heavily-discounted-at-fry_s/msg1475319/#msg1475319

[NoisyBoy]

I am not sure if they have gone downhill.  I visited one for the first time in the fall, I was not impressed by the quality of the equipment and components they sell in the electronics store, it is mostly the type of low end gear you find on eBay, except at a higher price.  I walked out empty handed after spending two hours to get there and back. 

It would have been incongruous with the Keysight image, so I am not surprised if Keysight dropped them.  I hope if you take it back to Fry's, they will do the right thing to get it repaired for you.  My guess is they were no longer an authorized Keysight dealer by the time they sold you the DMM, that's why it was never registered with Keysight as a purchase.

And yes, Keysight repair outside of warranty is not cheap.  The repair workmanship is top notch, and you are paying for it.

Update: Just read Muttley Snickers post, it is worth a try.  Amazingly, Fry's is still selling some low end Keysight gears.  The DSOX2012A is on clearance for $954, almost half off its regular price. 

[Gandalf_Sr]

Two quick thoughts.

If you paid by credit card, then the credit card typically doubles the manufacturers warranty. Say you bought with a 2 year warranty then, 3 years later it fails, call the CC and claim from them, it works.

I'm not sure I would recommend a DSOX2012A as "a decent starter scope", even for $954.  I like (and own) Keysight gear which is great quality but I see the DSOXnnn2x scopes as a kind of kludge where they ripped out 2 of the 4 channels and, in some cases, made things like serial decoding unavailable on the 2 channel versions.  If you had that kind of money to spend, I'd recommend a Rigol MSO5074 and, at $300, I'd recommend the DS1054Z.

Oh shit, I seemed to have turned into a Rigol fan boy 

[2N3055]

Two quick thoughts.

If you paid by credit card, then the credit card typically doubles the manufacturers warranty. Say you bought with a 2 year warranty then, 3 years later it fails, call the CC and claim from them, it works.

I'm not sure I would recommend a DSOX2012A as "a decent starter scope", even for $954.  I like (and own) Keysight gear which is great quality but I see the DSOXnnn2x scopes as a kind of kludge where they ripped out 2 of the 4 channels and, in some cases, made things like serial decoding unavailable on the 2 channel versions.  If you had that kind of money to spend, I'd recommend a Rigol MSO5074 and, at $300, I'd recommend the DS1054Z.

Oh shit, I seemed to have turned into a Rigol fan boy 

No you haven't. DSOx2000 series from Keysight are horribly overpriced for old and very basic scope. DS1054Z is better (more capable scope) and if you really want 2 ch scope, Siglent SDS2352X-E will run circles around it.. For that amount of money you can get 2GS/s, 28Ms memory, 350 MHz,with more advanced triggering and  with all digital triggering and decodes included, long FFT etc.....
I think Keysight should drop 2000X series altogether, because 1000 series is same or better in all aspects (except a tad smaller screen).

[NoisyBoy]

2N3055 and Gandalf_Sr, agreed, removing the comment about the scope being a good starter unit.

But I am not about to recommend Rigol yet, decent hardware, but not liking the shady firmware with hidden and broken “feature” to send data to Rigol unannounced. 

[Caliaxy]

[...] shady firmware with hidden and broken “feature” to send data to Rigol unannounced.

Is that a thing?

[jpanhalt]

My understanding is that Fry's used to be a Keysight partner/authorized dealer around the time I bought the meter. I'm a little surprised by Keysight's response, because in the past, I did not have issues updating the warranty on gear purchased form Fry's.

Your "understanding" doesn't matter.  Were they or weren't they on the day you bought the equipment?

[Gandalf_Sr]

[...] shady firmware with hidden and broken “feature” to send data to Rigol unannounced.

Is that a thing?

The conspiracy theorists here interpreted a Rigol email and password found in the hack of the firmware as meaning that there must be some code reading your inseam measurement and sending it to Rigol every millisecond.

I don't leave the RJ45 connected on my MSO5074 but that's about it for me.

[wraper]

Isn't it some Agilent branded NOS made in early 2010s? Did you check warranty status by entering serial number on their website? https://service.keysight.com/infoline/public/details.aspx?i=COV&pn=&sn=&lc=&cc=

[wraper]

DSOx2000 series from Keysight are horribly overpriced for old and very basic scope. DS1054Z is better (more capable scope) and if you really want 2 ch scope

It might be highly priced compared to some new budget scope models with some impressive specs but second claim about DS1054Z is ridiculous. The only advantage DS1054Z has is larger memory, but it becomes very slow if you try to use it.

[rodpp]

I had a similar problem with a Keysight scope bought in Brazil.
I learned that the Keysight warranty counter is started when the store/reseller buys it, not when the final customer buy from the reseller.
In my case it was an old stock item, branded Agilent, and when I bought it the warranty was already expired.
I contacted Keysight and they refused the warranty, at the end the reseller assumed the warranty.
Here's the thread: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/keysight-refusing-warranty-dsox3014a-bought-less-than-one-month-ago/

[mrnuke]

Isn't it some Agilent branded NOS made in early 2010s?

It is. Keysight records show it was made in 2012.

If they are not an authorized reseller, you may have to take that up with Fry’s to get it repaired.

That's not how warranties work in the US. Manufacturer advertise X warranty. Consumer buy product. Consumer entitled to warranty (caveman grammar intentional).
The "does not pertain to us because you didn't buy from an authorized dealer" is BS,. I am extremely dissapointed in Keysight for pulling this argument.

[DimitriP]

I would recommend checking with Fry's Electronics to see if they're able to find a warranty on their end as the receipt does not pertain to us or our authorized dealers.

Did it start with "Dear valued honorable good buddy"  ?

 

[wraper]

That's not how warranties work in the US. Manufacturer advertise X warranty. Consumer buy product. Consumer entitled to warranty (caveman grammar intentional).
The "does not pertain to us because you didn't buy from an authorized dealer" is BS,. I am extremely dissapointed in Keysight for pulling this argument.

I know that in US generally it's manufacturer which directly provides warranty unlike here in EU. But IMHO when 5 years passed since MFG date when it was sold, it should be sellers responsibility unless they sold it like refub or something like that clearly stating no manufacturer warranty. Some devices may go bad simply by sitting on the shelf for this long.

[wraper]

BTW if you have USB-IR data cable, you can update it's firmware which probably will fix it. Latest version seems to be 3.04. Also it could be issue with old grease causing bad contact on rotary switch, probably combined with old firmware shortcomings like it was on U1272A.

[mrnuke]

MHO when 5 years passed since MFG date when it was sold, it should be sellers responsibility

Even when the product in question does not have a shelf life or sell-by date?

BTW if you have USB-IR data cable, you can update it's firmware which probably will fix it.

Unfortunately, the main issue is the display.

[mrnuke]

I would recommend checking with Fry's Electronics to see if they're able to find a warranty on their end as the receipt does not pertain to us or our authorized dealers.

Did it start with "Dear valued honorable good buddy"  ?

That's funny! The Keysight reps wrote proper english. I dont think Keysight is using the Yulong DingDong call center.

[wraper]

Unfortunately, the main issue is the display.

And here goes your shelf life. Since OLED displays do have it. They degrade over time simply by sitting on the shelf. Especially old types like used in this multimiter.

[mrnuke]

And here goes your shelf life. Since OLED displays do have it. They degrade over time simply by sitting on the shelf. Especially old types like used in this multimiter.

Would you say that disclosing the shelf life is the manufacturer's responsibility?

[james_s]

Either way I think you should try escalating things with them further, I don't know about Keysight but many companies will bend the rules a little and work with you if you approach them the right way, or bug them enough that they help you to make you shut up. This should not be abused of course but if you bought the thing less than 5 years ago and it already broke I think it is in their best interest to take care of you. This sort of experience would certainly make me think twice about paying the premium for one of their products, I figure part of what you're paying for is the support.