Alternatives to NI

[mrees515]

We have been using NI for a lot of our tests, but I am fed up with National Intrument's non-existent customer service. We do want more data acquisition boards in the future, but I am not inclined to deal with any more broken boards (that NI refuses to fix or pay for). Does anyone have recommendations for another company to work with? Is Agilent good?

[Dennis_Knutson]

I have been using NI products for close to 20 years and have found that there products and customer service are second to none. You don't seem to ever have taken advantage of the forums to ever discuss an issue with a DAQ board. From what I can tell from your other posts, you've gotten rapid and accurate responses to your questions. You would be hard pressed to find any other company that maintains such an active forum. You would also be hard pressed to find a company that would replace boards that are out of warranty or have been used in an inappropriate manner.

[mrees515]

The forum is great, and I wouldn't expect any company to replace a board that is out of warranty or misused - we received a board that did not work properly (it was sporadic - sometimes it would, sometimes it wouldn't, sometimes it would flicker), and after spending hours on the phone (try this, how about this, are you sure it doesn't work?), and spending more than the board is worth again in company time, they said they would take it back, but wanted to charge me fees left and right because their board was broken. Then they told me that if they could not find the problem, they would charge me even more. Now the board IS almost out of warranty, still doesn't work, and NI refuses to provide a replacement or repair.

My beef is this: if I purchase a board that turns out to be defective, it is not my responsibility to take care of it - the seller needs to repair or replace. They have failed in this, and cost me and my company valuable time and money (for a board that doesn't even work, and never did).

[shoneill]

Well I don't know how things are done where you are, but here a defective product is usually shipped back to the manufacturer with a complaint that it's broken.  If the manufacturer can't locate a problem the customer gets it back or if the problem is clearly due to mis-handling, then the customer also gets it back or pays for repair.  If it's a manufacturing problem, it's either fixed or replaced.

When you say they agreed to take it back, you mean refund, or fix?

Shane.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Since I provide test equipment and programs to our own RMA department, I know the process very well. A high percentage of all problems are due to the product being programmed wrong, incorrectly wired, or simply misunderstanding how it is supposed to work. I see this every day. It is well worth everyone's time to spend time on the phone or forum to help resolve the issue. It is cheaper and faster in the long run. I don't know the particulars about your case. All I can say is that in my experience, I have been extremely satisfied with NI. A few years ago, I received 4 DAQ boards. None of them worked and after a couple of questions to the forum and a single phone call, I got my RMA number, and sent them back to be repaired free of charge.

[shoneill]

@Dennis,

That's been my experience too.  With lots of companies, not just NI.

[mrees515]

Well, I wish my experiences had been as good as all of yours... however, we have several DAQ boards (of the same kind), and under the EXACT (in all respects) same circumstances for each one (that pass correctly under their requirements) the one does not work - or rather, it works sometimes and sometimes does not and sometimes flickers on and off (literally).

I was offered to have it fixed, which would be fine, but they threatened that if it worked perfectly for them they would send it right back - wherein lies the problem, because although it didn't work when we first got it, it will now go on and off. A few times I have had it working for hours before it would shut off! So I am afraid they will say "It's FINE!" ship it back broken and charge us... And if it works first off, I doubt they would wait for it to stop working before they pack it back up again - in fact, they said they wouldn't.

And they lied to me on the phone - tried to convince me I could only hook up half a watt worth (analog) of modules to the corresponding carrier board, when really I had 1.74W. Mostly because their "documentation" is faulty and different manuals conflict with each other.

[Ray.R]

Wow..  I'm surprised to read what happened to you.. 

I've dealt with many companies over the past 20++ years... Had some good, some bad, some horrible.  But I must say... The best so far had been and is National Instruments.  I have never dealt with a company with such high level of professionalism.  Even recently, we fixed a problem, 50% my part..  and there was some additional (yet reasonable) cost, but it was resolved immediately and very professionally.

I've also had some Digital IO board that were fixed under warranty by another company, even if it was my ... euh... working late-type incident..  Good HW, but the software / driver support was horrible.. 

I would recommend that you call the local sales rep.  Go over the issue with him/her.  Show how the board works, etc.  I'm sure he/she will have the issue resolved in no time.  The sales rep are sometimes a good first line of contact.  Plus there may be some sales rep in your town.  One call and they can be at your doorstep..

Good luck..

[shoneill]

mrees515,

Sounds like you're assuming quite a bit on behalf of NI.  I mean, why not just send the card back?

If the card isn't faulty, it's normal to have it sent back, surely you can't argue that point.  But if a NI rep said on the phone that they wouldn't bother performing a prolonged test to try to reproduce your problem, that's a different matter.  There are channels to complain through if that was the case.

Maybe the fact that you have more modules attached to the board than "allowed" is leading to the problems?  Just a wild guess.

Have you tried it in another PC, different driver and so on?

Shane.

[mrees515]

The circumstances were (again) EXACTLY the SAME - meaning it will work with a "working board" - switch out the board for the broken one, and the broken one does not work. Yes, I can change PCs, I can change every little thing like they made me do over the phone for several hours no matter how carefully I explained that it is as simple as: this board doesn't work where another one will.

And yes, it failed within the allotted number of modules (or their wattage/power requirements). Hm. I wonder why... oh yeah, maybe because it's broken?

I may try a sales rep, but right now I am just looking to find an alternative to NI because I am so tired of dealing with them and I don't want them calling me at home anymore - which is what happened when I first inquired into this. They are not good with the whole time difference thing, and even if I tell them I am at home, and I can't even look at the board, they ignore me and continue to ask questions about it - until I finally tell them that I am hanging up and will talk to them when I am at work. For some reason they always tried my cell first and not my work phone, until I told them that they were no longer allowed to call my cell because they were running up my bill.

My last email to them requested a resolution with painful professionality. Since then I have heard nothing... That was three weeks ago.