【 Advantech Europe Policies & Procedures】

Policy No.:AEUOTP-002

Subject:RMA AND WARRANTY POLICY

Version:V8

Effective Date:February27, 2006

Prepared By:Advantech Europe Holding

Approved By:Managing Director / Financial Controller

EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES

1.1Objective

This document outlines the steps and standard operational procedure for RMA and Warranty and DOA (Dead on Arrival).In order to provide adequate control of RMA and Warranty, all lending and returning processes must comply with the following procedure.

1.2Scope

The RMA and Warranty include the all inventories owned by customers require a further return material authorisation process within or not within warranty period.

1.3WARRANTY

Warranty period

  • Advantech intends to fulfill customer’s demand in post-sales service; therefore, in addition to offer 1 year for LCD and 2 years for other products of warranty for standard items, extended warranty and global repair services are also provided to customers upon request. Under the circumstance, customers of Advantech are entitled to complete global and prompt repair service beyond the standard 1~2 years of warranty.
  • Products manufactured by ADVANTECH are covered from the date of shipment by a 2 of warranty for standard items, excluded LCD screens with have 1 year of warranty services.

Repairs under warranty

  • During the warranty period, ADVANTECH will repair or replace all defective products, provided that they are returned at the customer’s expense to an authorized Advantech repair facility. Advantech has sole unfettered discretion to determine whether a particular product will be either repaired or replaced.

Exclusions from warranty

The product is treated as exclusion from warranty if:

  • The product has been found to be defective after expiry of the warranty period.
  • The product has been subjected to misuse, abuse, or unauthorized repair, whether by accident or other cause. Such conditions will be determined by ADVANTECH in its sole unfettered discretion.
  • Other products and accessories not manufactured by Advantech are limited to the warranty provided by the original manufacturer. Examples of such products and accessories include RAMs, HDDs, FDDs, CPUs, fans, and so on.
  • Product updates, reworks, and tests upon the request of customers who are without warranty.
  • Product is damaged beyond repair due to nature disasters, for example, lighting strike, flood, earthquake, etc.
  • Consumable items (fuses, batteries, backlights, etc.) and software. Please access our RMA web site: for detail list.

1.4RETURN MATERIAL AUTHORIZATION (RMA)

Obtaining an RMA number

  • Registered

-When requesting an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) number, please access Advantech RMA service website and describe the problems encountered in detail on the “Repair Information Form” error descriptions such as “does not work” and “failure” can cause some delays in the repair. Please describe in detail the application environment, configuration and problems encountered.

-Lack of error description may cause an NPF (NO PROBLEM FOUND) situation. NPF repairs will cause a minimum repair charge see below (Charge for service cost of NPF (No Problem Found) Repair).

-If you are uncertain about the cause of the problem, please contact Advantech customer service center. They may be able to find a solution that does not require sending the product for repair.

  • Non-Registered partners or end users

-Contact Customer services center your local Advantech Channel partner or your local Advantech office in your country.

-Send the goods direct to the local Advantech office, according the description below Returning the product for repair,with a detailed error report, copy of invoice in case of warranty, complete address, PO-Number, contact person, telephone and fax number. You will receive our RMA order Receipt with our RMA number. Use this RMA number for any communication.

Returning the product for repair

  • After you have completed and returned the “ Repair Information Form” send us your Advantech product only, without accessories (manuals, cables etc). Remove any unnecessary components from the card, such as CPUs, ROM or DRAM. If you include these parts (because you believe they may be part of the problem), note clearly that they are included. Otherwise, we cannot be responsible for their return. Make sure the "Repair Information Form" is enclosed.
  • Ship the parts by your forwarder or parcel Post. The customer will bear the shipping charges, and Advantech will bear the return charges. Attach an invoice to the carton. To save handling time, customer shall address the parts directly to the RMA Department and mark "Attn. RMA Department" on the package. Please use original or correct packaging.
  • List the value of the product on the invoice as zero (or a very low value). Otherwise, additional charges will be levied by customs (which will be borne by the sender). We suggest that you write, “Goods with no commercial value are returned for repair” on the shipment invoice.


Return Material Authorization (RMA) - Detail Operation on Repair Process

Service Charge

  • Advantech will charge for repairing products if:

-The product is repaired after expiry of the warranty period.

-The product is tested or calibrated after expiry of the warranty period, and a No Problem Found (NPF) result is obtained.

-The product, though repaired within the warranty period, has been subjected to misuse, abuse, or unauthorized repair.

-Product updates, reworks, and tests upon the request of customers who are without warranty.

-Product is damaged beyond repair due to nature disasters, for example, lighting strike, flood, earthquake, etc.

  • If a product has been repaired by Advantech, and within three months after such repair the product requires further repair for the same problem, Advantech will affect such further repair free of charge. However, such free repair does not apply to a product which has been subjected to misuse, abuse, or unauthorized repair.
  • Charge for in Warranty Repair:

Sender will bear the transportation and insurance costs for the transport of the product to the Service center. For the rest of the services, there will be no charge.

  • Charge for service cost of NPF (No Problem Found) Repair -EUR 35,00 per handled case.
  • Charge for out of warranty repair

Product updates, reworks, and tests /modification upon the request of customers:

For the out of warrant repair, we calculate per item. We send you a “Proforma Invoice” with the repair charges. When you remit the funds, please reference the PI number listed under "Our Ref."

Repair Turn-around Time (TAT)

  • For products not manufactured by Advantech, it will send them to the original manufacturer for repair. This usually takes 15 working days.
  • The TAT may be delayed if the customer:

-Does not sign and return the P/I within 48 hours.

-Fails to pay the invoice within the due date.

-Gives an insufficient error description, such as "does not work", "failure".

-Has modified the original design of the ADVANTECH product.

-Delays a reply or fails to reply to an Advantech request for further information (such as application environment and configuration).

Repair service for phased-out products

  • Advantech offers a continuous repair service for one years after the date of announcement of the product phase-out.

Repair report

  • Advantech returns each product with a “Shipment document ” which shows the RMA Number.
  • The RMA report can be found via the website “RMA service”.

Custody of products submitted for repair

  • Advantech will retain custody of a product submitted for repair for three months whilst it is waiting for return of a signed PI or payment (A/R). If the customer fails to respond within such period, Advantech will close the case automatically. Advantech will take reasonable measures to stay in proper contact with the customer during this 3-month period.

Returning repaired goods to customer

  • ADVANTECH normally ships RMA returns by TNT. Advantech can change from forwarder without any notifications to the Customers.

1.5eRMA Repair Service System (eRMA)

A written Advantech RMA service policy is available for customer reference from our web site and our front offices. This document informs and educates the customer on how to deal with all RMA situations that may arise. The figure below shows how Advantech has constructed a repair service information system for our customers.


1.6INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTRES

ADVANTECH provides warranty and out-of-warranty repair services for customers at its facilities in the following locations: Fremont, CaliforniaUSA; Taipei, Taiwan; Beijing, Mainland China; and Advantech Europe Support Center (AESC), Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Region

/

Group

/ Contact / E-mail Address
Asia-Pacific
/
Taipei (ATSC)
/ Jennifer Lin /
Mainland China / Beijing (ACSC) / Jiang Lin /
America / Fremont (AASC) / Peter Tang /
Europe
/
Europe (AESC)
/ Turp Ozdal /

1.7EXTENDEN GLOBAL WARRANTY

Warranty service is optional for maximum five years included product standard warranty. ADVANTECH provides extended warranty service only for assembled system.

Extra services can be ordered via Advantech B2B website.

Warranty = Standard warranty + Extended warranty

1.8DEAD ON ARRIVAL (DOA) PROCEDURE

Definition

Goods received, which do not functionwithin 30 days after receipt for Channel partners 45 days (Shipment date). This procedure does not apply to any products that has been repaired or altered by persons other than Advantech authorized service personnel or any products that have been subject to misuse, abuse or improper installation or operation. DOA will be checked at AESC and immediately replaced , according with stock availability or urgently repaired. Advantech assumes no liability as a consequence of such events under the terms of the warranty.DOA excludes all “T” Parts and all ODM items.

Procedures

  • Apply for a RMA Number on the Advantech Europe Service center (AESC) RMA website accordingly chapter 3.1. Fill in the DOA form (will be send by the Customerservice center) and prepare the packaging. Advantech will inform the Forwarder for a pickup.
  • After receipt of the goods we will exchange orimmediately repair theproduct. If the received material is not in the originalpackaging or accessories is missing (Handbook, CD,etc...) aexchange will not be issued.

1.9Amendment of Procedure

This Policy / Procedure will be reviewed on a semi-yearly base starting the date stipulated above. This document will be effective unless a further announcement of amendment.

Andrea Zolli
Managing Director, Advantech Europe

- 1 -Advantech Europe