Fl.2, No.108-3, Ming-Chuan Road
Shing-TienCity, Taipei , Taiwan R.O.C.
Tel: 886-2-2218-4567 Fax: 886-2-2218-7549
ADVANTECHRMAPOLICYPROCESS (ATSC)
Feb. 2, 2005
1. PURPOSE
ADVANTECH has established the following guidelines to give customers the best support and shortest turnaround time possible.
2. WARRANTY
2.1 Warranty period
ADVANTECH intends to meet customer’s assurance for post-sales service and support; therefore, in addition to offering 1 to 2 years warranty for ADVANTECH’s standard products, an extended warranty service is also provided for customers upon request. ADVANTECH customers are entitled to a complete prompt repair service beyond the standard 1~2 years of warranty.
Standard item products manufactured by ADVANTECH are covered by a 1~2 years warranty from the date of shipment. Products covered by extended warranty and cross-region repair services against defects in design, materials, and workmanship, are also covered from the date of shipment. All non-ADVANTECH products will be covered by the original manufacturers warranty and the time period and shall not exceed 1 year of coverage through ADVANTECH.
2.2 Repairs under warranty
ADVANTECH will replace the product within 1 month for each DOA (Defect-on-Arrival) case if the product was purchased directly from ADVANTECH. Cross-shipment will be applied to DOA cases excluding BTOS or customized products as soon as customers sign off the cross-shipment agreement offered by ADVANTECH. ADVANTECH reserves the right to provide replacements after confirmation/verification. The return unit must be without damages, alternation, scratches or any marks, and with all included parts and accessories as originally shipped, or there will be handling charges needed. Meanwhile, handling charges are applied as well for wrong user settings or configurations.
As to other cases, ADVANTECH will repair defective products, provided that they are returned at the customer’s expense to an authorized ADVANTECH repair facility.
2.3 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.
Warranty will be voided by removal or alternation of product or parts identification labels.
The product has been subjected to misuse, abuse, unauthorized disassembly or modification, unsuitable physical or operating environment, improper maintenance by customer, or failure caused which ADVANTECH is not responsible whether by accident or other cause. Such conditions will be determined by ADVANTECH in its sole unfettered discretion.
Product is damaged beyond repair due to nature disasters, for example, lighting strike, flood, earthquake, etc.
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, CD-ROMs, CPUs, fans, and so on.
Product updatesand tests upon the request of customers who are without warranty.
3. REPAIR PROCESS
3.1 Obtaining an RMA number
All returns from customers must be authorized with an ADVANTECH RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) number. Any returns of defective units or parts without valid RMA number will not be accepted andreturned to customers at customer’s costwithout prior notice.
A RMA number is only an authorization for returning a product, it is not an approval for repair or replacement. When requesting an RMA number, please access ADVANTECH’s RMA web site: with a set of authorized user ID and password.
It is required to fill out customer and product basic information and describe the problems encountered in detail on “ProblemDescription” such as “does not work” and “failure” are not acceptable. It is hard to start the repair without a specific problem description information.
If you are uncertain about the cause of the problem, please contact ADVANTECH’s Application Engineers (AE). They may be able to find a solution that does not require sending the product for repair.
On the other hand, the serial number of the whole-set is required if only defective key part is returned back for repair. Otherwise, this case could be regarded as out-of-warranty.
3.2 Returning the product for repair
Customers can return defective products to any authorized ADVANTECH repair facility without extra cross-region charge, save time in a long run and meet customer’s requirements.It is required to contact the local repair center before offering global repair service.
It is recommended to send cardswithout accessories (manuals, cables, etc.). Remove any unnecessary components from the card, such as CPU,DRAM, CF Card. If you include these parts (because you believe they may be part of the problem), note clearly that they are included. Otherwise, ADVANTECH is not responsible for any items not listed. Make sure the "Problem Description" is enclosed.
List the value of the product on the invoice with low value. Otherwise, additional charges will be levied by custom (which will be borne by the sender). We strongly recommend that you write “Invoice for custom purposes only with no commercial value” on the shipment invoice.Meanwhile, please attach an invoice with RMA number to the cartonthen write RMA number outside of the carton and the packing slip in order to save handling time. It is appreciated customers address the parts directly to the Service Department and mark on the package "Attn. RMAService Department".
All productsmust be properly packed with the anti-static bag orESDmaterialfor returning. ADVANTECH reserves the right to return un-repaired items at customer’s cost if inappropriately packed.Besides that, “Door-to-Door” transportation such as speed post is recommended for delivery, otherwise, the sender should bear the additional charges such as clearance fee if Air-Cargo is adopted.
Should DOA cases fail, ADVANTECH will take full responsibility for the product and transportation charges. If the items are within warranty, the sender will bear the freight charges. For out-of-warranty cases, customers should take care of both ways transportation.
3.3 Service charges
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, unauthorized disassembly or modification, unsuitable physical or operating environment, improper maintenance by customer, or failure caused which ADVANTECH is not responsible whether by accident or other cause. Such conditions will be determined by ADVANTECH in its sole unfettered discretion.
Product is damaged beyond repair due to nature disasters, for example, lighting strike, flood, earthquake, etc.
Product updatesand tests upon the request of customers who are without warranty.
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 effect such further repair free of charge. However, such free repair does not apply to a product which has been subjected to misuse, abuse, unauthorized disassembly or modification, unsuitable physical or operating environment, improper maintenance by customer, or failure caused which ADVANTECH is not responsible whether by accident or other cause.
Calculation of service charge for standard warranty
(1) Service charge without warranty but with repair actions
Service Charge without WarrantyUnit(US$) / Labor cost + Material cost + Freight charge
Minor / Medium / Major
Board / Resister, Capacitor, TTL IC, Connector, Socket… / SMT Chipset, AD IC, CPLD / BGA, CPU, MCX314, PCIBridge
List Price x 15% / List Price x 25% / List Price x 35%
System / CD-ROM, FDD, T/S Control Board, Inverter, Fan, Cover, Cable, Screw… / Power Supply, Touch Screen / LCD, M/B, CPU, RAM, HDD
List Price x 15% / List Price x 25% / US$60 + Component Price
Note1: the minimal service charge without warranty for board-level and system-level products areUS$30 and US$60 respectively.
(2) Service charge without warranty but with repair results: Adjustment/Update/
NPF(No Problem Found)
Repair service charge = Labor cost + Freight charge
for board-level: US$30
for system-level: US$60
(3) Out of warranty repair charge for out-sourcing product
Repair service charge = Handlingcharge+Vendor charge + Freight charge
(4) Handling charge if customers cancel out-of-warranty repair request
Repair service charge = Handlingcharge+ Freight charge
for board-level: US$15
for system-level: US$30
(5) Service charge for product updates andreworksupon the request of customers
Rework Service charge = Material cost + Labor cost ( US$30 per hour ) +Freight charge
Note: please contact ADVANTECH PM/RSM for rework specification verification
Before we make the repairs for out-of-warranty cases, we will send you a “Performa Invoice” with the repair charges. When you remit the funds, please reference the P/I number listed under "Our Ref". ADVANTECH reserves the right to offering repair services to customer whom does not return DOA unit or signed P/I. Meanwhile, ADVANTECH will scrap defective products without prior notice if customers do not sign P/I back within 3 months.
3.4 Repair Turn-around Time (TAT)
TAT definition:
TAT = ADVANTECH Receiving date ~ADVANTECH Shipping date
For products manufactured in-house by ADVANTECH, the TAT as below.
(1)One shipment of up to 50 pieces , the TAT usually takes around 5 working days.
(2)One shipment more than 50 pieces, the TAT usually takes around 7 working days.
(3)One shipment more than 100 pieces, the TAT usually takes around 10 working days.
For products not manufactured by ADVANTECH, we will send them to the original manufacturer for repair. This usually takes 10-15 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 A/R 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).
3.5 Repair service for phased-out products
ADVANTECH offers a continuous repair service for one more warranty period after the date of announcement of the product phase-out. Product upgrade (no upgrade charge, inherit the warranty of old product) or partial credit (depends on remaining warranty) will be taken into consideration once unexpected situation happens and ADVANTECH can not fix the defect unit with warranty.
3.6 Repair report
ADVANTECH returns each product with a “Repair Report” which shows the result of the repair. “Repair Analysis Report” is also provided to customers upon request, US$60 and US$120 would be charged to customers for In-Warranty and Out-of-Warranty analysis request respectively if the defect is not caused by ADVANTECH design or manufacturing.
3.7 Custody of products submitted for repair
ADVANTECH will retain custody of a product submitted for repair for one month while it is waiting for return of a signed P/I or payment (A/R). If the customer fails to respond within such period, ADVANTECH will close the case automatically. ADVANTEC will take reasonable measures to stay in proper contact with the customer during this 1-month period.
3.8 Shipping back to customer
ADVANTECH normally ships RMA returns by DHL or speed post. If the customer requires, it can ship the parts using a different service such as UPS, FedEx, and so on. The customer must bear the extra costs of such alternative shipment. If you require any special arrangements, please indicate this when shipping the product to us.
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4. EXTENDED WARRANTY
Warranty service is optional for maximum 3more years extended. The extended warranty service is set up as apart number and is standardized.Such service request would be effectively processed and be better managed. Part number of extended warrantyis determined byunit price, purchasing qty and extended period, all part numbers price would be maintained by RMA. The below mapping table is for further reference, customers can place order with corresponding part number to meet requirements.
Advantech Extended Warranty Part Number List (ATSC)Unit Price (US$) / Extend 1 Year / Extend 2 Years / Extend 3 Years
Qty < 500 / 500<Qty<1K / Qty > 1K / Qty < 500 / 500<Qty<1K / Qty > 1K / Qty < 500 / 500<Qty<1K / Qty > 1K
$ < 300 / 98CSEWT151 / 98CSEWT191 / 98CSEWT1K1 / 98CSEWT152 / 98CSEWT192 / 98CSEWT1K2 / 98CSEWT153 / 98CSEWT193 / 98CSEWT1K3
300 < $ < 1200 / 98CSEWT451 / 98CSEWT491 / 98CSEWT4K1 / 98CSEWT452 / 98CSEWT492 / 98CSEWT4K2 / 98CSEWT453 / 98CSEWT493 / 98CSEWT4K3
1200 < $ < 2100 / 98CSEWT751 / 98CSEWT791 / 98CSEWT7K1 / 98CSEWT752 / 98CSEWT792 / 98CSEWT7K2 / 98CSEWT753 / 98CSEWT793 / 98CSEWT7K3
2100 < $ < 3000 / 98CSEWT951 / 98CSEWT991 / 98CSEWT9K1 / 98CSEWT952 / 98CSEWT992 / 98CSEWT9K2 / 98CSEWT953 / 98CSEWT993 / 98CSEWT9K3
$ > 3000 / 98CSEWTH51 / 98CSEWTH91 / 98CSEWTHK1 / 98CSEWTH52 / 98CSEWTH92 / 98CSEWTHK2 / 98CSEWTH53 / 98CSEWTH93 / 98CSEWTHK3
Note1: Unit price over US$3800 is not applied to the above table, please contact RMA department directly for further discussion.
Note2: The EW service is provided for products which are ordered in the same sales order.EW service needs to be ordered when the products are ordered.Once sales orders are made, the EW service can not be added afterwards.In the meanwhile, pleasesplit the order if the EW service is needed for parts ofproducts only.
5. INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS
ADVANTECH provides warranty and out-of-warranty repair services for customers at its facilities in the following locations: Taipei, Taiwan;Beijing, Mainland China; Fremont, CaliforniaUSA; and Advantech Europe Support Center (AESC), Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
Region
/Group
/ Contact / E-mail AddressAmerica
/Fremont (AASC)
/ Peter Tang /Europe / EuropeBV(AESC) / Rick.deVries /
Northern China / Beijing (ACSC) / Linda Jiang /
Southern China
/Kunshan (AKMC)
/ Allen Tseng /Asia-Pacific
/Taipei (ATSC)
/ Jonhan Wu // Page 1 / Made by Advantech RMA Dept