Service and support

A support page is only worth reading if it tells you what happens on the bad day. This one sets out who to call when an instrument stops working, how the return path actually runs given that we ship direct from the manufacturer, and what each manufacturer's warranty covers. It also says plainly what we do not do, because finding that out after the purchase order is worse than reading it now.

Call us first, before the manufacturer

Most faults reported to us are not faults. They are a correction stream that is not arriving, a coordinate system set wrong at the start of the job, a firmware version that has moved underneath a workflow, or an instrument doing exactly what it was told. Those get solved on the phone in a few minutes, and none of them needs a return.

So the first step is always the same. Call +1 888 850 6533 or email support@mysurveyingdirect.com, describe what the instrument is doing and what you expected, and we will tell you which of three things it is: a settings problem, a warranty claim, or a repair. We handle the manufacturer side from there. You do not have to work out which department of which company to write to.

How the return path runs, and why it runs that way

We ship direct from the manufacturer. That is what keeps the instrument in original packaging with its full documentation, and it is why we are not marking up a warehouse you are paying for. It also shapes the return path, and we would rather explain that than let you discover it.

1. You call us. We triage it. If it is a settings or workflow problem, that is usually the end of it.
2. We open the case with the manufacturer. Under their warranty, using our dealer relationship, with the serial and the purchase reference. You do not open it yourself and you do not need an account with them.
3. The manufacturer issues an RMA number. Nothing should be shipped anywhere before that number exists. An instrument that arrives at a service center without one can sit unlogged for a long time.
4. The instrument goes to the manufacturer's service center, not to us. We are not a repair facility and we will not pretend to be one by adding a leg to the journey. Sending it to us first would add time and a shipping cost for no benefit to you.
5. We stay on the case. Chasing a service center is a real part of this job and it is ours, not yours. You get told where it is rather than having to ask.
6. It comes back to you. Repaired or replaced under the manufacturer's terms.

Keep the transit case and the original packaging. Survey instruments travel badly in anything else, and a scanner damaged in transit to a service center becomes an argument nobody wins.

Manufacturer warranty, by brand

Warranty is the manufacturer's, not ours, and the terms are theirs to set. These are the published positions as they stand. The exact term for the instrument you are buying is stated on your quote, so you can read it before the requisition rather than after delivery.

What a warranty does not cover, on any of these brands

• Crash damage, water ingress beyond the rating, and impact. A drone flown into a structure is not a warranty claim on any manufacturer's terms, which is what the paid care programs exist for.
• Consumables. Propellers, batteries past their cycle life, cables and coils.
• Calibration drift on an optical instrument. That is maintenance, covered below.
• Anything opened by a third party repairer. One unauthorized strip usually ends the warranty on the whole instrument.

Calibration, for total stations and theodolites

An optical instrument goes out of adjustment through ordinary use. Nothing is broken, and no warranty applies, because this is maintenance rather than failure. A total station that has been in and out of a truck for a season should be checked, and a department relying on one for teaching should have it on a schedule so students are not learning from a misaligned instrument.

Ask us and we will route it to the manufacturer's service network. If your institution already has a metrology arrangement or a calibration lab it uses, keep using it, and we will supply whatever documentation the manufacturer requires so the certificate stands up.

What we do not do

Two things, said here rather than left to be discovered.

We do not operate a trade-in program

Some competitors do, and it is a genuinely useful thing when it exists. We do not operate one, so we are not going to publish a page describing one. If you have older instruments to dispose of, tell us and we will tell you honestly what the realistic routes are, including the ones that do not involve us. Publishing a trade-in program we do not run would be a false claim to a procurement office, and those are expensive.

We are not a repair facility

We do not hold spares, we do not carry loan stock, and we do not open instruments. What we do is triage the fault, open the case, and chase it. Anyone telling you they will fix a survey grade scanner in house is either a manufacturer authorized service center, in which case they will say so and name the authorization, or they are about to void your warranty.

Returns, for something that is not faulty

If an instrument is unopened and unused and it is the wrong thing, call us and we will tell you what is possible. Because the equipment ships direct from the manufacturer, a return is governed by their policy rather than by ours, and the honest answer varies by brand and by how long ago it shipped. We will give you the real position rather than a policy paragraph written to sound accommodating.

The better answer is to not be in that position. Tell us what you need to measure before you order and we will specify it with you, including the cases where the cheaper instrument is the right one. That conversation is free and it is the whole reason to buy from a specialist rather than from a catalog.