Customer Service/Warranties with Custom Keyboards?

Learning and discussion Custom keyboards
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Hey everyone, new to Keebtalk. I created this account solely to talk and discuss custom keyboards with you guys that are much more acquainted with building custom boards and more importantly, Brands customer service reputations and warranties.

So I currently have a Ducky One 3 TKL white board. It was my first mechanical and I love it. Well, most of it. I didn’t know there was this IN SANE mechanical keyboard world with thousands and thousands of boards, prebuilt vs custom, a literal never ending amount of switches, thousands and thousands of keycaps, etc. Just SOO many options and choices that I had no idea about. And now that I see all these custom boards with custom keycaps, I’m 100% hooked and want to build a keyboard of my dreams.

But that isn’t the reason I’m here. For the most part, I already know what I want and might only have a few questions about options, but the main thing I’m here for is to ask about Customer Service and warranty issues.

So… as far as I know, if I buy a prebuilt board from Ducky or Keychron or Nuphy, someone like that, I have a feeling that they will warranty and take care of any problem that comes up with the board if it’s within a reasonable amount of time? Or is that just wishful thinking and not correct at all? The reason I ask, is because I’m not about to plunk down $150-200 just for a custom board with no keycaps or switches that I have to put together, just for it to have a problem and then not get warranted or taken care of by the company that sells it.

So I’m just wondering, do any keyboard brands (or keyboard retailers) actually warranty their products? Will they take care of an issue if one of their boards has a problem or malfunctions or a part doesn’t work either straight out of the box or a few months or year later? And second question, are the warranties/CS better, worse or the same for a custom board like ordering a Neo80 from Qwertykeys?

I’m just really worried about ordering all this expensive stuff and then something going wrong and the company NOT taking care of the issue? Specifically looking at building a Neo80 and there is this WALL of text on the Qwertykey page about what they DON’T do or DON’T help out with and it seems like there is no way to return it? No way to get a refund or warranty if something goes wrong?! Not sure, that’s why I’m here asking?

And is my thinking that buying form a large well known company like Keychron, Nuphy or Ducky will provide a much better CS and real warranty false? Or is that correct? Do all the keyboard companies basically have the same warranty and CS? Or are some better than others?

Once I figure this out, then I’ll be moving on to the actual build and what do I want. But I need to figure this out first as it’s really freaking me out. I see tons of posts on youtube comments and the mechanical keyboard reddit from people talking about how their board arrived and it was already not working and the companies will not even respond, let alone replace the product?! And they’re spending $150-300 for these boards!?! That does NOT sound acceptable at all and I need to make sure whatever board I go with, has a decent to good customer service and warranty.

Thanks

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Im going out on what I know so far (take this with some grains of salt)

If something like a keycaps or switch is goofed up, I don’t know if they will cover that under warranty. (Besides if hot-swap is available, you could swip-swap the dead switch out with a new one and be on your way)

But if it’s something to do with the board itself (such as the PCB) I think that would fall under warranty. Since the physical board itself is malfunctioning. If the case gets scuffed may be a different story (since most cosmetically blemished items don’t fall under warranty, UNLESS it compromises the use of the product).

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So I looked at Qwertykey page about blemishes and other things, (regarding warranty) and this is what I found:

  • “We highly recommend recording the entire unboxing process as a backup in case of disputes”
  • "We will not be responsible for any flaws or scratches found after the building has begun, and we will not provide replacement parts for any missing parts reported more than 30 days after delivery. "
  • “Services and warranties are not applicable after one month of delivery with regard to cosmetic imperfections.”

(All found under the Qwertykey “Acceptable Quality Standard”).

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Ok, that sounds reasonable ish. Thank you for your two cents

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I was more asking in general though about Keyboard manufacturers and their CS and warranties. Good, bad, decent? It all just seems SOO shady and sketchy. Sending off $150-400 to some small group of people that may or may not be legit. What if something about the keyboard doesn’t work out of the box? Or what if something breaks or doesn’t work 1 month, 6 months, 1 year down the road? Are they going to stand by their product like other companies do, or do they just tell you to go to h*ll? I know I’m asking a specific question about the Neo80, but that’s just an example. I’m asking about CS and warranties for ALL keyboards in general and the companies that sell them. I’ve read some HEINOUS reviews on Trustpilot about Qwertykeys and some other keyboard makers and retailers and it just makes me wonder? Am I just gambling on this? I’m I possibly going to be out $150-400 if something goes wrong. Do any of you have experience with CS or returns/warranties? Just trying to get a feel for all of this and is it worth my time and money to get into a custom board?

Thanks

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Yea I think your concern is definitely valid, in my experience I haven’t had any bad experiences communicating with vendors/makers nor products not working right. I would say in general if you have a part go bad a year or two later there’s still potential (or at least some makers/companies try to) you could get a replacement part from them or at least have an alternate route to fix or replace the part.

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The one thing I DO like about Qwertykeys and the Neo80 is that I CAN order replacement parts for it. They have all the parts. So that is great. But again, just wondering if they will actually help you out or not? I’m going to have to find some sort of way to strap my iPhone to my head when I’m opening the box and recording that part. Same with when I put it together and fire it up. That way I have proof in case something doesn’t work. Which is INSANE that I should have to do that. I’m finding that these computer and keyboard companies are absolutely horrible with their CS and replacing or warranty’s.

Good example, I just HAD to have those newish Lian Li TL fans and a few with the LCDs. And then got the LCD AIO as well. It’s been nothing but a nightmare since day one and they have literally done NOTHING to help me. I’ve sent them countless emails and all I get is some rep from China trying to speak English and tell me that everything will be ok and it will work. When it doesn’t. And I tell them I’ve done everything they have asked and they just keep giving me the run around. I finally just gave up asking them to replace this crap and just deal with it. But I made sure to write a scathing review of them and their lack of CS so others hopefully won’t make the same mistake I did. It sort of works, so it’s not the end of the world. But this one thing keeps not working frequently and just comes and goes and I deal with it. Spent over $500 on this setup and it doesn’t work! And they continually refuse to send me a new unit.

So i don’t want to get into a situation like that with Qwertykey or any keyboard retailer or maker. Hopefully more people can chime in and share their experiences.

Thanks for sharing your experience

1 Like
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Oh wow yea sorry to hear you went through that with Lian Li. I like Lian Li’s products but can definitely understand it being frustrating if you have to work with their customer support (or lack thereof cuz of the language barrier).

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Yeah, not a language barrier thing at all. They just refused to help me or send me a replacement AIO. The LCD keeps not working all the time and has since day 1. NOTHING they have told me to do works and yet they just keep saying to try this, try that. You mean, the things you already told me to try last time and the time before that and the other time before that. They were just giving me the run around and didn’t want to send out a new unit. I’ve read SOOOOO many reviews about how bad their software and hardware is AFTER I bought that stuff, hahaha. Lesson learned.

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I have just a tiny bit of experience with small manufacturers / groups / group buys, BUT: my experience was almost always better than with bigger companies. E.g. I bought multiple keyboards from Jacky (Lazy Designers) and once a PCB broke down. He was super helpful in Discord and sent a replacement the same day from China. My experience with e.g. Drop, which I count as a larger company, and my dead Planck PCB was the complete opposite and one of the worst customer experiences ever.

But this is just one example. Still, I have a theory behind this:

  • smaller companies / designers are really passionate about their products which are bought by mostly by a small customer base. So the designer him-/herself or the community will help you more than any customer support of any bigger company
  • Most custom PCB designers (which most problems relate to) are probably happy to track your problem and replace your PCB if it is a warranty case. Same as above - in person and with you - not via tickets.
  • It get’s even more interesting if the issues are caused by yourself. A lot of files get open sourced after a group buy. So if you fucked it up, you can either ask the creator or even find what you need already and replace broken parts yourself.

In a nutshell, I own a couple of customs from Bowl, GEON, Keebwerk and LazyDesigners and so far every questions and any problem got solved in a way that was fair for both, customer and designer, mostly via discord. And if I need something in a couple of years, I can either get the open sourced file or would gently ask for it (and I am quite sure that the designers are happy to help). Custom keyboards are by far not cheap, hence compared to the price, I would be more than happy to get a replacement part (like a PCB) made for e.g. 80$ to use my quality keyboard another 10 years. (Maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but overall I think passion and community beats profit oriented companies).

1 Like
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Appreciate your input and I tend to agree with you. You make some good points. Thank you