Thank you for taking the time to review our terms and conditions. All orders we accept are subject to our terms and conditions unless otherwise specifically agreed to in writing by Screaming Circuits. These terms and conditions supersede all others. If you have any questions, please contact us.
Payments
- By default, we accept Visa, Mastercard and Amex for payment.
- We can also accept wire transfers or ACH payments; however, we cannot proceed with ordering materials or scheduling your job until payment has been received.
- When adding a new credit card to our system, the card will go through a validation process. This means you might see a small pending charge on your credit card statement. This charge will only appear the first time a new card is validated and will be removed within a few days, depending on bank processing time.
- Credit cards will be charged when we accept the order and schedule your job.
- We first evaluate the order to ensure accuracy, quote any components that weren't auto quoted online, and/or verify if any extra charges are needed for special handling or nonstandard processes.
If there are any differences from the online quote and/or order or additional charges necessary, your customer service representative will contact you for approval before proceeding.
Subsequent charges or refunds may occur in the event the pricing changes before shipment. - If you cancel an order, you are liable for the cost of parts that have been purchased or expenses that have been incurred prior to canceling an order.
- If parts expedite is needed, an additional shipping cost(s) will be included on the formal quote we provide. This request must be made during the quoting and review process.
Credit Terms Deposits and Payments
- Due to supply chain issues and holding of customer inventory, we may require a deposit for materials before we can proceed with procurement. If your materials order is $5,000 or greater and your order is not due to ship until 30 or more days after the order is placed, we will require a deposit for the full materials cost. Once deposit is received, we will begin procurement of materials. Please refer to the "Payments" section for deposit methods.
- If you are supplying all materials to us, and we are holding them for more than 30 days before production will begin, then we may require a holding deposit of up to 50% of your assembly cost.
- In the event that new or additional materials need to be purchased, we will not ask for additional deposit if a deposit has already been made.
- Net Credit Terms are subject to Screaming Circuits approval. Invoices against credit terms must be paid within agreed upon timeline.
- Failure to pay invoices on time, may cause open orders to be held from shipping.
Shipping
- We use UPS as our standard carrier.
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In the USA, we ship:
- Ground at no charge
- 2nd day air for $40.00
- Overnight for $80.00
- If provided, we can use your shipping account number.
- International destinations will require a customer shipping quote and will be provided by your customer service representative.
Warranty and Screaming Circuits' Liability
- Screaming Circuits warrants each assembly for workmanship up to 30 days after delivery.
- For manufacturing defects caused by Screaming Circuits, we will, at our discretion, repair the defects or refund the price of the assembly labor.
- Any modifications done to the assembly after you’ve received it nullifies this warranty.
- Screaming Circuits is not responsible for any damage or lack of functionality caused by defective design, components or PCBs provided by you, or as a result of deficiencies in the electronic materials or digital data provided by you. Please note, we default to CAD data above all other provided data.
- Due to the nature of quick-turn manufacturing, Screaming Circuits does not test incoming components nor outgoing assemblies. Any liability for defective components lies with the manufacturer and counterfeit components lies with the component supplier.
- In the case that component parts on the BOM do not fit the board pads (do not allow conformance with IPC standards for your build), we will notify you and proceed with the build if you instruct us to do so. Please note that wrong-sized parts will nullify this warranty.
- For high value components, please contact your customer service representative about component risk management.
- In no event shall Screaming Circuits’ liability exceed the amount of the order placed.
- Screaming Circuits gives no other warranty; either expressed or implied, and specifically disclaims all other warranties, including warranties for merchantability and fitness.
How to make a warranty claim
- If you believe that your assemblies have manufacturing defects caused by Screaming Circuits, contact your customer service representative to discuss what you've found and arrange for an RMA (return materials authorization) number.
- Follow the instructions provided by your customer service representative for returning the defective assemblies.
- Make sure that the RMA number is prominently displayed on your shipping label.
- No repair work will be authorized without the RMA number having been issued.
- If we deem that the issue does not fall within our warrantee coverage, your customer service representative will contact you to discuss options, including paid rework.
Project and Job Requirements
Our Standard Process covers what we know we can do in the turn time promised. Our warranty covers projects that fit within our standard process. In some cases, nonstandard projects may be covered by the warranty if this has been approved for coverage in writing by our manufacturing engineering department. To fulfill our commitment to you, we need a few conditions to be met. We need the components and operations to fit our Standard Processes, we need accurate and complete data, we need the right components presented in the right way, and we need clear and fast communications with you.
Standard Vs. Non-Standard Processes
- Once we receive your quote or order, we will evaluate it to ensure that it fits our Standard Process. If it does not, we will notify you as soon as we can after making the determination.
- Any services ordered that fall outside of the Screaming Circuits Standard Assembly Process may add time and cost to your project. We will create a custom quote, outlining the particulars of your project, prior to acceptance of the job.
- If you know that your job will not meet our Standard Process or are unsure if it does, please contact your customer service representative prior to placing your order.
Non-Standard Process
We work hard to stay abreast of the advances in electronic components, PC boards, and related technology. But not even the engineers at Screaming Circuits can keep up with all the latest technology. Sometimes components get out into the field before we’ve had a chance to develop processes for them. Other times, technology has been out for a while, but it’s so rare that we’ve never had the opportunity to work with it. Some processes just take extra care and handling.
These technologies and processes that fall into our Non-Standard Category require a custom quote and are not covered by our Standard Warranty. If you need something cutting edge or rare and aren’t sure if it’s standard or not, contact your customer service representative and we’ll discuss it. Our Standard Process table in this website covers standard vs. non-standard limits in great detail. The limits that cause the most confusion are:
- Flex and rigid-flex circuits: We build a lot of flex, but it typically takes fixtures and or additional handling, so it's not a part of standard process.
- IC lead pitches less than 0.4mm: We have successfully assembled a few projects smaller than 0.4mm pitch, but they are uncommon enough to not fit in our Standard Process.
- Passives smaller than 0201: We have built a few boards with 01005 passives, but they are non-standard.
- BGAs with more than one ball size or pitch: Weird and non-standard, but they do exist. Not in our standard process.
Short-Run Production Requirements
By selecting our Short-Run Production service, you agree to adhere to the specific requirements outlined for this offering. If your project, components, or bare PCBs do not meet the Short-Run Production Requirements, your job will be placed on hold. Our team will then contact you with a revised quote and/or discuss next steps to proceed with your order.
Please note: this will impact the order cost, original ship, and delivery dates
When We Need a Question Answered By You
We might need an answer any time of the day or night. Questions are common for prototypes during quoting and/ or during the assembly process. A pad may not fit the part. A few parts might be missing. Something in the BOM (Bill of Materials) might be unclear, etc. When issues arise, we need to know what to do. Our manufacturing floor runs 24 hours most days. That means, if one of these problems shows up, it might show up during non-standard business hours
- We will make a judgement call and do our best to decide if we need you input immediately or not.
- For minor issues that can easily be fixed one way or another without affecting delivery, we may choose what we consider to be the best option.
- If the board components or the number of issues would be overly difficult to deal with after assembly, we will stop the Build Clock and contact you for further instructions.
If the question can’t be resolved within 30 minutes, we may have to stop your job and take it off the machines, adding additional time to the Build Clock. - If you don’t want your job held up after hours, Be sure to provide us a good email address and phone number that you will have access to after hours. Please keep in mind that we run shifts around the clock and might need to reach out to you at 2:00 AM if that’s when your job is in process.
The Build Clock & Turn Times
The Build Clock is what we use to track progress of your job and determine if it’s on time or not. We anchor the build clock off the last material received date. Turn times are predicated by jobs that fit within our Standard Process. In order to meet your confirmed ship date, we need a few things from you.
- First, we need all your Project Files files in by noon the day before the build clock starts.
- If we have received all your materials (parts, including attrition and pcbs) by noon Pacific Standard Time,your build clock starts that day at noon. If the parts come in after noon, the build clock starts the next day at noon. This includes all parts that you are supplying and/or that we are purchasing.
- Our build clock is a rolling 24hrs. What that mean is, if you have a 24hr assembly and we have received all your materials and there are no issues, you build clock will start at noon on the day your kit is complete and roll to noon the following day.
- Our turn times are based on a Monday - Friday work week and do not include holidays. We do have teams that work weekends but weekends are not counted as part of the turn times.
- Additional services, not part of our standard process, such as baking parts or boards, conformal coat, or AOI, will all add days to the assembly turn time.
- Our commercial shipments are picked up at 3:30 PM PST or later.
- If you elect for will-call instead of using a shipping service, we will contact you once your order is ready to be picked up, generally after 3:30 pm PST.
Things that can Stop the Build Clock Or Keep it from Starting
We would love to never stop the clock on your build, but some things do occasionally slow us down or prevent us from completing your project. Your Build Clock may be stopped, or your delivery date may change for any of the following reasons:
- Files received late from you. We can’t plan your job without the files. We require all data files in house by noon the day before your parts arrive.
- A new BOM or file set received. This will require us to re-program your job, resulting in us stopping the build clock and adding a day to your assembly time to re-program and/or audit your new BOM or files.
- Late parts. We can't start your assembly without the required quantity of parts plus attrition needed for your build.Your ship date will be delayed for each day that all required parts and attrition are not received.
(Read more about parts kit requirements here in our resource center) - Not enough parts. We cannot begin your assembly without the full quantity of required parts, including the necessary attrition.If you are unable to provide the necessary attrition quantities, please talk to your customer service representative about the available options. See Screaming Circuits Attrition Standards and Conditions.
- PCB or parts mismatches. If the components don’t match their land pads and we can’t reliably make them work, the clock will have to be stopped.
- Files with missing or unclear information. The clock won’t start if the files are incomplete. Read our resource center page about files to more detail on what we need.
- Mixed kits. If the parts for multiple jobs are mixed into a single kit, the clock won’t start until everything has been separated and sorted. This typically adds one day to the turn‑time.
- Defective PCBs, parts or files. The clock will not start if the parts, PCBs, or files are defective.
- Inclement weather. In the case of inclement weather or natural disaster, we will close the plant to protect the safety of our employees. This will stop or delay the start of the build clock. We will reopen the plant as soon as it is safe to do so and production will resume where it left off.
Files and Parts Kit Requirements
Manufacturing is a partnership between you and us and the ultimate result depends a great deal upon how well we can understand what you need. That being the case, the better organized (organized meaning clear, complete, and accurate) your file set and parts kit are, the less likely we are to have issues or need to call with questions.
For complete details, go to our resource center sections File Requirements and Parts Kit Requirements.
In summary, please ensure:
- BOMs are provided in Microsoft Excel or delimited text formats. Files can be converted from other formats for a $125.00 fee.
- All parts with pin 1 or polarity must be identified with a visibility mark. If a part is not clearly marked with polarity indicators, clear assembly drawings will be required.
- For Short-Run production orders, we recommend having Screaming Circuits quote and source all materials needed to build your job. Please refer to our Short-Run Product Offering for more information about this service.
- If you are providing a parts kit keep in mind that we need more parts than your BOM calls. Parts are small and our machines move fast. Because of that, as with any manufacturer, some small parts are lost or damaged in the process. As you source parts remember Screaming Circuits Attrition Standards and Conditions (Parts Kit Requirements.)
- If you are supplying the bare boards to us and your boards will be panelized, please be sure to request the panel data or Gerber from your board house and send those to us once you receive them. We cannot proceed without these files.