Could anyone with Beckman-Coulter experience answer as well? (slower response if no service contract). At 02:52 PM 9/1/99 -0400, you wrote: > >Fellow flowers and BD instrument users, > >In the never ending quest to decrease instrument costs we are exploring the >possibility of dropping the relatively expensive BD service contracts >(BDSC) on our FACScan and TSO Vantage for something called the "University >Hospital Consortium Capital Asset Management Program" (CAMP). > >The CAMP program appears to be a "self-insured" style of effort where, >instead of paying BD, we would pay the CAMP general fund a lesser amount >(40 - 80% less than BD!) each year. Should a machine require repair service >or routine preventative maintenance we could simply call BD and request >service or maintenance as usual and the cost of these repairs or >maintenance is covered by CAMP. According to the information, there is no >prior "approval" process required by CAMP. > >On the face of it, CAMP appears to offer a tremendous savings over the BDSC >and seems to be a no brainer. Under CAMP, we would continue to receive the >excellent (in our experience) BD service at reduced cost, without the delay >of an up front, third party approval process. > >Yet, there may be a darker side to this equation. Without the official BDSC >we fear we may fall prey to vastly increased response times from our BD >Field Service Engineers (FSE). It has been reported that so called >"billable accounts" ie; those folks not on a BDSC, are placed "on the >bottom of the priority visit list" by a FSE - and that this may in fact be >a BD company policy. > >So, my question is have any of you out there in BD flow land without a BDSC >experienced slowed service call response times? If so could you please >relate your experiences and opinions. > >Thanks in advance, > ><+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+> >Barry Grimes >FACS Laboratory Manager >Hematopoiesis Center >Univ. of Kentucky Medical Center >Blood and Marrow Transplant >Rm.cc418 Markey Cancer Center >800 Rose St, Lexington,KY 40536-0093 >lab) 606-323-8193 >fax) 606-257-7715 >e-mail) bagrim1@pop.uky.edu ><+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+>:<+> > > > > **************************************************************************** Elaine Kunze Flow Cytometry.....Image Analysis... The Biotechnology Institute for Research and Education Life Sciences Consortium 8B Althouse Laboratory (814-863-2762) Penn State University
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