Elaine, We're an all Coulter shop, and dropped our contract 2 yrs ago. I can't say that service calls take any longer now (we've only had 1 or 2), and phone support is consistently excellent, but I _will_ say that we don't get any extras. When we were on contract our service rep was always stopping by to check on us, and often helped us out w/ parts or preventative maintenance. Now I never see him unless I call. I guess that's understandable, but it does make me miss the contract. Don't miss the expense though! Steve On Fri, 3 Sep 1999, Elaine Kunze wrote: > > 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 > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Steve G. Hilliard (706) 542-9474 University of Georgia Cell Analysis Facility flowman@uga.edu URL: http://floweb.cb.uga.edu/Floweb/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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