Just a few general comments about this string. If a company has x number of service contracts it knows that it will have a certain workload and income based on past experience and will hire service engineers to met this expected workload. One must also consider the upfront cost of doing preventive maintenance if you have the company do it or of training in house personnel to do the maintenance. Some people think they can get by without doing preventive maintenance but that usually comes back to haunt you. Do programs like CAMP cover routine preventive maintenance? It's an important question to ask. The people who keep their contracts will always get priority because the company is legally obligated to do that. People not covered by the contract will have to wait. If the majority of users go to an "as needed" repair program there is no way to tell how a company will adjust to the change in anticipation of the change in work flow and revenue. I know of one instance where a lab has gone to an "as needed" repair program only to spend more money and have slower responses. This operator is now actively trying to get funding for a new contract. We bought our FACScan new about five years ago and have always had a service contract. I feel that it is money well spent. Margaret >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 "The opinions stated above are the authors own, and should not be construed as U.S. Government endorsement of a specific vendor, nor used in any publication to indicate endorsement by the U. S. government or any of its agencies."
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