The fact that the service contract is so expensive tells you how reliable
Polaroid thinks these things are. I have a similar contract for my
Cornerstone p1700 21" monitor, which costs almost as much as the SS4000. The
price of the contract? $35. It works the same way. You call them up and tell
them it's broken. They send you a new one. When you get it, you send them
the broken one. In this case, however, I don't think you have to send the
new one back. It's a trade. Obviously, Cornerstone doesn't think their
monitor is going to break (what's the break?).
Frank Paris
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Julie, female Galah (3 1/2 years and going strong at the moment)
Little Birdie, male Splendid Parakeet (13 years)
Snowflake, male cockatiel (12 years)
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=62684
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Dana Trout
> Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 7:45 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: filmscanners: Polaroid SS4000 Extended Service Contracts
>
>
> Today I got my scanner back -- Polaroid shipped it to me exactly 3
> weeks after they had recieved it. In the meantime I have scanned about
> 50 rolls of film using the loaner they sent me because I subscribed to
> the "Gold" extended service contract. $250/year is a noticeable hunk of
> change, but being able to continue production for those three weeks
> (four, after counting shipping 2nd-day air each way) was important.
>
> So here's the dilemma:
>
> 1. Is the scanner going to fail within the next year?
> 2. If so, is the prospect of being without it for 4 weeks (3 weeks
> repair + 2-day shipping each way) going to make spending $250 look like
> a good idea?
>
> I was "fortunate" in that the scanner died two weeks before its
> warranty expired. I could have saved the $250 and had it repaired under
> warranty, but then I would have forgone 4 weeks of use _and_ been out
> of luck if it fails again within a year. My sense is that these
> scanners are not very robust and have a short (measured in months, not
> years) mean time between failures. When I bought the scanner I had
> foolishly thought that the capital cost would be the total cost of
> ownership, but that does not appear to be the case. A friend owns a
> Kodak RFS 2035+ and has recently had to send it in for repair. He was
> quoted "eight forty-five" for replacing the lamp which sounded just
> fine until he learned there was no decimal point in there (i.e., the
> price was $845, and he was thinking $8.45). When he learned what was
> involved the price didn't sound so unreasonable, but still that's half
> of what I paid for the Polaroid SS-4000!
>
> So, a word of caution: if you are thinking about buying a high-end
> scanner be sure to realise that the initial price is not the total
> expense. You are either going to have to pay for expensive repairs that
> occur with disturbing frequency or you are going to have to get a
> service contract.
>
> Have a nice day,
> --Dana
