I'm sorry if you have seen this already but I understand that digest readers
can't post, which is what I was ...
Tony Sleep writes:
> Until recently I had heard very little of failures apart from the initial
> cable detachment problem
Well here's another. My SS400 is at Polaroid UK again. It was first there in
October after it failed to initialise. I sent it back again because it is
making an unhealthy straining noise when scanning.
> Service contracts generally seem bad value to me, ... If the scanner goes pop,
> I would have to buy another one immediately while the original was repaired -
> but since prices fall during product lifetime ... this isn't such a bad idea.
> Especially as I could resell the spare once no longer needed. I think I'd have
> to be pretty unlucky to lose more by this route than a service deal would
> cost, and of course there's a possibility of it costing nothing.
I should do a bit more homework, Tony! Polaroid UK offer two levels of
cover, Silver at £200 gets an additional two years guarantee with a ten day
turn around. Gold is £300 but they bring you a loan scanner while yours is
away. If you buy a second scanner for £800, thats more than the service
contact. And if you were to sell it after two years for (say) £500 it will
have cost £300 - the price of a contract! In the meantime if your original
scanner goes pop it will cost a minimum £240 to have Polaroid just look at
it. If you are out of luck you might have to pay £350 depending on the type
of repair (they have three levels). So even if you don't have a brakedown,
buying and selling a spare will likely cost the same as a contract - but,
you will have to front up more than double money.
Of course you would never sell the second scanner but having £800 worth of
capital equipment just sitting there is madness. You'd end up using it -
better get a spare spare then - for which you will need even more computers.
A slippery slope!
I plan to buy the Silver cover, but as my scanner has been away for more or
less ten days now and CRC (the service contractor) are "waiting for
something from Polaroid".
--
David Gordon
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
