Re: Service from PE/PerSeptive Biosystems

GARY.W.LANGE@monsanto.com
14 May 1998 09:39:46 -0500

I've had a MALDI-TOF of some sort from the Vestec/PerSeptive "family"
since early 1994. For the most part I would say that their service is
reasonable, even in the days when the instruments weren't so reliable.
I think that it may be more of a regional (temporary) problem not
unlike that experienced by Applied Biosystem in the Florida region
early this year and reported on the ABRF BB. I think that it would be
important to contact the correct people at PerSeptive to make sure
that all communications be sent to you and not to a third party. Make
sure the clock doesn't start ticking on your warranty until you feel
that the instrument is working properly. Don't sign off just at the
install date. If you've had so many problems getting it installed I'd
talk to the service engineer and ask for an extended warranty to take
care of your downtime. By all means as an inexperienced MALDI user
take the time to go to their training course. The people in Boston
are pretty good. I think Arnie is still running the course on the
West coast but that may have changed since the merger. Once you know
how to use your delayed extraction MALDI you'll wonder how you ever
lived without it :-)

Gary Lange
Monsanto Co.
gary.w.lange@monsanto.com
ph 314- 737-6602
fax 314-737-7005

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Service from PE/PerSeptive Biosystems
Author: abrf-request@aecom.yu.edu at INTERNET
Date: 05/13/1998 8:01 PM

Hello all,

We recently purchased a mass spec from PerSeptive Biosystems (now part
of Perkin-Elmer) and we've
been experiencing a great deal of trouble in getting the installation
completed. Service at PE/PerSeptive
seems to have gone into a meltdown. The system was shipped two days
after the ABRF meeting, rather
prematurely as the necessary electrical power modifications had not been
completed. However, those
modifications were completed within two weeks. The system has been
happily pulling a vacuum since early
April yet it is still not installed. The main computer failed, which
contributed to the installation delay, but the
computer was replaced over three weeks ago. We were told last week that
someone would be in today to
run specs and complete the install. No one telephoned throughout the
morning. Finally, a service engineer
called my supervisor's lab (the mass spec is over here, in my lab, in a
different building) to ask if he could
come by and "check out the situation" for the install to be done next
week. I'm not at all convinced that
anything will happen next week. Communication between PerSeptive
service personnel and ourselves has
been shaky at best--sometimes people call before arriving, sometimes
they just show up. We are getting
quite fed up with this situation and are curious if others have had
problems with PerSeptive. All I know is
that Applied Biosystems has never treated me this way; perhaps the
merger will be a good thing for all
concerned.

Janice

Janice Bleibaum
Protein Sequencing Laboratory
Roche Bioscience
3401 Hillview Ave.
Palo Alto CA 94304
(650)852-1639
(650)354-7554FAX
janice.bleibaum@roche.com