It is true that DNA instrument service has been slow at times with
parts hard to get ... but consider the growth in this part of the
company and you have to make some allowances. All of the 10 or so
protein service engineers in my area went to the DNA side and they are
still short handed. On a person to person basis, the engineers seem to
be well selected for people skills but maybe you did get stuck with an
exception to the rule.
The PEABI WWW page is an example of the company's attempt to keep
customers informed and technically up to date with on-line UBs and
manuals etc. ...... not too many companies have such good sites. I
would cut them a little slack while they deal with their recent growth
spurt.
Somewhere on the East Coast
>--- Linda Wood Ballard wrote:
> Is this just a Western thing or does everyone have the same
>problem?
>--- end of quote ---
>We have had various difficulties with ABI service in the past year and
a
>half on all of our instruments. The response time is slow in general,
the
>service reps never seem to have the right parts and getting the right
>parts always seems to be a week long struggle. They intimidate us if
they
>find us not using ABI reagents, even if ABI doesn't make the reagent
we
>need. They take blocks apart to check for clogs caused by
unauthorized
>chemicals. Our computer network has been blamed our electricity has
been
>blamed the list goes on.....
>
>I hate to make a service call because the service reps always seem to
find
>something we have done to cause the problem. Even when the instrument
has
>worked fine for months before it went down it always seems to be
something
>we are doing or not doing. Always there is this implied threat of an
extra
>charge over and above the contract. I will spend a half a day trying
to
>diagnose and fix a problem myself rather than make a service call. In
fact
>I really only make a call when I'm 100% sure it's some electronic
problem
>I can't fix. Once we call we have to spend time cleaning up any
contraband
>before the service rep arrives. I'd say that the general attitude of
the
>service establishment at ABI is that customers are idiots and they
are
>doing us a favor by doing their job.
>
>I just fired a guy for having that attitude.