I have recently had a very positive experience and I thought I would
share the story.
Long story short, we had one of our our lasers go down due to a
freak malfunction. It was a German made Power Laser (ALS) from B&D
Sales.
http://bdsales.com/als35s.html
It was totally out of commission, and we are pretty handy at
repairing and maintaining these things. It was impossible to repair
without certain diagnostic equipment.
Henry (one of the owners of B&D) hopped on a plane (without my
asking him to) and flew halfway across the country to see the laser
for himself. He crated it up and arranged shipping back to Rhode
Island for repair. After they repaired it, they called me and said
that they had it fixed and could ship it back. We would have to pay
for the repair ($$$$) or we could trade the 4 year old unit,
straight up, for a new table top unit ($18,500 value).
http://bdsales.com/bd60pro.html
So I thought that was incredible customer service, something I have
grown accustomed to with B&D. They took it and fixed and if I felt
the out of pocket was too much, I could take a brand new table to
unit in exchange (at this point both units are pretty equivalent in
value). It was a beautiful resolution.
If you’re thinking about a laser, think about customer service.
Because no matter which one you choose, it’s gonna need service.
Just a very satisfied customer,
Mark
Dear Mark:
Well a respected nod to B&D and Henry for flying down to package up
your machine for you, but from a company that manufacturers similar
machinery, I wanted to ask you this on the real value you received?
You paid around $27- $30K for a good qaulity German made Alpha laser
with 100J and 9kW of peak power which includes many advanced
software and memory features for a small desktop Italian made unit
with “quoted” 60J of power but only 4kW of power, manual beam
controls, no software pulse shaping, etc.
You sacrificed many of your highly reflecive silver applications and
now consider you have a 14,400 shot/hour limitation also. See the web
site of the manufacturer. http://www.orotig.com/XP_EN-p4.html.
With the lower peak power, you will be shooting things much more to
build up the melt area.
How much was the repair cost for your old laser? It must have been a
major component failure?
Andre
Hi Andre,
I respect your interest as a competitor of B&D, but my point was that
B&D provided wonderful customer service by not only repairing the
more powerful German made laser but by also offering the option of
the new Italian made unit in exchange. I didn’t say which option we
went with. I thought it was outstanding for B&D to take care of the
situation so comprehensively. We have had such a great relationship
with B&D over the past 10+ years, we have 3 of their lasers and have
really tested their service at times. My post wasn’t about which
option was a better deal, I suppose that would be depend on each
individuals particular needs along with the condition of the laser
potentially being traded. I was so happy with the customer service
that B&D Sales provided that I wanted to share that with the Orchid
community. It was too good to keep to myself.
Mark