I had a really strange experience last week with my Nikon SMZ10
Microscope. I bought it used about ten years ago and metal fatigue
finally caught up with it Thursday. I had just sat down to work on a
piece and adjusted the height for focus and the head of the scope
fell into my lap. The part the holds the scope and moves up and down
for focus had broken at the bottom releasing ball bearings, races,
and the scope. Luckily the optics were not damaged but the E arm
(that is the part that holds the scope and has the adjustment knobs)
was shot. Now I am in Fort Smith, Arkansas and the odds of getting
it fixed here are nominal at best so I went to the good old net to
see what I could find… I struck GOLD… at Optotec.net… I
called the 800-924-6023 phone number and got Klaus on the phone to
see if they could fix my (new price $5785.00 boy was I in shock when
I saw that ) microscope. Klaus says " overnite it and he would look
at it Saturday" (who works on Saturday anymore but us jewelers) "
and see if I can fix it, if I can I’ll get it back in the mail to you
Monday"… I got an email when the package arrived and again when
Klaus had looked it over to see if he could fix it. He said he could
not repair it but he had a replacement part in stock he could let me
have for $225 (this is a $325 out of production part)… in the mean
time I had been checking around and Josh at GRS had a used Acrobat
stand that he could let me have for $350.00… This is a state of the
art stand with head rest and all for just $125.00 more, so I email
Klaus back that I had found another way to go and thank you for the
help etc… This story just now gets good… I get a phone call from
Klaus and he wants to make sure that the stand I am getting will fit
my scope and will do the job. I confirm measurement etc. and we talk
a while and (here is the best pare) Klaus offers to express me the E
arm he has in stock to use (no charge except postage) until my new
Acrobat stand arrives… The point of this whole story is that
this is the kind of customer service you find so rarely any more. I
thought that I would pass Klaus’s along to the orchid
community for those of you with microscopes or looking for
microscopes…they are great people to do business with… sooooo here
is the contact and tell them orchid sent you… (my
usual disclaimer goes here)…
Klaus
OPTOTEC.net
800-924-6023
Frank Goss