From: utzoo!decvax!duke!unc!tucc!hsplab
Newsgroups: net.micro
Title: Printer repair
Article-I.D.: tucc.3308
Posted: Tue Feb  8 01:00:31 1983
Received: Wed Feb  9 05:23:15 1983


My experience with local DEC support for their terminals has not been
much better than that described for the printers mentioned earlier.  We
purchased an LA-36 from DEC Direct and the unit failed within a week.
The local office expressed no interest in repairing the unit, even on a
drop off basis.  Maynard stated that the only way to repair the unit was
to ship the unit back to Maynard, an expensive and unwieldy operation
at best for the LA-36.  My experience has been that unless the terminal
CRT or printer was purchased through the local office and if out of
waranty, has been under service contract, getting service is a **hassle**
from the local offices.  Since most large distributers are discounting
DEC products substantially, I have found that the vendor is the person
that usually provides the service and this service support can be mixed.

I also purchased another LA-36 in New York City some eight to nine years
ago and found that the local office also expressed little to no interest
in providing service support unless it was arranged through the OEM vendor.

In other words, I seriously doubt that local DEC offices will support
drop off service unless their policy has changed within the last 6 months.
The local drop off repair depot for that LA-50 may be as close as Maynard...
which is not bad for the folks near Boston, but lacks as much convenience
as New Jersey for OKIDATA parts.

David Chou, Univ of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
            ...ucbvax!decvax!duke!tucc!hsplab