Dear all, I have received seven responses to my questions listed below. Here is my summary and some additional info:
Original question:
I have a few questions for those who have Bruker cryoprobes and work hard to get funding for yearly maintenance contract.
1) Do you have service contract with a third party? By that I mean you still have Bruker's service but you don't have contract with Bruker, and instead, you have a contract with a third party. When any service is needed (such as yearly cryo-platform maintenance) you would contact this third party and they would then ask Bruker to come to perform the maintenance and then pay Bruker the cost. Of course you would pay less on the contract with the third party then the contract with Bruker.
2) If the answer to the first question is yes, was the service work done just as quick as when you had the contract directly with Bruker? Or, is the priority of service lowered by going through a third party?
3) Does your contract include the cryoprobe(s)?
4) How many years have you been using Bruker's cryoprobe without any need of repair?
Summary based on seven manager's replies:
1) One facility has just signed the service contract with a third party named Remi Group (the same group that has been pursuing facilities in our campus). Two other facilities have been pursued by Remi but decided against it.
2) It is too early yet to tell whether Bruker's service through a third party will be slowed down. Less-prioritized service is our main concern in deciding whether we should sign up with the third party. One other facility has decided to go against the third party contract fearing the same.
3) No one has probe service contract with Bruker. One facility had probe contract before but had decided to drop it because the probes work reliably for years.
4) The problems with cryoprobes seem to develop during or shortly after installation which should be covered by the warranty. Some probes are >7-8 years old without problems. Both of our Bruker cryoprobes have no problems for >4 years. As one manager pointed out, it helps if the probes are not changed out and they do not experience >3 warm up/cool down cycles per year.
Additional information on cryo-platform contract with Bruker:
Only two out of seven facilities have contract with Bruker for cryo-platform service. All others use Bruker's cryo-platform service but do not have a contract (pay as they go). By comparing the only two figures available to me I think the cost for the cryo-platform service is 63% of the cost of the contract. Without contract one could postpone the service from normally ~14 months toward two years if the system operates within the normal range or has not been in operation for a while. If the cryo-platform maintenance is the only service required one would save thousands of dollars each year by not having a contract with Bruker. Note that the cryo-platform contract also covers the compressor. Two people mentioned that they had to replace the compressors. We too, had one of our compressors replaced after three years. In addition, our last cryo-platform service had to be done after seven months due to a failing coldhead. Luckily the service contract we had with Bruker covered the cost both times. Without contract we would have to pay out of pocket.
One manager has this information on whether to use Bruker's or a third party's services:
1) We had our cryoprobe helium compressor serviced by a 3rd party with no problem, but we use Bruker for the platform annual maintenance.
The annual coldhead service turned out to be a better deal from Bruker. 3rd party quotes to change the coldhead were very nearly the same cost as Bruker's annual service, but the 3rd parties offered fewer services and could not operate the service software. Bruker will service the rough pump and filters, which the 3rd parties did not offer. Bruker is also able to operate the service software which allows them to test and troubleshoot, which the 3rd parties could not. Bruker uses the cryoplatform pumps to do the purge, which tests them. 3rd party would replace coldhead and purge with their own pumps.
2) Answer to 1) was NO.
3) No, cryoplatform only. However, if Bruker does the service, they can operate the software and spectrometer to isolate a problem to the probe. 3rd party cannot troubleshoot.
4) We go beyond the 1 year service interval depending on the available reserve power, but have always needed service within 2 years.
Thanks so much to all who took time to answer my questions. It is very helpful to me. I want to end this with one manager's statement which I think is very well made:
"Our service contract budgets have dropped significantly over the years due to severe budget cuts and we are pretty much duplicating what Remi does within the university itself - pay for service as needed from the total money saved by minimizing service contracts."
Best regards,
Wei
Wei Wycoff
NMR Facility Manager
125 Chemistry Building
601 S. College Ave.
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia, MO 65211
Phone: (573) 884-7807 (office), (573) 882-3291 (lab)
Fax: (573) 882-2754
Email: WycoffW_at_missouri.edu
Received on Wed Feb 15 2012 - 06:10:02 MST