GE wants $4K for yearly preventative maintenance on a 2 yr old OEC 9900 that's only used 2 days/wk. Rip off or $ well spent?

[emd123]

After my initial purchase 1 yr warranty ended, GE wanted $18,000 per year to keep the OEC 9900 under warranty. I turned it down since I only use the machine 2 days per week and I have a back up c-arm (old but functional) in case of sudden failure. Inquired about preventative maintenance and they're quoting us $4,000 to replace a bunch of part that are working fine.

Ripoff, or necessary and worth it?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Ligament]

These things are insanely expensive to fix out of pocket. If your practice is doing well I suppose you can risk that unexpected cost. For me, I have a service contract as I expect my Pulsera to be broken every time I fire it up (as I do with any c-arm...too many moving parts and things to break).

 

[pastafan]

Too much. I believe Philips tech told me it runs about $800/yr for PM visit. The 18k is more than double what Philips charges for service plan. Even replacing anode shouldn't be more than 36k, odds are you are saving not having that warranty.

 

[emd123]

Too much. I believe Philips tech told me it runs about $800/yr for PM visit. The 18k is more than double what Philips charges for service plan. Even replacing anode shouldn't be more than 36k, odds are you are saving not having that warranty.

I agree the warranty is a rip off. After a few years of paying the $18K I could have a new machine. But without the warranty, do you think the preventative maintenance (sans warranty) is worth the $4K?

It sounds like you’re saying no, and they’re not offering to replace the expensive stuff, like the anode or glass, just the hard drive, 2 fans and the 3 batteries.

 

[pastafan]

I agree the warranty is a rip off. After a few years of paying the $18K I could have a new machine. But without the warranty, do you think the preventative maintenance (sans warranty) is worth the $4K?

It sounds like you’re saying no, and they’re not offering to replace the expensive stuff, like the anode or glass, just the hard drive, 2 fans and the 3 batteries.

Absolutely not if it isn't bumper to bumper for that price.

 

[pmrmd]

I've been through this three times now with my 9900s. After the first year usually I had to change my batteries once a year, which costs 2k, so I made out not having the maintenance contract. At about year 4 parts started going bad and it became worth while to have the maintenance contract in place.

 

[Doctodd]

i didnt need to replace my batteries for 3-5 years(on 8800 and 9800).....every year sounds off. Batteries are about $1000 and the labor about $300-500.

 

[Doctodd]

my guy just got rehired by GE so sounds like they might be trying to corner every angle of the market.

 

[powermd]

For our 9800s the fee for x-ray glass is about about 10K, and the II is 20K.

We had to replace x-ray glass on one because the cable kept breaking wires to the point where the whole cable needed to be replaced (there are many redundant wires for this reason). Unfortunately, the cable could not be unscrewed from the x-ray source unit without breaking it, thus necessitating replacing the glass too. Went back and forth with GE on this and ultimately they agreed to split the cost with us 50/50. Still absurd we had to pay anything on that beyond the cable repair.

 

[promethius]

The warranty on my refurbished 9800 recently expired. I spoke to GE OEC about renewing the warranty. They offered 2 plans for me. The first was a service contract without glass for $8K a year with 10-20% discount for signing up for either the 5-year or 7-year service agreement. The second was a select call contract, which covered an annual maintenance inspection and 2 service calls with a 30% discount on glass, for $6K a year, again with a 10-20% discount for signing up for either the 5-year or 7-year service agreement.

As I am still building my practice and do not regularly use my c-arm, I held off on signing up for one of those manufacturer-sponsored service contracts. Has anyone used third party vendors to fix problems with your c-arm? What is the percentage cost savings one can expect from using third party vendors instead of going through the manufacturer, and do you think it ultimately makes a difference in terms of the outcome of the repair?