Off the Cuff: Service Contracts and Industry Standards

Last year I finally upgraded our OCT to an OCTA with angiography. I was hesitant to give up our tried-and-true Optovue iVue OCT. It was simple to operate, captured reliable and repeatable images, and was used in nearly every aspect of the practice from primary care to emergency visits, routine diabetic exams, glaucoma testing, corneal thickness monitoring for Fuchs dystrophy, keratoconus, and corneal injury patients, postoperative care for evaluating cystoid macular edema and epiretinal membranes to scleral contact lens fitting. It was our workhorse, but it was showing its age. It was time to trade it in. Upgrading was not without its headaches but after getting all the exam room computers upgraded to meet specs, we were up and running. This first year has been a learning curve figuring out its quirks and workarounds, so, frankly, I was surprised when I received notification that our one-year manufacturer warranty was up. What was surprising was that the time had flown by so quickly, but alarmingly surprising was the offered service contract price for 2 years was literally 20% of what I paid for the instrument… and this was discounted. I contacted them to see if there was a lower tier available. No. I asked why this was priced so high. I was given a perfunctory, “It’s the industry standard based on the full retail price of the instrument.” I have paid for many service contracts for many different instruments over the years and don’t recall any of them being this high.

Why does medical equipment, scratch that, expensive medical equipment have only a one-year manufacturer's warranty? Anything that would happen in that time frame would be an indication of a defective piece of equipment, which is a much bigger manufacturing problem than just a warranty. This raises the question of build quality or the implied lack thereof. If this is the quality-built item that I was told it to be, why only one year? I’ve purchased less expensive motor vehicles that are covered bumper to bumper if anything goes wrong at all for three to five years. I’ve bought used cars that still had manufacturer warranties in place that were transferred to me. These vehicle warranties foster such a sense of loyalty to the manufacturers of these vehicles. Yet, for these pieces of medical equipment that are key to the functionality of my practice and my ability to care for patients, I get only one year. This creates an adversarial relationship with the equipment manufacturer, with them holding the expensive service contract or even more expensive repair bill over your head as a threat to be able to get back to work.

If the original purchase price of the instrument had been fractionally higher and included a 3-year “bumper to bumper” warranty, the financial net to manufacturer would have been the same, but the perception of instrument quality and manufacturer reputation would have been incredibly more positive and made me far more likely to recommend and buy from them again. I realize it’s all perception, but it would seem the equipment manufacturers need to do better to stand out and not join in the swamp of the “industry standard.”

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Write to Dr. Shannon L. Steinhäuser, OD, MS, FAAO at ssteinhauser@gmail.com. The views expressed in this editorial are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Jobson Medical Information LLC (JMI), or any other entities or individuals.