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Here are some of the claims we’ve heard:
“We strip it [the system] down to the component level.”
Seriously now, do you have any idea how many components are actually in a C-Arm. We’re talking thousands on one board alone. So, do they test each of these components? Who has this much time on their hands? What does this statement really mean? IT'S MISLEADING, MEANINGLESS BUT SOUNDS COOL TO SAY.
“We replace all marginal components.”
This is a good one. How do they determine a component is marginal? How do they even find these marginal components? Do they employ psychics? Do they travel into the future, see what’s going to break down and then return to present day and fix it before it breaks? THIS CLAIM IS COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS. (Besides, we were warned about fooling with the Space-Time Continuum.)
"We install brand new parts and components when we remanufacture.”
Well, here we have a sticky situation. Where do you get new parts for an older, end-of-life system that is no longer supported directly by the OEM? If you're lucky, you can replace a bad board with a good board, BUT it’s likely that the good board came out of a used system. So, where is the remanufacturing in that. And if by some miracle there are new parts installed, have these really been approved by the OEM and FDA for use? Hmmm.
This one is particularly informative
" equipment is thoroughly tested and confirmed to be 100%"
Well, okay, what does this mean? 100% of the parts are there? 100% of it works? Just words, that's all.
"We are so confident in our remanufactured product that we offer an extended warranty.”
CONFIDENT? You mean high-stakes gambler! The original vendor, whether OEC, GE Medical, Philips Medical, Siemens or Ziehm, provides a one-year warranty on BRAND NEW equipment. Why then would any remarketing company be willing to provide a longer warranty? It just doesn’t make sense unless they don't plan to honor it, support it or be around to hear about it.
Dunlee manufactures x-ray tubes and image intensifiers and provides a one year warranty, or on rare occasion, a two-year prorated warranty. So, can a piece of equipment be refurbished to be more durable than when it was new?
The fact is that long-term warranties are a huge gamble for the company providing them. Confidence or confidence game? Only time will tell? Ultimately though, it could be the customer who suffers if the warranty provider disappears under a deluge of claims.
The truth is . . .
. . . in our opinion, that there is no company out there that truly remanufactures C-Arms. Think about it, if you really were to replace every component in a system, wouldn’t the finished product cost just as much as a brand new one. And, since OEC stopped making parts for older systems long ago, the parts being used to replace the so-called “marginal component” is itself used. If you’re putting “used” parts salvaged from another system into a system, is the remanufactured system really remanufactured? Isn’t it just a different piece of used equipment?
To our thinking – remanufactured is just a clever (untrue) way of making refurbished sound better.
We simply don’t buy it. We might be wrong, but we doubt it. We admit that we haven’t been to everyone’s “shop” so to speak, but we doubt that what they’re doing is remanufacturing, but rather refurbishing.
It begs the question - what else are they s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g the truth about?
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