They service the van, they sell me the part, and they help me understand how to install it.
When I take it to the dealer for service, order a part, or contact a tech for a question, they don't tell me they can't help me unless I buy a new car. Old tech or not, they built it, and they know how it's assembled. I don't think it's out of line to contact the support line of a company that I've spent nearly $10k with to get some help with a technical question on purchased hardware and expect to get a reasonable amount of assistance. Thus, the DHC is not obsolete, although it is older technology. However Plasmacam still sells DHC parts on their website.
I understand that hardware and software advances. There's no parts replacement section on the DVDs I received. BTW, the DHC video contains assembly instructions for the table (and the torch holder is already assembled when shipped), and instructions on modifying plasma cutters for use with Plasmacam. When I responded that I had already watched the entire video and it didn't contain a parts replacement section, he emphasized that it did, and that he couldn't off me any more help. When I told him I did, he said that the instructions for parts replacement was on the video and that this would answer my question. He asked me if I still had my original assembly video. When I told him I wasn't quite ready to plunk down $6k for upgrades I didn't really need, he essentially stopped listening.
As soon as 'Rex' heard I was running a DHC table, I got an extended pitch to upgrade to a DHC 2 table and DesignEdge. I was calling to get some tips on removing my torch holder from the z axis motor and gantry slide so that I could fab up some alternate tool holders (I have a DHC table). Unfortunately it's not limited to the software. The same cannot be said of a lot of 15 year old companies. The thing to consider is ROI (Return on Investment) that looks at the original cost, cost of maintenance and repairs and Up time over a finite lifespan of the machine.Īt least PCAM is still around and the same basic company years later. Just as occurred in the computer revolution you get innovation and acceleration of features but the lifespan of the technology is shorter too. One good thing is that the unit cost of a mid range tables has gone down and features gone up. A lot of vendors only offer support to the original purchaser. If you read most software licenses you don't really OWN anything.you have no legal right to resell it. Often that may include minor upgrades and support. Huge advances in hardware and software have happened in just the last 5 years.Ī lot of software companies have started to adopt the yearly "lease" model so you pay monthly or yearly for a subscription. I know everybody wants to get all the red off the lollipop they can but technology advances at a point you are in "dog years". In a World were even the OS versions change every 18 months and support is cancelled after 5 years or less it makes sense for the user to consider the trade off of running outdated software and/or hardware versus spending the money in incrementally to stay current.
While asking you to upgrade to a supported software package may look predatory it reflects the reality that the older a technical product gets the more it costs to do support, stock spares or to even answer simple questions. At some point only senior employees can answer those questions and understand the dependencies involved. The support team turns over and newer members have no knowledge of the older stuff. As products get older things occur that drives up that expense. The single biggest indirect expense for any vendor is support.
That created so much negative feedback they finally went to limited free support. If you bught a used table it cost $500 to just transfer the software license. Early on when they were the predominate player you HAD to have an active service contract or they would not even talk to you.