[filmscanners] Re: Multi-coloured lines in images...

["Arthur Entlich" <artistic-1@shaw.ca>]

ThomasH wrote:


  >
  >
  > But the point here is that so many people, including myself, believe
  > that this merger is a nonsense because the both companies are in
  > similar troubles and have a largely overlapping spectrum of products.


As an HP stockholder, I have my view on this merger, and will vote
accordingly.  My posting wasn't to debate the possible merger one way or
the other, because IMHO, it isn't appropriate to this list, but I did
want to explain why I felt Ezio might receive a better ear now than
perhaps another time and how he might maximize his impact.

I agree that HP has fallen down in recent years in their ability to deal
with clients.  I wrote Lou Platt a three page letter in December of 1998
about this exact issue, and again soon after when Carly Fiorina took
over.  I have spoken to a number of HP representatives since then,
always emphasizing the importance of customer service and good tech support.

HP appears to be in that mode where they think the word "service"
applies to only their top 100 accounts. I've warned them about that
attitude, and that it would come to roost, and it seems that it has.  No
company can rely upon market share alone to maintain momentum.  It is
fraught with danger, because it allows for death by a million cuts, as
smaller companies, better suited to supply personalized service to
develop inroads into that market share.  Unless companies like HP think
they can continue to grow and prosper on their top 100 accounts, they
better take notice of the smaller ones as well.

As many have experienced, HP has now gone to 90 day warranties on
many of their products in North America. I know warranties are an
expensive liability, especially with products which have a lot of
mechanical complexity like scanners and printers, but I have noticed in
retailers around here people who were leaning toward an HP product,
cross it off their list as soon as that 90 day warranty come up.  After
all, what does it say about a product when the company that "knows it"
won't stand behind it more than 3 months?    And, if you decide to buy
that extended warranty from your retailer, often the more expensive item
with the longer warranty becomes better value.

Anyway, I hope Ezio finds some manner to encourage HP to rethink their
decision in the case of his scanner.

  >
  > Regarding suggestions to Eizo: Maybe he should also give a try with
  > HP repair services in UK and Germany? HP has large organizations
  > there and research labs. Maybe the refusal to repair was someone's
  > individual mistake?

I honestly don't know how HP is structured internationally, but I'm sure
a lot comes from their US office, which is why I suggested going there
first.  You may be right, perhaps one of their European main offices
might prove useful to correspond with.  I'd still CC: anything to HP US
and to the CEO's address.

Art





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