[filmscanners] Slide holder for Polaroid SS4000

["Thomas Maugham" <TMaugham@yahoo.com>]

Dear Gentle Readers, draw near and hear my tale of woe.

Nearly two months ago, on July 31, 2002, I telephoned the Polaroid customer
service number (800 343-5000) to order a spare slide holder for my SS4000.
The CSR I spoke to (I didn't record his name) accepted the order and told me
that the slide holders were currently on backorder with delivery to Polaroid
expected in 2-4 weeks.  I told him to process the order, which he did and
gave me an order number, and he said that Polaroid would call me when the
order would ship.

As it is now September 24, 2002, and I have not yet received the order, I
called Polaroid to check the order status.  Lo and behold, I was told that
my timing was excellent, the slide holders are in stock and mine will ship
tomorrow!  Needless to say I was overjoyed but I managed to curb my
excitement sufficiently to ask why, if presumably the SS4000+ scanners are
shiping to customers, why did I have to wait nearly two months for a
replacement slide holder?  The CSR with whom I was speaking confirmed that
the SS4000+ are indeed flying out of the warehouse but could not answer my
question so I was transferred to someone in the scanner department.  He
informed me that it's Polaroid's policy to give first priority to shipping
complete "kits" (a kit being a scanner, instructions, film holder, slide
holder, etc.) and to ship replacement parts (slide holders for example) if
they happen to have any that are not dedicated to making up "kits".  I asked
him if that priority would change if an existing scanner owner was unable to
use his/her scanner because the slide holder was completely broken. His
answer was that it would not. I suggested to him that it appears to be
Polaroid's policy to gather new customers and relegate existing customers to
the back burner and he basically told me that I could draw my own
conclusions.

Now I am fortunate in that my original slide holder is not broken, I simply
wanted a spare "just in case".  But given Polaroid's customer service
policy, it might be prudent for any owner of an SS4000/4000+ to invest in an
additional slide holder "just in case" as it is apparent that Polaroid is
not going to be sympathetic if yours is unusable (except perhaps to sell you
a complete "kit"!). Now might be a good time to place your order as I am
told that they are currently in stock for shipment as replacement parts.  I
did ask how many they had in stock but they were unable to tell me.

Happily for you scanners-of-negatives, negative holders are plentiful!

Regards,

Tom Maugham


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