As I understand it, they have. The $2200 credit was explained and they,
more specifically Maurice, explained why they can no longer service the
older displays.
Have a great day,
Alex
----- Original Message -----
From: Earlene Hughes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Joseph Lee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date sent: Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:15:19 -0700
Subject: RE: [Braillenote] latest news on older transplants
Joseph,
You said, "there is supply of service equipments for older cells.
The news of
unabailibility of service for those cells came out few days ago,
it is
highly suspicious in number of ways. First, the news was
"delivered" by a
user of the product, not by HW employees."
I'm not sure how much evidence you need.
I was prepared to give Humanware customer service my credit card
number and was told that they were no longer renewing service agreements
on transplant units that have the older braille cells.
Other customers have also called Humanware and have reported
similar conversations.
Humanware has had enough time to respond to the inquiries that
they have received.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [Braillenote] latest news on older transplants
From: "Joseph Lee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Fri, December 07, 2007 8:53 pm
To: "'Alice Dampman'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: 'Braillenote List' <[email protected]
Hi Alice,
Besides BrailleNote and Victor Reader Stream, HumanWare is
offering things
like Classmate Reader and MyReader (low vision products).
I believe that this whole thread about "older braille displays"
is matter of
economics:
* In Economics, a product which is derived from a demand for a
host item is
called "derived demand." In other words, as people request
things, the
company demands resources/products associated i=with it. For
example, a huge
demand for braille displays on a notetaker not only demands the
actual
things, but the manufacturer needs (that is, demands) other
materials for
displays from display manufacturers such as plastic pins,
protective shells,
electrical controller and so forth. This also demands work of
programmers
since they need to design accurate and efficient device driver to
control
the braille output. These "derived demands" such as pins also
have costs
associated with it. The cost of a braille display is the sum of
the costs of
the resources such as shells, wires and so forth.
* In a market like this, an action from a company has a
tremendous impact on
customers. This is because the company has vast control over a
given market
(about 30%). A market such as assistive technology where few
markets
dominate over 40% of the market is called an oligopoly. For
example, in this
tech market, we have HumanWare, Freedom Scientific, GW Micro and
Levelstar
whose combined forces controls majority of the market. This type
of
oligopoly is formed when smaller companies merge. For example,
FS was
created when HenterJoyce (JAWS maker), Blazie Engineering (BNS
manufacturer)
and Arkenstone (OpenBook seller) merged. Similarly, HumanWare
was created
when PuseData International and Visuaide merged. These "giant"
companies'
action such as this "no more older displays for older
transplants" causes
considerable reaction from customers, as seen for the past few
days.
So here's my opinions on this whole thing:
* Since the news ws brought up few days ago, I think it is
somewhat early to
tell what will happen next.
* When considering the braille displays, please think of the
resources -
derived demand - involved (pins, covers and so forth has costs).
* We have an evidence that, in 2005, Tieman said that it still
has those
cells, and one of the mPower tutorials implied that HW has
confident that
there is supply of service equipments for older cells. The news
of
unabailibility of service for those cells came out few days ago,
it is
highly suspicious in number of ways. First, the news was
"delivered" by a
user of the product, not by HW employees. Second, the news came
out via Tech
Support. It would have been more acceptable if a product
developer or
persons like Dominique and Matthew Janusauscus mentioned it in
first place.
So these are my own opinions. Hope it explains some things here.
BTW, I
apologize if I've offended anyone.
Cheers,
Joseph
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
Alice Dampman
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 2:54 AM
To: Rob Lambert; Sharon Campbell; [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Braillenote] latest news on older transplants
Sharon,
You wrote:
"Personally I've worried about the Braille Note ever since KS 7.5
came
about, and now that this whole transplant bit is being hammered
at, I'm
curious about the remaining division of HumanWare and the like."
Can you elaborate on this?
I have a SMA for the PK, but I of course got no notification
about the
7.5 upgrade and release, and I have not upgraded yet. Do you
feel it is a
mistake to upgrade, or should one say downgrade? *grin*
Also, as long as the list mods don't mind, if people who have the
victor
stream would comment on it on list, I imagine many of us would be
interested
in their experiences. Maybe mark those messages clearly "victor
stream," and
then those who are not interested can skip them?
Thanks
Alice, new to list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Lambert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: "Sharon Campbell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
<[email protected]
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 6:58 PM
Subject: re: [Braillenote] latest news on older transplants
Personally I've worried about the Braille Note ever since KS 7.5
came
about, and now that this whole transplant bit is being hammered
at,
I'm curious about the remaining division of HumanWare and the
like.
The Victor Reader for example is a far better product than
Telex's
line of book readers, and the Stream seems to be generating as
much
buzz as New Year's in Vegas (LOL), if they can put that much
effort
into a simple book reader why not into their much more expensive
products? Anyone have comments on this? Incidentally, just as a
side
note, if anyone is using a Stream at this point and could
comment OFF
LIST (good and bad - i want an honest
opinion) about the stream, please e-mail me OFF LIST with
"Stream opinion"
or something similar in the subject line (and state that you are
from
this list so I don't disregard it as spam). Thanks in advance.
Sharon Campbell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Again! Hi List
and Terri:
Isn't it amazing how people try to weasel out of what they say?
We knew Kim wasn't going to call us back with any price for
upgrading
braille displays in transplants, so we called back.
First, Kim told Chuck that if something happened to his braille
display, they'd be bound to fix it because his contract is good
until
November of '08. He asked her how this would be done if they no
longer have parts for old displays. She said she didn't know,
that
she wasn't a Technician. "But it will be done."
Now, when I mentioned your conversation with her, Terri, she
said the
BrailleNote list was nothing but a "gossip list". She had no
answer
except to put down our list. When we tried to defend the list
by
stating what valuable, helpful information we had received,
again, we
got the same response. By the way, we will receive an "official
email", so they say, when everything is set up. They've
whitewashed
so much, they don't know the truth from a lie.
One other thing, Kim is likening our BrailleNotes to spending
money
on a $5,000.00 big screen TV with a three-year warranty.
Why would blind people buy big screen TV's? Like Chuck said to
her,
"They're all made out of junk so they won't last anyway."
So, is HumanWare considering the BrailleNote in the category of
that
TV as Kim is? If so, the company doesn't belong in Blindness
Technology!!!!!!!!!
----- Original Message -----
From: Sharon Campbell
To: "Terri Pannett"
,
[email protected]
Date sent: Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:59:16 -0600
Subject: re: [Braillenote] latest news on older transplants
Hi Terri and List:
Terri, we also just talked to Kim. We got a totally different
answer from her than you did. She told us that the only way to
get a
service agreement is to send our transplant in to have a new
display
put in your unit.
The amazing thing is, when we called earlier, the message was
that
every customer service rep was in a meeting.
If the chance ever comes, we'd switch to GwMicro.
"Never pity missionaries; envy them. They are where the real
action
is -- where life and death, sin and grace, Heaven and Hell
converge."
--Robert C. Shannon
Coffee Shop phone number: 773-572-3094.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Terri Pannett"
To: "BrailleNote List"
Date sent: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 13:37:42 -0800
Subject: [Braillenote] latest news on older transplants
Dear List,
I just called HumanWare and spoke to Kim. She said HumanWare
will no longer
support service contracts transplants which have the older Tieman
displays.
Also, HumanWare won't put a new display on an older unit. The
only way to
have a maintenance agreement is to buy a new unit.
When I asked why customers weren't notified about the change in
policy, she
said an announcement came out in November. But I said I didn't
receive any
notice and no announcement was made on the BN lists. She had no
answer to
that.
I asked how much a person with an older transplant would have to
pay for
cleaning and she said $100.00. If there are other repairs which
need to be
made, the cost will be more. The service department is supposed
to notify
you for the estimate of the repairs and then you can tell them to
go ahead
with the repairs or send the unit back as is.
My present plan is to use my BN for as long as I can and when it
dies or
needs repair, I'll buy a new notetaker from someone else,
probably GW Micro.
I am very disappointed in HumanWare!
Terri Amateur Radio call sign KF6CA.
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