ULS laser prices just jumped!

[Steve Morris]

Sounds like a crock of a reason to me, so its the same cost for shipping 20 miles as it is 1000 miles - yeah right!
If you collect/deliver yourself or arrange your own courier will it be $1400 --- hmmm unlikely.

If its been that price for a long time I don't see an issue with being open that costs have risen and need to be reflected in the selling price.
What I don't like is feeling that I am lied to coz they don't have the courage to be honest.

[Lee DeRaud]

I agree the price jump was a shock when I got mine last month. (Sad bit is, it was starting to fade before the new prices took effect, just wasn't using it enough to really need the new tube.)

But I seem to recall ULS being (much) cheaper on tube replacement than Epilog et al...did they just come up to market level?

[Lee DeRaud]

Just called ULS for a laser cartridge exchange, I just did one 6 months ago, (I have a dual 60w cartridge system) it was $1200, a reasonable price compared to most others I've heard about, they just quoted me $2150! Anyone know why the price has gone up so much? Sucks for me, he said they just changed the pricing too. Something to consider for the new laser buyer.

I was told the new prices were effective in April, so it sounds like you actually got lucky with your previous exchange.

[Bill George]

The deal is, it looks like these name brand laser makers and I own a ULS I would not give up, are going the wrong direction. With the Chinese laser and tube makers already taking a larger share of the market every year these name brand people are shooting themselves in the foot.

They should be thinking about value for the dollar, pound or franc and not price gouging loyal customers.

The chickens will come home to roost and the US mfg will start asking for trade protection when it does.

[Nicolas Silva]

Just got a quote from my distributor for a 45W replacement. Cost is $1750-$1850 shipping included.
No real wait time on a 45W. All the backlog seems to be in the 50 and 60W range.

[Scott Marquez]

(I was told by ULS I have to go through my distributor now).

It looks to me like ULS is giving the distributor a piece of the pie. It makes sense because now you have to call your local distributor more often and while he has you on the phone, if he is doing his sales job he will also keep you abreast to their latest and greatest machine.
Scott

[Paul Phillips]

It looks to me like ULS is giving the distributor a piece of the pie. It makes sense because now you have to call your local distributor more often and while he has you on the phone, if he is doing his sales job he will also keep you abreast to their latest and greatest machine.
Scott

Scott, I think that ULS are trying to shift the burden of lost laser tubes to the individual distributors who will now have to come up with their own return policies if they don't already have them so that they don't suffer the same fate.

The deal is, it looks like these name brand laser makers and I own a ULS I would not give up, are going the wrong direction. With the Chinese laser and tube makers already taking a larger share of the market every year these name brand people are shooting themselves in the foot.

They should be thinking about value for the dollar, pound or franc and not price gouging loyal customers.

The chickens will come home to roost and the US mfg will start asking for trade protection when it does.

Bill, i hope that's not the case but seems more likely than not.

I was told the new prices were effective in April, so it sounds like you actually got lucky with your previous exchange.

Lee, I checked the date, it was actually back in February, time flies by faster than you think I guess.

Just got a quote from my distributor for a 45W replacement. Cost is $1750-$1850 shipping included.
No real wait time on a 45W. All the backlog seems to be in the 50 and 60W range.

Nicolas, I wonder if that price reflects an increase as well?

BTW, I sent the bad tube to http://www.evergreenlaser.com/ so i will give them a try and post the results here when it's done, sounds like a good company so far.

[Scott Shepherd]

Paul, the rep I spoke to said he had never heard of anyone not sending a tube back. If that rep has "never" heard of it, I'd be surprised if that's the issue. He also hadn't heard that from ULS. ULS told him it was a normal price increase to cover next day air shipping both ways.

To me, that's stupid too. Why would you need to next day air a dead tube back? They should next/2nd day the tube depending on the circumstance, then do ground on the way back, making the customer cover the entire cost on a hold on the credit card, then once the tube gets back, process the transaction.

I know the tubes I sent back to Epilog were done that way. Even under warranty you had to pony up a credit card number until they got their tube back.

Someone's not being honest in this mess.

It's not going to make people stop getting tubes recharged, it's going to make people stop getting tubes recharged by ULS, which is exactly what you did. So their new policy has now taken a very loyal ULS customer and sent them out into the market place because they felt they were being ripped off. How's that feeling going to carry over when that customer needs a new laser, or an additional laser? (hint to ULS : Not very well)

I've always liked ULS machines and liked their company and the way they did business, but if this is the direction they are going, it's going to change a lot of opinions on them from a lot of people in the industry.

[Paul Phillips]

Steve, My rep did say that he had seen it happen where he had a customer actually throw away the old tube in the trash! What bothers me most about the increase is that if they are just trying to cover their shipping charges like you said, then a $900 increase seems way over board, like you said, something else is going on, it doesn't seem right and it's turned me off to them.