The Telephone Equipment:
- Look at the warranty. How
well is the manufacturer and the dealer backing what they sell?
Toshiba
and STE-COM offer a TWO YEAR WARRANTY on parts and labor.
Most others systems come with one year.
- Price an annual service contract
up front. For comparison purposes,
add those expenses to the cost of the systems with short warranties.
- Stay away from the after-market
extended warranties. They often
have deductibles, exclusions, hidden costs and lots of legal language. Some
dealers will offer or include them to make it look like they have a competitive
warranty.
- Ask about the reason for a short
warranty. If the manufacturer of the phones only has a short
warranty, e.g. one year, or if the dealer is only offering one-year
labor, you may want to ask "why".
- How well is the phone set made?
If you press hard on the plastic near the keypad, does it
flex? The type and thickness of the plastic will tell you a lot about
how the rest of the phone is built. You could (if so inclined) stand
on the Toshiba system without causing damage. (We’ve done it!)
- Does the phone system quote
have internal battery backup included in the event of a power
outage? How long will the batteries last?
Toshiba will give you 1½
- 2 hours or more under normal use.
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