The service contract in the US is ensured to be complied with and filled to American standards. In Singapore and Taiwan you get a local contractor who likely doesn't have access to parts directly from Cynosure at a reasonable price, and so they end up relying on American third party servicers for support. A full service third party contract on your laser should run you less than $10,000 annually.

@GM- Almost no laser parts are proprietary. FDA approvals for lasers are largely based on a "substantially equivalent" designation to equipment built in the '70s. Many manufacturers get out of this by requiring special keys, tools, or passwords which, by FDA regulation 1040.10-11, has to be made available to third parties. Gentleyag is among the simplest lasers for a third party to service.

@Oscar- To put it bluntly, your contact is lying. Most OEM laser rods are manufactured in the US by a major US supplier. At cost, they are at least the price of the service warranty price in Singapore. Furthermore, I have customers in Singapore who have requested I open a local service location due to the lack of availability of parts. I guarantee whoever you are referring to is probably buying their parts from a US based third party.

Optics are very expensive. Crystals, for example, are grown. This process is expensive to both the supplier, wholesaler, and the OEM. The same goes for highly reflective mirrors, anti-reflective mirrors, coated windows, fibers, and other optical components. As far as the $15K a year, I am not justifying the OEM's price. I said you can get a third party contract for under $10K. If $10K is too much to pay annually for laser service, then you should re-consider the business you are in. It is very reasonable to expect to pay 10% (OR LESS!) per year in service for the retail cost of your laser. If a laser retails for $150,000, $15,000 is perfectly reasonable for an annual service contract. That comes with caveats, of course... how many times are they coming out per year? Once is a ripoff. Don't settle for less than twice. Also, what is their response time? What STANDARD are they using? What education does their technician have? Most OEM techs use techs with minimal education and work experience, and only train them on that particular device. They are not taught medical laws, regulations, terminology, standards, customer service, electronics, computers, etc.