One of the most common questions we get asked is "Why should I cover my Polycom videoconferencing product under a service contract?

By default your Polycom videoconferencing product is covered by a 1 Year Parts and 90 Day Software update warranty. That means that if your product becomes defective during the first year you have to get an RMA # from Polycom, pack up your product in a box that you have to find and provide and ship it back to Polycom at your expense. It will then take between 3 to 4 weeks before you will get a refurbished unit shipped back to you.

In addition after 90 days you no longer qualify for any software updates or upgrades. A single software update costs as much as a maintenance contract for a whole year which also includes express part replacement and tech support. Make no mistake, while the software upgrades are posted on the Polycom website, you will need an upgrade license key in order to apply it to your unit. After the initial year you will no longer have access to any telephone technical support for any questions or troubleshooting without maintenance renewal. These software updates and upgrades are extremely important as we have seen many new features as well as quality and compatibility improvements.

We at GIS keep all of our demo equipment and all of our own in-house day to day equipment covered by the same maintenance aka service contracts. Should you consider at a later point to put your Polycom unit back under maintenance Polycom will backdate the start date of your contract to the purchase date (OR BE CHARGED A SERVICE RE-ACTIVATION FEE on top of regular maintenance) - thus there is no economical advantage whatsoever in waiting - frankly you would be paying for service you didn't have if you add it later.

A valid service contract (registered under the 14 digit serial number of your Polycom unit which can be found in the software and on a barcode of your unit) not only covers your videoconferencing hardware such as camera, microphone pod, VTC unit, remote control, but also any license keys such as multi-point capability, People & content, People ON Content, bandwidth upgrades and any ISDN modules or peripherals. These license keys are worth real money and replacement hardware would not come with those license keys unless they are covered by a valid warranty or maintenance contract. A valid service contract qualifies you for the following service:

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