Prescott’s Inc was started 21 years ago in the Redner family’s basement. “My father came up with the idea of taking old microscope systems that hospitals were no longer using and refurbishing them to new standards,” says Matthew Redner, service manager for the company. The company now works on every brand of surgical microscope, including Zeiss, Leica, Weck, Topcon, Wild, and Storz, and employs five full-time techs that work in-house on repairs and scope refurbishment. We talked to Redner about the company’s past and future.
24×7: What have been a few challenges the company has faced? How have you overcome them?
Redner: Probably the biggest challenge we have faced is our size. We are a small company. We get hundreds of calls a day for both information about purchases as well as repairs and troubleshooting. There are calls that we get that we have to basically send to our competitors because the microscopes they are looking for are too new for us to acquire. With growth comes more demand, but the supply does not necessarily increase as much as the demand. However, one of the benefits of being a small company is that we are able to be more responsive to the customers’ needs and we are able to focus more on customer service. We don’t have voice mail. Every time you call Prescott’s, a live voice answers. We don’t have extensions. That is something we always want to stress—that we try to have an actual human voice available whenever you call.
24×7: What would you say is the company’s strength?
Redner: I would say that our flagship product is our service. Every microscope that ships out goes out looking like it is brand new. Whether the microscope is 25 years old or 2 years old, it gets the same treatment. Every microscope goes through a full optical, electrical, and cosmetic overhaul. In many instances, we need to replace worn-out parts with new parts. However, these parts have not been made in 15 years! To help overcome this problem, Prescott’s Inc owns its own full-time machine shop. This allows us to manufacture parts that nobody has made for years. This also ensures that we can uphold our standard 2-year warranty much better.
