HCSD FAQ's

1. Who is High Country Service Data?
2. What facilities does HCSD offer?
3. Do you sell spare parts, components, or remote controls?
4. Do you have a catalogue available?
5. Why don't you supply a printed catalogue?
6. Why a libary?
7. Who can rent manuals from HCSD?
8. Can you just mail or fax me a circuit diagram?
9. How much does it cost to rent or buy a manual?
10. How long can I rent a manual for?
11. What if the manual being returned is lost in the mail?
12. How many manuals can I rent at one time?
13. Can I copy the manuals?
14. Am I able to place orders after hours?

High Country Service Data (HCSD) is a family owned business dedicated to the supply and distribution of Service Data to the electronics service industry. We were established in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia in 1973 and operated as a normal electronics service business until August 1991. In July of 1990 we established a rental library of service manuals for consumer electronics products. By August of 1991, this library had grown to the extent that we chose to close the service side of our business to concentrate on the supply of service manuals. Having outgrown our premises in Moss Vale, we chose to relocate our business to Cooma in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains, and changed our name to the more appropriate High Country Service Data. For a more detailed history see About HCSD

HCSD offers a service manual rental facility to the Australia and South Pacific region for consumer electronic products. To rent a manual from us, you need a customer file. This can be established via fax, phone or email, but requires the use of a credit card for billing purposes. We are able to sell manuals for most of the brands that we carry in stock unless otherwise specified. However, because we are not part of any manufacturer, we do not offer technical support via phone or online. For our online service see HCSD Direct, for all other services that we offer please look at Other Services

We are not a spare parts distributor, and as such, do not sell spare parts or components. We specialise in service & instruction manuals. Although we do supply replacement instruction manuals for consumer electronic equipment, we do not stock the remote controls or other accessories generally supplied with a new unit. It is generally best to contact the manufacturer directly for these items. For contact information on manufactures have a look at Brand Websites

Simple answer, No. We used to supply a set of 5 floppy disks as our catalogue, however our database was constantly being updated and so the disks were always out of date. We do offer a type of online catalogue called HCSD Direct. For more information please see HCSD Direct

We do not supply the catalogue in a printed version, as a printed version would, with the *current* number of manuals, be over 2000 pages long, and prohibitively expensive. Also, due to the fact the database is updated daily, it would be out of date a week after it was printed.

In many instances, when a product is received for service, it may not be economically viable to purchase a service manual when it may only be needed once. In other cases, a service manual for the unit may actually be no longer available from the manufacturer. In most cases it is far more economical to rent a manual to repair that job, and pass the low cost of the rental on to the customer.

You may rent manuals if you are actively involved in the electronics industry, either professionally or as a hobbyist, and have the ability to properly interpret a service manual, and carry out service with the necessary safety procedures. (Like not sticking a screwdriver into a live power supply, etc.)

We prefer to send a complete service manual, as this also contains the part numbers. This keeps spare parts suppliers and manufacturers happy when you can quote them the correct part number for the component you require. For this reason, we do not supply circuit diagrams on their own unless a circuit diagram is the only information available. We do not fax circuit diagrams, because experience has shown that in most cases a faxed copy of a photocopy of a circuit is virtually unreadable.

The rental charges for a service manual are A$10.00 (+10% GST) per month + postage, packaging & handling (PP&H). Where the purchase price of a rental manual is cheaper than the cost of renting the manual, these manuals are automatically sold. The purchase price of a service manual varies according to the size of the particular manual, thus there is no general answer to this question. We have manuals priced from 30 cents up to several hundred dollars. The PP&H fees for surface mail vary according to the weight of the manuals being despatched, and the destination, but as a rule are generally less than A$8.00. For Express mail the PP&H fees are A$11.00 (inc. GST) from 500grams to 3 Kilograms. Australia Post guarantees Next-Day delivery for packages sent via ExpressPost to most major centres. International PP&H varies according to the destination and size of the package being despatched.

Manuals are rented for an initial period of one (1) month or part thereof. The first month's rental actually has an extra week built-in when calculating the due date for return of the manual, to allow for postage delays. If you find that you require the manual for longer than one month, you do not need to notify us. The rental will be automatically extended by a month, and you will be charged for another month's rental.

With each shipment of manuals from HCSD, you will receive a listing giving the due date for the return of each of the manuals currently listed as being out on loan to you. If the manual is not received at our offices ON or BY the due date, the rental for that manual will be automatically extended for another month, and you will be billed for another month's rental.

Please Note: Over the years, a few clients have insisted that since they despatched the manual on the due date, they do not have to pay the rental fee. The manual must be received by us ON or BY the due date, not despatched. There are NO exceptions to this procedure

Our lossage through Australia Post amounts to an annual average of less than 0.6%. If you have despatched a manual to us, and it does not arrive, you will continue to be charged a monthly rental fee for that manual as it is your responsibility. If you have despatched the manual to us, and it goes missing, we will require a Statutory Declaration (which is a legal document), you will be relieved of your responsibility for the manual in question, and will not be charged any further rental fees on that manual.

You WILL be liable for ALL FEES until a Statutory Declaration is received, UNLESS evidence of despatch of that package can be produced and supplied.

We currently have a processing limit of nine (9) manuals per order. There is no limit to the number of manuals that you may have on loan at one time.

While we have no objections to the copying of the rental manuals (subject to original copyright where applicable), we DO STIPULATE that you must take care of the manuals, and they MUST NOT be DISMANTLED in any way (ie. YOU MUST NOT REMOVE THE STAPLES OR BINDINGS).

For brands that HCSD sells, it may well be more economical to purchase a manual directly from HCSD, as it is more than likely that the manual will be cheaper, and the manual you purchase will probably be a copy of an original, or in many cases, and original manual, rather than a photocopy of a photocopy. If you wilfully damage any manual which is the property of HCSD (this includes dismantling the manual), you will be fined an amount equivalent to two months rental fees PER DAMAGED VOLUME for a first offence. Any subsequent offences may lead to cancellation of your rental facilities, or closure of your customer file.

Orders can be placed after hours via fax, or via e-mail. We do offer an online orders system called HCSD Direct. For more information see Here