A leasing question (photocopier)

Savvy_Sue

So, we lease our photocopier, initially for 5 years.

1st year it's OK. 2nd year we seem to see more of the engineer than we do of each other, and everything is replaced apart from the shell, it seems! 3rd year it's all much better again.

And the salesman comes along and says "How about leasing a new machine now, you could be paying less?"

However, when I look closely at the figures he's prepared, yes they ARE less than our current payments, AND the servicing agreement is better, AND there are various other improvements

BUT

We are still required to pay for the remaining two years on the lease - the cost of this has just been rolled up and added to the cost of the new lease before it's divided into 20 (quarterly payments over 5 years).

So, is that normal? I can understand that it would be normal if we'd wanted to move on to a different company, but staying with the same one?

Savvy_Sue

No-one else leases a photocopier? Even if you just told me it was perfectly normal and I should accept it, that would help.

Only I don't want to kick up a fuss unnecessarily. I'm nice like that ... possibly too nice ...

Murphy_The_Cat

Hi Savvy Sue

I gave up using a photocopier a couple of years ago as I always seemed to be on the 'wrong' side of the deal.

Instead, I use a scanner and a Laser Jet printer for my photocopying purposes and its a combination that works fine (& economically) for me.

Savvy_Sue

Thanks Murphy. Should have said, the photocopier is also our best printer. And the new one becomes our scanner as well, although we always have a spare! Or two ...

do you have any idea of your volumes off the top of your head? I'd say our staff numbers and useage and their technical competence would make your solution less practical for us. They can be a bit luddite at times ...

Murphy_The_Cat

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Thanks Murphy. Should have said, the photocopier is also our best printer. And the new one becomes our scanner as well, although we always have a spare! Or two ...

do you have any idea of your volumes off the top of your head? I'd say our staff numbers and useage and their technical competence would make your solution less practical for us. They can be a bit luddite at times ...

We're not exactly the cutting edge !

OK, my 'best' printer cost me about £150 and does approx 10000 pages per month. It is networked via a server and 7 PC's have access to it. The standalone scanner cost about £25 and it outputs via the printer.

In my office, most photocopies are single/double sheets and most of the print runs are from documents on the PC's -- does that help at all ? For us, it is VERY, VERY cost effective compared to leasing/buying a photocopier.

Savvy_Sue

Thought I'd posted an answer to this, but it's disappeared ...

I think our volumes are quite a bit higher than yours, and we also do a lot on coloured paper, and also a fair number of A3 copies.

We generate most of our copying in-house, but there's also quite a lot which comes in by fax / post for us to copy, or forms to be downloaded and printed from t'internet.

At the moment, I encourage everyone to print a single copy on white and proof read it before making multiple copies. It's amazing what you miss when you proof-read onscreen. Plus, as we're doing so many copies onto coloured paper, they have to get up and change the paper before copying. While they're up, they usually make a cup of tea (I do anyway!) and then I hear when the job's done and change the paper. That saves the extra expense of using coloured paper when white would have done.

Bean_Counter

Hi Sue,

I'm afraid I do not know the answer to your question, I am a treasurer for a charity and we have just upgraded our photocopier as the old one was too slow.

In case it is useful and you want a price comparison, we are paying £91.26 per quarter over five years for a new Aficio MP2550AD copier with duplex unit, trays etc.

Murphy_The_Cat

Bean_Counter wrote: »

Hi Sue,

I'm afraid I do not know the answer to your question, I am a treasurer for a charity and we have just upgraded our photocopier as the old one was too slow.

In case it is useful and you want a price comparison, we are paying £91.26 per quarter over five years for a new Aficio MP2550AD copier with duplex unit, trays etc.

Ouch, thanks for reminding me about the hurt in my pocket that leasing a photocopier used to do to me

Hi savvy, it sounds like your requirements are quite a bit more demanding than mine -- which, for your purse, is a shame.:beer:

martindow

I know nothing about renting photocopiers, but the attitude of your present leasing company desperate to tie you in suggests that it must be a very competitive market. Maybe it is worth approaching other companies mentioning the time remaining on the contract and see what they offer?

Pennywise

Photocopier leasing has long been a hotbed of dodgy business practice. What the OP describes is very typical. The worst case I saw of it was a client of mine who paid well over £40,000 over 6 years for a very heavy duty copier that they could have bought for £10,000. Worse still, the "pence per copy" maintenance charge was also huge and far in excess of what an independent local engineer would have charged. There are inbuilt automatic annual increases in both rent and maintenance fees which very quickly increase the overall cost. Even worse, is that copiers tend to fall apart after 3/4 years of hefty use, so you end up paying for the last two years for a copier you can't use. You need to shop around - compare the price of buying outright against price of rental and you also need to see if you can find a local engineer.

sebastianj

Pennywise is spot on, watch out for small prints or you could end up paying huge amounts. I know someone who worked for a company which ordered one of these copiers, he was not the user but only signed for it on behalf of the company. He became personally liable for ensuring payments to the supplier, rent and per copy costs and all.
rgd seb