Printer service contract query

Ch1ckenlady

Hi all.

We're a small business with one printer which we own. It's a few years old but reliable, though of course, we pay for toner etc and repairs/maintenance.

We're considering taking on a service contract for a new printer (which will scan, fax and print headed paper - which we presently buy in) and on the face of it, the quote we've been provided seems reasonable. It's apparentlly based on our useage (taken from the present machine). It is a 'comprehensive service contract which includes all Xerox consumables, telephone support and on site maintenance'

Before we arrive at a decision, could anyone advise of the common pitfalls or something I may not have considered?

It's just my luck to sign up and get stung for something!

Thanks all. I look forward to any advice you can offer.

paulwf

Could I ask what your usage will be?

I'm constantly amazed by how much technology has moved on and how cheap it has become. I have a fabulous b/w laser printer that cost £40, my inkjet that also cost around that still works but is relegated to scanning duty.

I have very small printing/scanning needs compared to most businesses but given those kinds of prices I'd imagine a £2-300 machine must be fabulous, and at that price there wouldn't really need to be a support contract which is expensive and ties you in.

Not my area of expertise but hope you don't mind me posting as you mention your printer is a few years old and like me you might be amazed by how much you can get for so little money.

Savvy_Sue

If you can, I'd work out what you've paid on toner and repairs etc over the last, say, 3 years. Then compare that with the lease prices. Generally I'd say leasing was really only for seriously large or 'mission-critical' volumes.

We paid about £300 a couple of years ago for a colour laser printer which does all you need. A set of refill toners is about £140. It's our backup printer, and I'd always recommend having a backup printer ...

paddyrg

I just bought a Panasonic scanner/mono laser networked printer for under £100 inc VAT *delivered*, toner is £35 for 2000 pages on normal (ie non 'toner save' mode). It even has a document feeder at that price, if I just wanted flatbed scanning they start at £70 inc VAT. What I'm highlighting is that you can get some real deals at the small-business end of the market. I installed it myself with no technical challenges in about 30 mins. Really worth a look (mine was via Amazon)

Catherine_Johnson_2

Ch1ckenlady wrote: »

........ telephone support and on site maintenance......

Telephone support? For a printer? What do they think you'll be ringing up to ask?

The same goes for maintenance. We have a laser printer which must be 8 or 9 years old and is still going strong. It's done many tens of thousands of mailshots over the years and has never gone wrong. We also have a newer scanner/printer/copier which only cost about £60 (can't remember the exact price now). Again, there's no problems with it.

As others have said, look at the price of new printers - without 'telephone support' maintenance etc etc. I think you might find you'll save money by not signing up to this.

Savvy_Sue

Catherine_Johnson wrote: »

Telephone support? For a printer? What do they think you'll be ringing up to ask?

To be fair, I have sometimes had telephone support for our large printer: I describe a problem, and someone tells me how to fix it. Usually it's something as simple as cleaning this that or the other, which is probably covered in the destructions.

For my small printers (work and home), I phone our local cartridge refilling service and ask what it might be and if it's worth trying to fix it. But they don't charge for this (and they are all-round wonderful!)

Ch1ckenlady

paulwf asked about useage.

Over the last 9 years our HP4650 hasproduced 144,717 black and white prints (4,019 prints per quarter) and 173,527colour prints (4,820 prints per quarter). The historical printer coverage taken from theHP states, Black coverage @ 2.7%, Magenta coverage @ 0.6%, Yellow coverage @0.9% and cyan coverage @ 0.9%

We have just replaced one black toner which cost £150 alone. The coloured ones cost a little more (about £700 if replacing all in one go but thankfully that hasn't happened for a while).

We've tried non HP toners but it was a false economy as we ended up with needing the repair chap!

emsywoo123

Ch1ckenlady wrote: »

paulwf asked about useage.

Over the last 9 years our HP4650 hasproduced 144,717 black and white prints (4,019 prints per quarter) and 173,527colour prints (4,820 prints per quarter). The historical printer coverage taken from theHP states, Black coverage @ 2.7%, Magenta coverage @ 0.6%, Yellow coverage @0.9% and cyan coverage @ 0.9%

We have just replaced one black toner which cost £150 alone. The coloured ones cost a little more (about £700 if replacing all in one go but thankfully that hasn't happened for a while).

We've tried non HP toners but it was a false economy as we ended up with needing the repair chap!

How much have they quoted you per click? Mono and Colour? And is there a monthly service charge? Finally, you need to check if there is a monthly/quarterly "minimum billing charge"

NB I used to work for a copier company

DCodd

If you go for the contract, the very first thing you should ensure is that every pc has a default print setting of Black & White, so many times I see people printing B&W text docs but their default setting is Colour and the printer registers a more expensive Colour print.

Ch1ckenlady

emsywoo123 wrote: »

How much have they quoted you per click? Mono and Colour? And is there a monthly service charge? Finally, you need to check if there is a monthly/quarterly "minimum billing charge"

Thanks for your reply. You're a useful person to know!

If it's ok, I'll just list the quote as it was received. It'll probably make more sense to you:


Configuration


Equipment
ColorQube 8700 Copy/Print/Scan, Duplex Automatic Document Feeder, 1 x 525 Sheet Tray, UK/Es/Pt/Gr/DMO.

Service contract


We can offer you acomprehensive service contract that includes Xerox consumables, telephonesupport and on-site maintenance of your equipment.

Black/White & Useful Colour charge. £0.0052
Everyday colour charge - £0.026
Expressive colour Charge - £0.052


These rates include supply ofCyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black toners, regardless of toner yield. This servicecontract covers parts, labour and travel. It includes the print engine andassociated connection.

Proposed cost


Volume Per Quarter:
7,875 Black and White/Useful colour
723 Everyday Colour
241 Expressive Colour
Volumes based on information taken from HP 4650 26/04/12
Lease Per Quarter:
£190.77 based on a five year term.
This price includes: Delivery, Installation and Training.
Total Cost Per Quarter:
£262.51
This shows a saving of 21.74 per quarter compared to your current spend.

There is no mention of a monthly service charge on the quote nor monthly/quarterly minimum billing charge.
If the above doesn't cover this, could you advise what I should ask?
Thanks again.

Savvy_Sue

DCodd wrote: »

If you go for the contract, the very first thing you should ensure is that every pc has a default print setting of Black & White, so many times I see people printing B&W text docs but their default setting is Colour and the printer registers a more expensive Colour print.

Definitely! Mind you, one thing I'm still trying to work out (and maybe Emsy can tell me ...) is whether or not to put the default print setting to double sided.

It seems to me that that's obviously fine for d/s documents, but when I use that setting I think that it's registering two clicks for every single page document. I've just mentally worked out how to check this, of course (by taking a meter reading before and after printing a one page doc) which I shall have to do tomorrow. Meanwhile I'm still left with a dilemma: I have the wit to change it to single sided when necessary, but I doubt if many of my colleagues would a) remember and b) be bothered.

So how do I work out whether any of them are printing more 1 page docs than multiple pages? Probably can't ...