Printer service contract query

borntodj

Don't go for a 5 year contract, I can guarantee you now that they will be on the phone in 3 years trying to get you to sign a new lease, at which point you will end up in another 5 year term paying for a new MFP plus the 2 years you didn't pay on the last one. Cycle will repeat every 3 years, and you will end up paying for the difference between the 3 and 5 year term in the long run anyway.

That lease price is also too high, a quick search shows you can get that machine for about £1600, granted they need to make their profit plus there will be interest but they can do better than that.

Also check their policy on increasing click charges every year, if possible fix it to a specific time period, i.e. the length of your lease, or make sure there is a cap on the % increase.

emsywoo123

borntodj wrote: »

Don't go for a 5 year contract, I can guarantee you now that they will be on the phone in 3 years trying to get you to sign a new lease, at which point you will end up in another 5 year term paying for a new MFP plus the 2 years you didn't pay on the last one. Cycle will repeat every 3 years, and you will end up paying for the difference between the 3 and 5 year term in the long run anyway.
This is 100% totally true. Completely.

That lease price is also too high, a quick search shows you can get that machine for about £1600, granted they need to make their profit plus there will be interest but they can do better than that.

Also check their policy on increasing click charges every year, if possible fix it to a specific time period, i.e. the length of your lease, or make sure there is a cap on the % increase.

I agree, CPC (cost per click) will increase every year as standard, you need to get it written into the contract that it will not

emsywoo123

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

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 ...

Simply put, double sided should still count as 2 copies

emsywoo123

Cjickenlady those costs look at bit high to me, although admittedly it was 2 years ago that I worked specifically in this field.

For those volumes, I agree that a toner inclusive contract would be best for you, but contact other suppliers. Do not go with this first quote

Ch1ckenlady

Thank you to you all. There is definately a lot of food for thought there and I'm so pleased I asked.

Savvy_Sue

emsywoo123 wrote: »

Simply put, double sided should still count as 2 copies

And what about 'scans to USB' - does that register as a click, since no consumables are used?

emsywoo123

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

And what about 'scans to USB' - does that register as a click, since no consumables are used?

No, if it's not coming out it doesn't

mallada

Just a reminder, you will still need a working backup printer. If something does go wrong with this one it can take weeks for some of these companies to get it repaired properly.

We are still experiencing a problem with one of ours reported about a month ago, though it is working slightly now. It still errors occasionally. It was down for the first 2 weeks.

Savvy_Sue

mallada wrote: »

Just a reminder, you will still need a working backup printer. If something does go wrong with this one it can take weeks for some of these companies to get it repaired properly.

We are still experiencing a problem with one of ours reported about a month ago, though it is working slightly now. It still errors occasionally. It was down for the first 2 weeks.

And remember, if your main printer is also your scanner and your fax machine, you may not want to be without either of those facilities for any length of time either!

We have about 20 members of staff, and I have, on occasion, resorted to using the spare spare printer - when you find that the main printer is non-functioning, and the spare is about to run out of toner, you'll be glad you had a backup or two! :rotfl:

emsywoo123

mallada wrote: »

Just a reminder, you will still need a working backup printer. If something does go wrong with this one it can take weeks for some of these companies to get it repaired properly.

We are still experiencing a problem with one of ours reported about a month ago, though it is working slightly now. It still errors occasionally. It was down for the first 2 weeks.

The company I worked for had a 4 hour response time-If it could not be repaired to an adequate standard *we* provided a back up machine.

This was a disaster!!

So they stopped doing it

Back up printer very good idea!