Beware of very expensive Rental agreements for Franking Machines

g30ff5

We would like to share our experience with other forum members and see how many other businesses have been subject to similar agreements.


We are in a 75 month agreement signed in March 2014 with the Mailing Room (part of FP Mailing at the time) and financed by Investec Ltd


Even in an agreement that included a buy-out of an existing agreement the business is paying over £10,500 + finance charges for a fairly basic machine which is likely to be worth no more than a few hundred pounds. Added to that are annual maintenance charges which are nearly £500


What we need could be got for a little over £15/month on a 12 month deal


What amazes me is not just that someone in our company signed such an agreement without any sense of what they should be paying, but that there are companies out there looking to take advantage of such naievity but that the finance company concerned accepts and pays out on invoices from suppliers that are grossly overstated relying on insured value and the lack of a clear market for buying these machines


It also took a lot of pressing with Investec to find out the amount paid to the Mailing Room

skea56

We had a similar contract with a local company until about 2 years ago.
Nearing the end of our 5 year contract, a salesman "dropped" by to see how we were getting on, the employee he spoke to mentioned the franker was working well, but with increased small packages etc being sent out it would be beneficial to have a weigher in it. The salesman then suggested a newer model which had a weigher included would be beneficial. The employee asked a few times would there be any additional charge for this upgrade, and was told no, the contract would just continue at the same price.
It was not until the new machine arrived with a new contract, which has been revised for a further 5 years! Thankfully an immediate phone call to the company cancelled this and the item returned.

But really in this day and age are they worth any discount? We send and receive most of our invoices (both sales and purchasing) via email, and I could count on one hand the number of useful (Ie not junk mail) postal items we receive each day.

sk56

vuvuzela

Libby_Coe wrote: »

Dear g30ff5,
I work... [snipped]
Thanks
Libby

I wouldn't trust this person at all, they could be anyone. Obviously a legitimate CS rep would have followed the forum rules http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/forum-faqs ...

JReacher1

vuvuzela wrote: »

I wouldn't trust this person at all, they could be anyone. Obviously a legitimate CS rep would have followed the forum rules http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/forum-faqs ...

Would they really?

Obviously I wouldn't phone this person as like you say they could be anyone. However just because they have not bothered reading the rules on posting doesn't mean they are not legitimate. I imagine most people don't read them

vuvuzela

JReacher1 wrote: »

Would they really?

Obviously I wouldn't phone this person as like you say they could be anyone. However just because they have not bothered reading the rules on posting doesn't mean they are not legitimate. I imagine most people don't read them

Phishing spams get better by the month. It would be trivial to sign up here after sorting a non-geographic number and get people to call you then to hand over their account details etc...

i_want_to_believe

Libby Coe
at
Reading, United KingdomFinancial Services
Current
Investec
Previous
Active Operations Management International LLP, Sodexo, Odeon & UCI Cinemas
Education
Chartered Institute of Marketing

JReacher1

vuvuzela wrote: »

Phishing spams get better by the month. It would be trivial to sign up here after sorting a non-geographic number and get people to call you then to hand over their account details etc...

Yes I agree with you about it could be a scam. However you posted that a legitimate CS rep would have followed the rules. I don't think that is correct.

ThumbRemote

vuvuzela wrote: »

I wouldn't trust this person at all, they could be anyone. Obviously a legitimate CS rep would have followed the forum rules http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/forum-faqs ...

Hard to see why a scammer would have posted the correct phone number for Investec though.

https://www.investec.co.uk/products-and-services/finance-and-lending/asset-finance-and-leasing/Equipment-Finance.html

antrobus

g30ff5 wrote: »

...What amazes me is not just that someone in our company signed such an agreement without any sense of what they should be paying, but that there are companies out there looking to take advantage of such naievity but that the finance company concerned accepts and pays out on invoices from suppliers that are grossly overstated relying on insured value and the lack of a clear market for buying these machines....

Doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

This was once standard operation procedure in the photocopier business back in the 1980s. (And then there was the copycharge scam.) Office equipment is boring but necessary, company management often delegates the decision making to quite low level staff, who seeing nothing wrong in signing a deal that is 'only' £40 a week (or whatever).