Franking machines

RFW

I'm sure there was a thread about this a while ago but I can't find it.

Does anyone use anyone other than Pitney Bowes and know any good(ish) deals for a franking machine?

Volume use would be around £1000 per month.

I appreciate I can Google but that doesn't really help with running costs and customer service info.

ballisticbrian

I use Neopost. I've had some major gripes with them, sales people not telling you everything, price hikes and very bad mistakes, however, I just happen to have ended up on a good deal with them. I think the whole franking industry can appear to be run like the mafioso with high costs and contract tie ins, hidden discounted prices you can't get access to, etc.

RFW

I was just on the phone with Neopost, the quote wasn't great (£29 per month/18 months) although not terrible. Interesting about extra charges, it seemed like a selling point that they don't have any.
The mafioso point struck home, especially after an unpleasant exchange with PB earlier today, I was staggered by their appalling customer service.

theonlywayisup

Would you not be better on OBA/DMO.

ballisticbrian

The initial problem I had with Neopost was a salesman who answered difficult emailed questions by phoning you so as not to leave any evidence. So I emailed to say can I buy the machine outright to avoid monthly fees and he phoned me to say yes of course, you'd be laughing. I emailed again to say "that does mean if I own the machine I also don't need a maintenance contract", and rather than reply by email, he phoned me again to say "yes, of course, no fees" which was actually a lie. But as it turns out I don't pay them to today due to management there accepting this is what he was doing.

RFW

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Would you not be better on OBA/DMO.

I am on an RM account with another business, it's a bit complicated but franking worked out as simpler and the price difference was negligible.

RFW

ballisticbrian wrote: »

The initial problem I had with Neopost was a salesman who answered difficult emailed questions by phoning you so as not to leave any evidence. So I emailed to say can I buy the machine outright to avoid monthly fees and he phoned me to say yes of course, you'd be laughing. I emailed again to say "that does mean if I own the machine I also don't need a maintenance contract", and rather than reply by email, he phoned me again to say "yes, of course, no fees" which was actually a lie. But as it turns out I don't pay them to today due to management there accepting this is what he was doing.

I'm always wary of companies that call rather than email for that reason. It's infuriating.
It also takes me seconds to read and answer an email, phone calls take way longer. My pet hate at the moment is receiving a call telling me that they're sending an email and what the email says. That's something Amazon do frequently but other companies do it too.

Back to franking, I'm waiting on a call back from FP for another quote.

paddyrg

The savings are usually very slim to negative for a lot of companies - a few percent savings offset by silly extra costs (official stickers, maintenance costs, updating costs, special unicorn-tear ink, refund charges on improper prints, top-up charges, anything they can think of). Some of these companies are not so much in the money saving business, but money diverting business.

sjbrun

I'm with piitney bowes and have their basic machine and spend just under £1000 a month on postage.

I pay £10 a month billed quarterally. The monthly postage payments go out by direct debit in arrears.

So far Ive had no maintainance costs, top up charges etc or rate change charges.

They are a pain to talk to on the phone but other than that no problems.

If you want a fancy machine then it gets very expensive. I can get cheap ink and labels off ebay.

Thistlewhistle

I use one from FrancoType Postalia to send out all the support cards for my Sl!mm!ng World groups.

It costs £24 per month and to break even I have to send about 83 letters a month I think (2nd class) which I do easily. They're nice to deal with too.

No problems
Tx

TKPeters

We have just handed back our DM50 to Pitney Bowes, as the £5.50 fee for top-ups & £65 for rate changes, made it unviable.

We where paying £8+VAT pm rental + approx £800pm on postage & these extras had been free in the first 12months & the new contract didn't included them.