Small business Ripped off!

Angiesteppinout

Logic vending sold me a machine and put it on a hire agreement it seems although hi was told it was a lease to buy as I would own the machine at the end.  Looking through the paperwork there isn any mention of the actual cost of the machine or the APR - obviously covid has hit hard so we have been going through any unnecessary expenses and came across this!  Googled the machine its approx £3k new - We have been paying £190+vat for three years and there is still 2 years to go.  It says "the hirer has no right to cancel this agreement". there is no APR or total cost of the machine and I have no worked out at the end of 62 monthly payments I would have paid £14k.  How many other businesses have been ripped off by this!  Surely there must be some way I can stop this anyone please help!

MattMattMattUK

Angiesteppinout said:

Logic vending sold me a machine and put it on a hire agreement it seems although hi was told it was a lease to buy as I would own the machine at the end.  Looking through the paperwork there isn any mention of the actual cost of the machine or the APR - obviously covid has hit hard so we have been going through any unnecessary expenses and came across this!  Googled the machine its approx £3k new - We have been paying £190+vat for three years and there is still 2 years to go.  It says "the hirer has no right to cancel this agreement". there is no APR or total cost of the machine and I have no worked out at the end of 62 monthly payments I would have paid £14k. 

As a business transaction it is your responsibility to read the paperwork properly and check what you are signing up for. On their website they offer the option to buy, rent or lease, it would appear you chose and signed for a fixed term lease, even if that is not what you actually wanted. 

Also, 62 (five years, two months is an odd amount of months) payments of £190 is £11,780, not £14,000

Angiesteppinout said:

How many other businesses have been ripped off by this!

Some will have signed up for this, the lease also comes with replacements for breakdowns and servicing, some businesses would rather take a higher fixed cost than a lower, but potentially variable cost, especially when it means that any issues are resolved by someone else. I agree that it does not seem to make business sense, but that alone does not mean that someone is being ripped off. 

Angiesteppinout said:

Surely there must be some way I can stop this anyone please help!

As a B2B transaction you do not have the same rights as a B2C transaction which limits options, however you also signed up to a five year (ish) contract which means as a business you have to pay that for five years. You can ask them about an early termination, they might say no, there might be a fee, but it would be worth asking. If there are 24 months left to run that means £4,560 of payments remaining, if a new machine would be £3,000 (and in theory even less with capital allowances) then any early termination fee less than £1,560 would put you in a better position over the two year period.