Tales From the Copier Battlefield

I am out in the copier battlefield every day, and I'd like to share some real-life experiences where I feel that customers have really been taken advantage of. 

 

Most copier dealers use large national banks as their leasing partner. After the lease is signed, the customer learns they will have to make payments to out-of-town leasing companies. With this, I have seen many surprises, all of which are one-sided and don't favor the customer. You almost have to be a Philadelphia attorney to interpret the fine print on these contracts. 

 

Technology is rapidly advancing — there's already a third version of the iPad coming out! — but many copier companies still require their customers to sign five-year leases. Some companies even include clauses that cause the lease to renew for another year automatically if the customer doesn't notify the leasing company 90 to 150 days before the lease expiration. But most customers do their research only 30-60 days before the end of the lease. Surprise! You've already been renewed for another year for a piece of obsolete equipment at the same rate you've paid for the first five years!

 

I also recently encountered a customer who was about three years in on a five-year lease. There was a line item on the monthly invoice for $30, which the customer had been paying for the whole three years. After helping this customer do a little research, we learned that this $30 fee was being billed because the customer hadn't sent a certificate of insurance to the leasing company before making their first payment. 

 

Do you think the leasing company or the vendor tried to help the customer resolve this to avoid the $30 fee? Of course not. Instead, the customer was out more than $1,000. 

 

These are just a few examples of things we want our customers to be aware of. We treat our customers the way we'd want to be dealt with. It's a tough economy out there, and we know that our customers can't afford to be taken advantage of.