The most common complaint you hear when talking to previous copier lease customers is this: they believed they were getting one deal, then the parameters of that deal changed in the middle of it. This alteration of their contract produced bad blood between themselves and their former copier companies because they felt like their old company cheated them.

How Do Most Copier Companies Change The Deal On Their Customers?

The method of stealing customers’ money that you’ll see most often includes a provision into the contract stating that they can raise rates throughout the contract.

This provision is acceptable if they were to raise rates to keep up with inflation, but more often than not, they spike the price as much as 12% each year because the reps wrote that percentage into the contract.

For example, if you paid $100 for 10,000 prints per month the first year, you would be paying $157 per month in the last year of a five-year contract.

How Can You Keep Copier Reps From Jacking Up Your Rates Every Year?

Take these two actions you can take immediately to protect yourself from these ridiculous fees.

1. Get the annual percentage raise provision removed from your contract entirely.
2. If removing the clause isn’t possible, negotiate for a better rate.

Companies will say that they “can” raise rates, not that they “will” raise them. Not a single company exists that will not raise prices whenever they can get away with it.

Keeping with the example above, with the copier company raising their rates 12% every year, imagine the extra revenue they make every month when you multiply that additional $57 by 100 or more customers. $5,700 x 12 months = 68,400 reasons every year to pull this trick on their customers.

Here Is Another, Lesser Known Scam Copier Companies Run On Unsuspecting Customers.

Another way copier companies legally steal more money from you is by charging what are called “consumable install fees.” Copier companies charge you these fees when you need someone to install consumables, such as toner cartridges, into your copier.

Here’s How to Never Pay Consumable Instal Fees, Ever.

To avoid paying this fee, take five minutes out of your day, and learn how to install these consumables yourself.

This quick intellectual exercise will take a small amount of time out of your day, but it will save you up to $500 every year. Most consumables are easy to replace, and there’s no need to waste anyone else’s time (or your money) when you can install them yourself.

Be Vigilant Against These, and Other, Miscellaneous Fees.

These two scams are the most common you’ll see copier reps running on people in the copier world. However, never underestimate the creativity of a sales rep in pursuit of easy money. Read your contract carefully, no matter how long and convoluted it may be.

Educate yourself about the small details in your copier contract, and you will save your company thousands of dollars down the road.