Here is the most common complaint you will hear when customers talk about their current copier vendors: they thought they were signing up for one deal, and ultimately that deal changed down the road. This change led these customers to feel like they got cheated, and now they’re motivated to change vendors.

The Most Common Provision Dishonest Copier Reps Use to Legally Steal From Your Business

The most frequently used method copier reps use to make extra money off of you is to sneak a provision into your contract. This provision states something along the lines of: “At year 2, we can raise contract rates throughout the contract.”

Raising the rate to meet inflation would be fair, but most copier leasing companies are known to inflate that annual amount by upwards of 12% since the leasing company wrote that number into that contract.

For example, if you sign up for $100 for 10,000 prints, and the price increases by 12%, in year five, that number goes up to $157 for the same 10,000 prints. That extra $57 per month works out to $684 extra profit for the leasing company in that year alone.

$57 per month doesn’t sound like much, but think of how many copiers the leasing company has leased out right now. If they have 100 copiers out right now, that number works out to roughly $68,400 in free money to the leasing company.

How Do You Protect Yourself from This Annual Rate Spike?

The first thing you can do is to see if you can remove this provision altogether. The chances are small that you will succeed, but it’s still worth a shot.

If you can’t get rid of the provision, negotiate down to a fairer rate. The lowest you can expect to drop this rate would be to the inflation rate, but this reduction alone will save you hundreds of dollars per year on your copier usage.

Here Is a Lesser-Known, but Still Insidious Way Copier Companies Will Rob You Blind

Another way copier companies will nickel and dime you is by charging what are called “consumable install fees.” Every time you need to install a consumable, like more toner, you pay an inflated price to have a technician come down and do a job that takes ten seconds.

Here’s How to Avoid Paying Consumable Install Fees

The best way to avoid this fee is to learn how to install these consumables yourself. Taking five minutes to learn how to replace these items when they run out will save you up to $300 – $500 per year.

Otherwise, the copier company has to pay a technician to do that quick task for you, and they pass the costs down to you. When you learn to install these items yourself, there are no costs to pass down to you.

Stay Vigilant Against Other Hidden Fees Copier Companies Will Use Against You.

There are more hidden fees that you will need to protect yourself against every time you sign a new copier lease. Take the time you need and remove as many potential liabilities as possible to have a fair copier contract.