First item I'd like to start with is that if you're upgrading your copier lease with your existing vendor then you should be in good hands. There's a couple of reasons for that, one is that you trust the existing vendor and sales person and they've done this before and there were no issues. 
I write from experience and just last week one of my clients was approached by another copier vendor. The sales person at the company explained how much they could save if they leased a new copier from them even though the client still had ten payments left on the lease. That sales rep had a good two years of experience and did not do a good job of explaining the process to the company. Let me rephrase that, that person did explain the process but hid a lot of the cheese and explained the process like it's no BIG DEAL! WELL IT IS A BIG DEAL WHEN SOMETHING GOES WRONG OR IS NOT ADDRESSED THE WAY IT SHOULD BE.
Lease letter of intent
1. The client is responsible to write of LOI "letter of intent" to the leasing company at "x" amount of days prior to the end of the lease. The LOI is needed to notify the leasing company of the clients intent to buy, or return the copier to the leasing company. If the client does not send the letter in the specified time range, the client will go into the "evergreen" clause (which means the client will be bound to pay more payments than negotiated with the lease). Those payments could be one or up to 12 extra payments because the LOI was not received on time.
Here's the issue, it is the clients responsibility to send the LOI within the time frame specified on the lease. In most cases it can't be sent early.
- What happens if the clients forgets to send the LOI on time?
- Will the rep that has two years experience contact the client to remind them to send the letter of LOI?
- What happens if the rep is not with the upgrading copier company in ten months?
- What happens if the client that negotiated the new lease is not with the company that executed the new lease?
- Is there a back up plan in case neither person is with the companies?
- Was any of this explained to the client during the process of the upgrade?
Removal of Copier
2. All office equipment leases have a clause that the copier aka equipment can't be removed from the clients location unless the leasing company is notified in writing. I would tend to think that this could be for a couple of reasons and one might be if the copier needs to be repossessed and the other for insurance reasons. If the leasing company finds out the copier was removed and they were not notified this could result in default of the lease.
- Of course the rep with two years of experience would never tell the client this because it my jeopardize the order for the new copier. But is it better to give the client added RISK without notifying the client?
- What happens if during the removal if the copier is damaged?
- Who pays for the replacement or damage?
- Did the rep give any documentation to the client that they are fully insured if something happens to the copier?
Insurance
3. In most cases the leasing companies will ask the client to buy insurance for the leased copier. Clients also have the option of purchasing their own insurance and listing the leasing company as the loss/payee. More risk to the client.
- During the 10 months of more of storage of the copier (keep in mind that the copier can't be returned early), does the client still have to pay for the insurance from the leasing company?
- Is they client covered if the copier is damaged while at the storage facility?
- Does the new vendor provide a document to the client that states the copier is covered if there is damage or catastrophic loss?
- What happens if there is a catastrophic flood?
Hard Drive Data
4. Every digital copier has a hard drive that is used for scanning, printing, faxing and copying. Latent data is (Latent data is any data that the operating system no longer accesses or uses. It includes deleted files and, more importantly, information or metadata about the deleted files. This metadata is often available long after the files have been deleted and overwritten).
The rep that does not address the return of wiping of the drive and is leaving the client at risk.
- Did the rep explain to the client the process of returning the existing hard drive to the client?
- Will the rep or the upgrading dealer give the client a certification document that the drive has been wiped?
Returning the Copier
5. At the end of the lease and the client has completed their obligation to the leasing company. The copier will be returned to the leasing companies facility. If the copier is damaged or is not running properly the leasing company has the right to charge the client for the repairs. It's a good idea to take pictures or have a video just in case.
- Did the rep explain this to the client? probably not because most reps do not read the lease to know the risk to the client?
- Did the rep recommend to the client to take a video of the copier to make sure there was is no damage to the copier when it was picked up?
- Did the rep also recommend the client to take a video of the copier making prints?
- Who pays if the copier was damaged or not stored properly?
Closing
It's not an easy process and everything has to go perfect so the client is not saddled with additional payments or risk. There is no training manual and there is no book of rules for the reps and the clients. I learned much of this with trial and error. A seasoned pro will making sure it all happens the right way and in a timely process.
Right, one more thing to think about when changing vendors and Upgrading Your Copier Early.
What happens if the copier company goes out of business?
-=Good Selling=-
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