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Monday, June 9, 2025
Pay Attention to Your Copier Lease!
For the past 30 years, I've been warning customers about the sneaky tactics employed by
copier salespeople,
the ones I've come to call "snake oil salesmen." It's a dirty game, and unfortunately, many
businesses get caught in it without realizing what's happening. Just last week, I visited a potential customer who I
came highly recommended.They told me their copier lease was up, and they wanted to move on to a new company. I
didn't want to ask too many details, as I prefer not to bad-mouth other businesses, but let's just say I found out about the
scum tactics used by their previous dealer. The "Automatic Renewal" Trap When
a copier lease ends, there's a critical clause in most agreements called "Automatic Renewals." This
is where things can get tricky.In this particular case, the customer's lease was up, but they didn't notify the leasing company
that they were ready to return the copier. Why? Because they didn't know they had to do so 60 days prior
to the lease end. Here's where it gets worse: the salesperson from a very large Ricoh/Toshiba dealer in Brooklyn had
included a clause in the contract that stated, if the customer didn't notify the leasing company within 60 days, the
lease would automatically renew for one more year. Now, let's break this down: This was a 3-color copier machine lease
costing $1,500 per month. The customer didn't want to continue doing business with this copier dealer but found themselves
stuck. They were now responsible for a full year's worth of payments-or, they'd have to sign a new lease with a company
they didn't trust.
Why Copier Leases Are Tricky The
"Automatic Renewal" clause can lock you into a whole year (or more) of payments if you miss the
60 day notification window. Many salespeople won't remind you to contact the leasing company, to trap you into their
company, so it's important to be proactive and manage your lease the same way you would manage a car lease or any other lease
contract. Tips to Avoid Getting Stuck with a Copier Lease:
Read
the fine print: Make sure you fully understand the terms before signing. Look out for clauses like "Automatic
Renewal."
Know your lease dates: Mark your calendar when your
lease is coming up for renewal and set a reminder to notify the leasing company well in advance.
Don't rely on the salesperson: The last thing you want is to leave it up to the salesperson, who may not have
your best interests at heart.
Get help if needed: If you're unsure about any part of your lease, ask for help. At
Long Island Copier Sales, we've been helping businesses navigate copier leases for decades.
Final Thoughts
Copier leases are one of those things that many businesses overlook until it's
too late. Don't make the same mistake! Always read the fine print, take charge of your lease, and stay aware of potential
"sneaky" clauses. If you're in doubt or need help, don't hesitate to reach out to us at Long Island Copier Sales.
Stay informed, stay in control, and avoid falling for the snake oil salesman out there!
Monday, October 17, 2022
A 63- month copier lease?A 63-Month Copier Lease?
Today,
I came across a startling scenario while reviewing a copier proposal at a church in Nassau County: a dealer was trying to
secure a 63-month lease agreement! This is a textbook example of high-pressure sales tactics. Why would anyone consent to such an extended lease? It's worrisome that customers are committing
to these agreements without fully grasping the consequences. Having written for
over two decades about avoiding the traps of aggressive sales strategies, it's frustrating to witness their persistence. Here are reasons why a lease exceeding three years is typically inadvisable: Rapid Technological Advancements: Copier technology progresses swiftly, introducing enhanced features
and security updates. With a 63-month lease, you risk being saddled with obsolete
technology while newer, improved models become available. Security Updates: As
security measures advance, older copiers may not receive vital updates, compromising document security. Flexibility Concerns: Changing needs—whether for a larger or smaller machine—can make
exiting a lengthy lease both expensive and complex. Performance Deterioration:
A copier's performance usually peaks in the first three years. Beyond that, maintenance requirements grow, which could lead
to increased downtime. Dealer Dependability: Should your dealer cease operations
or deliver subpar service, you remain bound by the lease until its conclusion. Early
Termination Costs: Prematurely terminating a long-term lease can incur significant penalties, exceeding the remaining monthly
installments. Advantages of a 3-Year Lease: Frequent Technology Upgrades: You can benefit from the latest technology and features more regularly. Cost-Effectiveness: A shorter lease duration typically ensures optimal copier performance, with reduced
maintenance expenses and fewer unexpected issues. Greater Flexibility and Autonomy:
You retain the ability to adjust to evolving needs more readily.
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Cheapest price & best service (pick one) I probably go on six to eight proposals a week here and some I get and others I walk away from.
I understand in today's market that everyone is knowledgeable and has plenty
of shopping savvy but folks, we need to take a few steps back when it comes to leasing copiers or going
into a service agreement with one. I have been in this business for 30 years, I know the pricing
and what it takes to "properly" maintain copiers with genuine parts & supplies.
I have seen proposals by companies on Long Island that are just hard to believe. There
is an old saying, if it is too good to be true be wary. If you decide to go with the absolute cheapest
price on a lease copier, then when you wait for service or are just NOT happy with
the overall experience with the dealer, you got what you paid for. Paying the cheapest price and
getting the best service, pick one of these because you cant have both! be happy with your decision. We
sell and service Kyocera/Copystar copiers on Long Island (BTW we are not the cheapest) http://www.longislandcopiersales.com Speak to one of the owners directly and we will give you an honest quote
Thursday, March 8, 2018
5 year copier lease are 2 years too long Posted on January 16, 2017 by PJD Business Machines Salesmen are still pushing this and their company they work for love
it! Who benefits from a five year copier lease? Why on earth would you want to enter
a five year copier lease? If you are going to lease a copier, you want a new machine every three years,
the first three years are the best for reliability & efficiency in a copiers life. I have over 30
years as a repair tech knowledge, I see these machines and what goes wrong with them and when they
fail. Aside from the physical aspect of the 5 year copier lease, why would you want
to be tied into a copier company for five years? I have seen the largest companies out out of business
or if they didn't go out of business, I have seen their service dept. go downhill. Which in return
means a longer time waiting for a service rep to show up or inadequate parts in stock, which would mea n
a tech shows up, diagnosis that you need a part and you don't see them back for a week or longer! What
happens if the company is bout out and the service you loved is not there anymore. So many things can
go wrong or sour in a five year period, I am not saying it will definitely happen but why would you
want to take that chance?? Copier companies & salesman or furious at me for writing such a blog,
they know that I am letting out the secrets of the business but isn't it about time honesty and upfront trustworthiness
prevails? Speak to Phil or Peter at PJD Business Machines, we are Long Island's Copier Sales Company
(honest copier sales) Here is a link to our website: http://www.longislandcopiersales.com
Waiting longer than one day for copier service?
Waiting longer than one day for copier service?
Posted
on October 12, 2017 by PJD Business Machines
This is
like a throwback 25 years ago with the big copier
dealers,
back then this was common, customers waiting
3 to 5 days for
copier service, large companies would not care as they took care of their largest accounts first.
For the past 15 years, this was unheard of as competition
became so great and no copier company could afford to lose customers
because of bad service or long response times!
The 90's are
back in full force! every week I go out to meet
new customers
and they are complaining that they are waiting for service and want to move their business to
us!
This week I had a customer call in, they have a Konica
Minolta
Bizhub and it needed a waste container, he has been
down four
days! an accountant in his busy season. Needless
to say, this company will be going with us for his next lease.
We give same day copier service, we will come to you on a
Saturday if needed and we will accommodate you for after hour service.
Visit us on the web http://www.longislandcopiersales.com
or call us today, you have enough to worry about being in
business, the last thing you need is poor copier service and long
wait times.
Speak with the owner and get the service &
response time you deserve. Phil http://www.pjdbusinessmachines.com 516 785-3299 Phil@pjdbusinessmachines.com
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Kyocera Dealer's loss on Long Island is our gain..........
I picked up a new customer today, we hit it off very well,
turns out he
was an Army Veteran who served
in Desert Storm. Small law firm in
Lynbrook,
anyways, they bought a decent entry level commercial
machine from a Kyocera dealer in Farmingdale, (I wont mention their name)
anyways, after 4 years they no longer wanted to honor a service contract.
They tried to strong arm them into purchasing a new MFP copier, the machine
only had 80k on it and had plenty of life left. Companies should
be happy just
to have a loyal customer, why
strong arm them? The Snake oil Salesman was
very eager, I guess he had a vacation coming up this Spring. That's fine, but
not the way we do business. I now have a very good customer, I can tell
good people, I also gave him a 10% discount for being a US Veteran, that's the way I do business.
10:33 pm est
Monday, March 3, 2014
You are unhappy with your service provider and want to get out of a lease? From time to time I will go on a sales lead and the customer will ask me if
I can get them out of a lease. I would like to be clear on this, once you sign a lease, you are stuck
in that lease for the entire time you signed in for. Will a salesman BS you and say “yea we can
get you out” sure they will but you can only get out one way, and that is if you buy out your
lease. The salesman will call your leasing company and asked them for the buy out
price,which will include the additional cost if the leasing company charges if you end a lease early.
They take that amount and they tack that onto the price of your NEW copier. Yes it is a very hefty dollar
amount but someone has to pay for it (YOU). I what the salesman will try to convince
you on doing is locking you back into a 60 month lease! They salesman and leasing company will make more
money by booking you into a longer lease, yes your monthly payments will be smaller but you will end
up paying more. What did you think? the smiling salesman was going to absorb this hit? He
nor his/her company or the leasing company will ever do this, you are on your own! Now, I have
been writing and preaching for more than 10 years now, why you should never go into a five year lease,
over and over and over again. When you have a high volume office and you are doing 150k – 200k
or better a year… you should lease a machine for THREE YEARS FMV ! after the three years, your
machine will be at around 600k, this is when things break down and major pms are needed, why go forward
with the same machine? after all you are leasing and you will continue to lease, mine as well
lease something fresh every three years! Customers with moderate volume or low volume, I recommend they
lease with a $1.00 buy out so you can enjoy lease free months after three years, after all, isn’t
that everyone’s goal? to keep monthly payments to a minimum? The salesman wants to sell and will
do anything to sell that machine to you. You can not get out of a lease without YOU paying dearly. Not
even the biggest law firms can get out of a lease, trust me, I have been doing this well over
20 years. To recap this blog: 1) You can not get out of a lease 2) Never lease a machine for more than
3 years (reasons obvious) 3) Take anything a copier salesman says with a grain of salt.
Monday, February 3, 2014
It sometimes takes weeks for my copier service provider to return with a part they ordered for the machine It sometimes takes weeks for my copier service provider to return with a
part they ordered for the machine
Wow, I have not heard this in years! I mean, we live in
an age where business can not afford to be sloppy and to be prompt is everything now a days….
We picked up a customer yesterday who has four machines, two Kyocera/Copystar copiers and a few HP laserjet
printers. How could a copier service company on long island neglect this? I guess the company got too
big? I guess some companies wont pay any attention to you unless you have 20 machines or
more? I am very shocked by this but heck, we picked up a new customer who paid, right on the spot! They
are also considering upgrading the Copystar cs5050 to a new copystar cs5500!. Just like the big
box stores like Home Depot, you can go there, go in there, find stuff…. but good look being taken
care of like you would get at a small local hardware store. PJD Business machines is like that small
local hardware store. You like fast reliable and knowledgeable technicians? give us a try, what
do you have to lose unless like like waiting two weeks or more for parts. http://www.longislandcopierservice.com/
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
What is the difference between leasing and renting a copier? which one is for me?
I often get call from people looking for information about copier machines and
many times, they do not understand the difference between the two. I will try to explain it simply without going into
a long boring post. When you ask to “rent” a copier, this is typically for short term use.
A rental can be from 1 day to 6 months usually. Yes there are exceptions like if you choose to accept
a machine with all inclusive service from a company that you have developed mutual trust for but
this is not very common. To “Lease” a copier is more long term, 2 year lease,3
year and up 5 year lease. Why anyone would lease a machine for 5 years is beyond comprehension.
I will be more blatant, any salesman who suggest you to do a 5 year lease is a snake! (we already talked about the
snake oil salesman in my previous blogs) Now follow along here with me…. No matter if you lease
or rent, either will cost you a lot more then if you purchased the machine outright. Let
me repeat this, when you lease or rent, you WILL be paying a lot more for the machine, plus you will
be paying for fees like one time document processing and other hidden fees built into a lease that a
salesman will never tell you about. So, I am not going into detail on this blog but I just wanted to
answer your question on the difference of both. If you are looking to save as much as possible,
if you are looking to get the machine at the rock bottom lowest cost, then you PURCHASE the machine
outright. If you do not have the money to purchase outright, then you lease the copier,
if you lease, you should not do more than 3 years, if you are looking to get the most out of your lease/copier,
then you should be considering a dollar buy out lease. If you are planning an event where you
need a copier or you have something going on at your office and want an additional copier to supplement
your current machine then you could “rent” a machine. Short term rentals is our specialty.
Feel free to ask any questions, I will respond quickly and give you the most honest professional solution
for your office equipment needs.
Buying a refurbished HP Laserjet 4250 printer? Do you see that HP Laserjet printer in the photo? do you see that
genuine HP 4250 maintenance kit box? That genuine maintenance kit gets replaced when your HP Laserjet
hit around 200k-225k. HP sets this interval inside the printer so when it hits the 200k mark,
a message will be displayed that says “Maintenance kit needs to be replaced”. This is done
so it virtually eliminates any down time due to part failure, you see, all the parts in this kit are
the consumable parts that normally wear out and cause printer issues like jamming or
poor print quality. We stock these maintenance kits, we have them fresh and newly manufactured. These
kits are not cheap, they cost US over $200.00. So I bet your asking, why are you telling us this???
I just wanted to give you a little background on this before I go into our refurbished
printers. All our refurbished laserjets gets these kits installed along with other parts, we also either
replace or renew all the printer panels to make the laser printer look like new! I often see advertised
on the internet, HP Laserjet 4250n printers that are totally refurbished for under $250.00, my question
is, HOW CAN THAT BE? how could someone be offering a refurbished laser printer at
the same price a genuine HP maintenance kit cost? It does not make sense because it is not true, it
is impossible that this can be true and I just want you to be aware of this. What these so call
refurbish companies or fly by night repairman are doing is a spit shine, and the printer will last the
30 days and then it will fail. If it seems too cheap, it is not a properly refurbished
printer. We have been refurbishing laserjets for 20 years, we only use genuine parts and all are printers
come with a full 1 year warranty. We can offer a full year because we know the job is done right the
first time using all OEM Genuine HP parts, even the toner will be genuine HP toner. If
you are looking for a HP printer like the HP4250N, fully refurbished and guaranteed, look no further
and give us a call. We have a great selection of HP Printers in stock. Let us take your business
to the next level, call PJD Business Machines at 516 785-3299 you can visit us on the web at: http://www.longislandcopierservice.com/ http://www.pjdbusinessmachines.com/
Buying a refurbished HP Laserjet 4250 printer?
3:06 pm est
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Are you updating or getting a new Server?Well before you let your IT department sell
you a new server, understand
this, many of
the older copiers
will not be so friendly when
it comes to scanning, sure it will print with no
problem but scanning will be an issue. If you
upgrade to Windows 2008 or better… you will
have to make sure the copier is no older than
3 years. I have been seeing this often lately,
a customer will upgrade without asking us if
the machine is capable, the IT department is
quick to “blame”
the company who installed
the machine but the truth comes out very quickly.
Sure you can “wait” for patches, but can you
really afford to be waiting? So take a tip from
us, before you upgrade the server, be well
aware that you may have an issue with
scanning to SMB or scanning to email as security levels are very high with new equipment.
Damp copier paper cause jamming & CQ issues
With the Summer months upon us, with high humidity
comes issues with the paper you load in your machines,
I can try to save you money here $$$, if all of a sudden,
your copier or printer will not feed paper or it jams….
first thing you should do is take out the paper in the
tray, put it aside and NEATLY open up a ream of fresh
paper,
I say NEATLY so after you take what you need,
you can properly
close the package up to ensure
dampness keeps out! Now that
you have the “fresh”
paper in your hands, fan
the paper out and install it
into the machine and run a test.
If she feeds fine then
you know it was the paper. Remember
that it only takes
15 minutes for humidity to set in. I have
customer who
call us on Monday morning and say the copier
is jamming,
I ask them if the ac is on and they tell me yes,
I ask them
was it turned down or off over the weekend and
they say Uhmm, yes… well there you go.
Not only does damp paper/humidity cause jamming but it
also causes copy quality issues, you will never get good
solid black print with damp paper! it will appear spotty,
washed out looking. A washed out copy is a very good
indication
that you have a paper issue, again, take paper
out and install
fresh paper from a package. Never take
paper out of the package
and pile it on the shelf, its just
inviting troubles. Taking
the proper steps in preventing
paper issues will save you
money and more important, will keep your equipment up for your business.
Thanks for reading
Phil
PJD Business Machines “Our Business is to take your business to the next level”
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Selecting a Copier/Printer company to do service for you…
Your office machine fails and you need a service provider
to properly repair it, this could be a daunting task, so many companies out there to choose
from.
I want to give you a a little tip that
you will appreciate. A copier/printer company
whom
sells and repairs machines can only handle a few lines at a time to properly and effectively
handle service.
If you see a company that advertise
that they sell and repair A to Z products…
I
will bet my last dollar that they are not very good at either sales or service,
even a MASTER technician such as myself and a few of our workers at
PJD Business Machines can not handle every manufacture line. Trust me
it is impossible to do this. So when you see a company advertise
we fix them all…. RUN from that place!!
A normal sales/service company can handle up to 3 manufactures to
properly service your equipment. Remember the old cliché?
“A Jack of
all trade and a master of none”
??? well it holds true. This is why many
internet
company just sell machines, oh they may promise on site service  yea right, from who? from where?
Even local
companies lets say on Long Island may say we fix A to Z, having
these people come to fix your machine is taking a chance, not only are they
NOT qualified to repair your machine, you will be waiting days or weeks for
part replacement. By the way, we at PJD Business Machine only sell
three
brands, Canon, Kyocera and HP, we only
service three brands, Canon, Kyocera and HP. If you call us for Konica Minolta or
Xerox, or Ricoh, w e will tell you no.
So when searching for a service provider, ask them what manufactures
they represent? ask them what is the turn around if you needed a part,
here is a better way to find out if the company is equipped to
service you and your machine, ask them if they have toner in stock TODAY for your machine!!!
I hope you make use of this article, I am
a senior tech and service manager at PJD Business Machines “Long Islands Copier
Service Company”
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