What Exactly Are You Being Offered?

Some of the tips listed below may make you feel you are swimming in Shark infested waters, this is not the intention as there are many authorised dealers that are customer focussed and provide excellent value for money and support. The tips below highlight the areas that you ideally need to cover in order that you are not potentially caught out by something later.

In order to know which supplier is offering you the best deal on your new equipment you need to be comparing like for like. Multifunctional devices can come in so many different permutations these days, so make sure when you have the specification that you are satisfied with, to use that exact specification when approaching other companies, this way you will be in a position to make a fair comparison.

Some questions to consider when making comparisons between two dealerships:

• Is the equipment quoted as a current machine or has it been discontinued/super ceded?
• Is the multifunctional device being offered as a new machine or second hand (often called refurbished or possibly a showroom model).
• If the device has a meter is it showing 0 (zero)? (or no more than 100 which allows for testing in the pre-delivery inspection)
• If you are considering leasing a device ask the supplier for the exact profile of the lease agreement. A five year lease would normally be made up of 20 equal quarterly payments. Some suppliers might ask you to sign a lease agreement made up of 21 payments or an additional up front payment equivalent to 2 quarters in advance.
• If upgrading a lease agreement for your current equipment; has the new supplier properly taken account of any lease/service settlements that may be required under the existing agreement? It is imperative that you check that this has been calculated comprehensively as otherwise you could well be left with an invoice for thousands of pounds that you didn't anticipate.
• Is the dealership geographically placed to support you without the need to sub contract the service and support to a third party provider? A third party provider may not consider excellent customer service is necessary for sub contract customers.
• Make sure that everything that you are being offered is in writing and that the final proposal is initialled by a director of the prospective supplier, if this is not done it could be possible for the provider to 'wriggle out' of their commitments stating that the proposal was not made by an authorised representative of the company.
• Too good to be true? If you receive an offer from a prospective supplier that seems too good to be true it most probably is. If the offer is significantly better than the others that you have had it is probable that the offer is not like-for-like.

If you would like some free advice regarding your proposal, or are unsure about the proposal you have received, then please Contact Us and we will do our best to review your proposal and offer the best advice.