The Drama of a Copier Lease Return

Returning a Copier (And the Drama That Awaits You)

Your lease is finally over. At last, you can return your old copier to your leasing company and trade it out for one that isn’t falling apart.

In that moment of happiness, you get the bad news: You will be responsible for packaging the copier AND paying to ship it to some random warehouse. If there are any damages to the machine in transit, they will hold you responsible for those as well.

When you call your copier leasing company about this freight situation, they tell you it will cost $500 to pack it, and another $300 to ship it.

You explain to them that you don’t want to do that.

At this point, they tell you that they can waive both of these fees under one condition: You sign up for another five-year lease for your next copier.

Why This Deal Is A Bigger Scam Than Most People Realize

What happened here is that the lease company wanted another contract, and the lease contract wanted another sale. They know that the copier has to get sent back, so they hold you hostage by skyrocketing the packing and shipping fees.

This tactic robs you of your ability to shop around and find a better copier lease deal. These companies know that you don’t want to deal with the headache of packing and shipping the copier, and you’re willing to pay an inflated price on your next contract to avoid dealing with the shipping headache.

For the leasing company to pack the copier for you, it would cost them a total of $40 for labor and a wildly reduced rate to ship it to an asset disposal company to get rid of it once and for all.

How to Reduce Your Financial Exposure to This Scheme

You can do these three things to protect yourself from paying sky-high rates and hidden fees for getting rid of your old copier:

1. Make sure you send a written letter to your leasing company 45-90 days in advance to let them know you intend to end your lease at the end of the leasing period.
2. Remove all the consumables and package them separately. Take pictures of everything at every angle you can think of. These pictures prove you took every precaution possible to ensure the copier and all of its parts make it safely to their destination.
3. As you put out the new copper to get a quote, let the dealers know you have (or will have) a packaged copier on site. Tell them you need to send it back and ask them what they can do to help with the freight costs.

You can return a copier if you don’t follow these steps, but you want to take every precaution possible to avoid getting conned by these companies looking to fleece you for every dollar they can get.