Any experiences of Apogee manager printer/copiers?

[S11Steve]

Without going into too much detail, the company I work for is having some issues with the contract for an Apogee supplied Ricoh multi-function copier/printer.

The contract predates most of the current employees, but in short the problem is the same as encountered here - http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/fury-primary-school-g... - A single colour page counts as 4 prints. we are not happy with the technical support, nor are we happy with invoicing issues (besides the cost!)

The contract seems very one sided - they can terminate us for many reasons, but we can't do anything for another 2 years, by which time we could have bought the machine outright 7 times over.

Has anyone been gullible enough to sign up, but cute enough to get out of it?

Thanks!

[chockymonster]

Yes, lots of experience, none good.
We had issues with print count which worked out to us using, according to them, 1000 reams of A4 a month in an office of 70 people.

The 4 x cost for colour is standard though as a colour print takes 4 passes on the ricoh machines.

[S11Steve]

yeah - the billed usage on that one machine doesn't tally with the total volume of paper we buy, even though the paper is spread across a number of other local printers.

Are you still in contract, or was it not renewed, or did you get out of it?

[bitchstewie]

Whatever way they do it, you should expect the pay more for colour "clicks" than mono.

[chockymonster]

We were able to get out of it.
Breach of contract for billing costs, not fulfilling support obligations etc.

[Stev8s]

I am in the industry and I am sure Leemanning will be along shortly as well I see so many people get caught out by these horrendous contracts have not had much success in getting people out of them have been lucky on a few occasions it gives us honest guys a hard time convincing people not to sign these things as they look cheaper in the beginning to our quotes but soon bite you in the arse any advice I can give to people is stay away from the large organisations you are far better with a small local dealer who will offer you a far better service you are more than welcome to PM me happy to talk
I have been around for 30 years and I think finally people are moving away from the larger organisations to the smaller more local dealers I am a one man band but have a support network and have taken on some major companies offering more of a personal service and can contact me direct on breakdowns on my mobile rather than going through a lengthy automated service some of these companies have where you cannot even talk to a human being !!

[jamoor]

I bought a ricoh colour printer direct from ricoh and it was extremely pleasant with no smoke and mirrors
I could buy or lease the machine and report the usage to them each month, and pay per print or I could not report it and they wouldn't maintain it. I wasn't tied into anything at all.

All in all it was an extremely transparent process and I certainly would recommend it.

[S11Steve]

Thanks all, we're going through the T&C's now to find clauses that relate to our problems, and try to work backwards from there. The fulfillment of service obligations could be the key here - we've not had good experiences with call outs and subsequent downtime.

Thanks all!

[AGK]

Bit of a bump but did you have any luck with this?

I've had one of these land on my desk that someone signed up for as "office manager".

[S11Steve]

We do have a new printer installed - but somebody else in the business dealt with the contractual bits.

A guy called Lee from United Business Group contacted me via PM who was very knowledgeable and helpful, but I'm not sure if he ended up with our printer contract or not.

[leemanning]

Unfortunately I did not! Despite my best efforts to work with the people involved after our initial discussions they didn't return any of my calls or emails.

Appreciate your intro through nonetheless and if anyone else is having any Apogee troubles, just get in touch.

[S11Steve]

Sorry - I did try, but I don't have much (any...) authority here on purchasing stuff.

[AGK]

Cheers, they're a strange bunch.

[bladezz]

we are just having the same problems with Apogee. Toners turn up randomly and often incorrect type then when i need a toner generally over a week wait even though they are supposed to be able to monitor remotely then informed they cannot monitor our printers and can only monitor the photocopiers they supplied. Then I noticed the page count on a couple of printers are a few thousand pages out on their invoice. So far waiting a week and a half for imaging units. Account manager doesnt reply to emails. I used their online form for a certain colour toner and they sent another colour. just got to try and get out of the contract but im sure since they contracted for remote support and now saying they cannot fulfil this, it is a misrepresented breach of contract. I agree find a small independent photocopier lease and they will be more of a personal touch. Stay away from these guys I think they employ coloured blind chimpanzees.

[leemanning]

Hi bladezz

Drop me a PM/email through here and I'll try to help you out

Lee

[Stev8s]

Good old Apogee again !! whereabouts in the country are you Bladezz like Lee you can email me too plenty of decent independents out there

[pyetookh]

We signed a contract with Danwood for some photocopiers 3 years ago. Danwood was bought by others recently. Lease was taken by GE and service by Apogee. It's almost impossible to terminate the contract with Apogee despite it expires. They have such dodgy terms and conditions, so unhelpful account manager, no response from headquarters. I'm desperate to get rid off them.

[Stev8s]

Funny how they keep cropping up a few people have commented on Linkedin and I have just had someone email me as they have basically paid the lease off over 5 years but have a minimum volume service contract and are still 200000 prints short of the agreed volume and again desperate to get out gives us good guys a bad reputation as many get tarred with the same brush sometimes difficult to explain we are not all crooks.
If I can help please feel free to message and I am sure Lee manning will be along shortly too !!

[kingwalrus21]

Hi Guys, we also have problems with a printer contract, we have a lease contract which is due to expire very shortly which was 3 years with grenke leasing. We also have a maintenance agreements with a local provider using xerox for 5 years. So, we would have to pay 2 years maintenance for a machine we no longer have. The early settlement was obviously a lot of money and used an average of copies used over the last couple of years. The contract is also ridiculous one sided. Anybody have any tips?

[Andio]

If anyone has any issues with printer/copier contracts let me know. With about 30 years experience in the industry - including a short spell with Apogee - I have my own business and very familiar with all contracts that are available. We have had success in releasing companies from contracts with minimal financial liability.