Wait! Did You Read the Fine Print?

It is Monday morning and you are preparing for yourup and it just can't seem to handle the work load.
day. At 10 am you will be meeting with aA tech has been out 4 or 5 times in a single month
representative from a local copier company. This isto fix a misfeed and other issues that have emerged.
not the first rep you have met with. Your playing itA new rep comes out from the same company and
smart and looking for a reasonable deal and the rightgives you the "its time to upgrade speech". Okay, no
equipment. Besides, your office manager will goproblem its on a lease you will just turn this one in
insane if the equipment is so difficult to use that aand get a newer one...Wrong! This is where the great
Space Shuttle flight looks like a cake walk.deal usually goes south. Many people never fully
The rep arrives and you swear up and down youunderstand what they are committing to when they
smell a hint of that used car salesman scent. Butsign a lease for equipment. There are several factors
undaunted you push forward to gather information.involved that often get over looked at the signing
The rep is good and prepared with details of theirstage.
equipment and its "ease of use". You feel as if thisLet's assume that the deal made in the previous
maybe the one and you prepare yourself to seal theparagraph was a 60 month commitment that included
deal and schedule delivery.the maintenance. The term of the lease has
The rep hands over the paperwork with the low, lowcontributed to the low payment that was presented
payment they promised and the deal you workedat signing. But given the company's growth and the
out to include maintenance in order to simplifyneed for new equipment that term may prove to be
invoicing. You sign, they smile, you both shake hands,terminal. You are 24 months in to the lease and you
a few words are shared before departing and youhave 36 months remaining. That 36 months includes
never see them again. For a time the equipment isthe lease payment and the monthly maintenance.
great and easy to use. Two years have passed andBoth of which must be bought out or in other words
the business is growing. The equipment yourolled over in to a new lease.
purchased two years earlier is having trouble keeping