Do not underestimate the importance of a copier lease cancellation letter. If you’re not sure what that is, then read on to learn how to avoid costing your business money you didn’t intend to spend.
It’s easy to assume that nothing needs to be done at the end of a lease, so one of the biggest mistakes customers make is not sending a copier lease termination letter to the leasing company.
Sometimes customers just forget, but at other times they’re never informed about cancellation letters when they first sign the lease.
Whatever the case may be, it doesn’t matter to the leasing company. All they care about is whether a letter was sent in or not.
What is a Copier Lease Cancellation Letter?
A copier lease cancellation letter is required in order to inform the leasing company of your intentions at the end of the lease. If you’re leasing a copier and you intend to keep it, then a cancellation letter is no big deal.
However, if you wish to return the machine at the end of the lease then you need to send in a cancellation letter. Without sending in a letter then it will not be so easy to return the copier.
The copier lease cancellation letter typically needs to be sent in within 3 to 6 months before the end of a lease — not before and not after.
If a copier lease termination letter is not received by the leasing company within the appropriate timeframe, then it will be assumed you wish to keep the copier and you will automatically go into renewal.
Renewal means you will continue to get billed for the copier, which could result in anywhere from 1 month to 12 months of additional payments. Needless to say, that could be a significant burden if you never intended to keep the copier.
What could make matters worse is that you will likely have to pay more for supplies when your lease period is over. Most customers have a service and supply contract that runs concurrently with the lease — so if you have a 60 month lease you can expect 60 months worth of supplies.
When the lease is up the service contract will have also expired, meaning you’ll have to pay for all supplies and service calls out of pocket.
One of the ways to ensure you will not get into this situation is to get a copier lease audit. With a lease audit you can learn exactly how much time is left in your lease, explore your options, and ultimately determine what needs to be done toward the end of the lease.
Conclusion
As you can understand at this point, it’s important to get that copier lease termination letter in if you intend to cancel your lease at the end of the term.
However, if you decide you want to keep the copier, you can do that as well. You’re by no means required to return the machine.
If you’re unsure of what to do, when to do it, and how to do it — we recommend requesting a copier lease audit. Please contact us and we’ll guide you toward the decision that’s best for you and your business.