Schoolcomms 3 year renewal

[jmak]

We're looking at adding more products to our Schoolcomms service and when we got the quote it was pointed out that new contacts AND renewals are now a minimum of three years with 90 days notice.

 

Two reasons for post: firstly to draw it to people's attention - I didn't see the renewal paperwork as it goes to finance, so when asked whether we still needed it, I just said yes.

 

Secondly, is this par for the course now? Three years is a very long time for us to commit...

[caffrey]

Everything seems to be 3 year contracts lately, I don't like being bound to something for that long and they usually want money up front - If you want shorter contracts they cost a lot more.

[sparkeh]

Yeah I've seen this quite a bit and I really don't like it, especially with the way that our budget is we can't commit to 3 years of payments.

However, I have found in a few cases that pricing up a competitor and informing them that we are moving due to the 3 year clause makes them a bit more flexible.

[jmak]

I'm going to try the approach @sparkeh suggests. We've already looked at Scholarpack and SIMS InTouch. Does anyone know what their terms are? I'm assuming SIMS is one year as that's what we have for everything else.

 

The added complication (on top of no budget) for us this year is that we're in consultation to amalgamate with our partner junior school which would complete in less than three years.