FAO: Schools in Peterborough using 'safecom' with DANWOOD

[lordasb]

this might be a long story so get a cuppa

 

opened in 2007 sept

we have a fleet of 119 hp printers from 2015, 2600, 3005, 4700 4730 4345 machines

 

all students and staff have a ID card with contactless and mag swipe

 

plus 7 photo copiers

 

at the start we didnt have any printer controls for this fleet if the staff or student printed it was, no limits or restrictions.

 

this had to change and i took the measure to install print manager plus on the system as this worked with citrix.

 

we do try only to use hp toners as they give best output quality, least number of faulty toners.

 

think in the first year we spent somewhere about 80k+ on toner and about 1m ish pages printed give or take.

 

the print manager plus did reduce the cost of the printing, by limiting the amount of output of students and how much waste was made ( double jobs and over 10 pages) for a very small outlay in yearly cost of the software.

 

the next thing which change our cost base was the school signing up to the CPC. look it up, it is a intresting idea and works very well. our costs are now down to about 50k a year but the amount of work out of the machine is higher and a good 90% is handed in or used and not waste.

 

we have looked at smart card push/pull options but the costs of between 10 to 15k for the total fit have stopped this for now untill the hardware needs replacing.

 

if you have any questions about any of this drop me a email [email protected]

 

we have also looked at the option of using our photocopiers as printers but with the situation changing weekly on the cost per page on both HP toner and contract photocopiers i will wait on saying which is best, but read the small print.

 

edit: we have also had a quote from safecom via ebm for our existing fleet. so you dont allways have to get the software from just one place if you like it - much like ringdale

[noddyg1910]

Hi

 

Great to hear that you have got out of your Evergreen lease, did you have to stay with Danwoods for the new five year deal?

[Darko]

Hi Slider,

 

I am interested in speaking with you about the Danwood contract. Just shoot me a quick email and I will get in touch.

 

For that matter, if any of the readers have a spare minute to speak about their arrangement (particularly ones you are not happy with), please feel free to get in touch and we can organise a time to speak.

 

Cheers,

 

D

[KARL1]

hi,

 

anyone that needs advise on danewood contracts or just any print issues please conatct me ASAP

[DavidGMoore]

hi,

 

anyone that needs advise on danewood contracts or just any print issues please conatct me ASAP

 

I do need some help please. Can someone please email me a copy of the Danwood contract? May I also get in touch for some advice too - please advise if you are happy to do this.

 

Please send copy to greatglen[at]gmail.com

 

Many thanks

 

David

[machman]

HI Slider ,

 

I know it's a couple of years ago from the date of your post , but I guess it's still relevant , we are currently looking at Danwood for our printing needs , but judging by the number of negatives they have on here i'm guessing it's not a good idea , however could you give more info as to why not to go with them.

 

Ta very muchly

[theox]

Hi Machman I have heard lot of bad things about Danwood. A post Office in leicester had a used machine delivered when it should have been new. The lease rate did not add up and the best bit the sales person from Danowwd, Signed a new lease contract and Forged signatures. Due to this the post office managed to get out of the contract. The three years they thought they had signed said in small print on the back it was FIVE YEARS! They added £75 per quarter after year one again in the small print.

What make of machine are Danwood trying to sell you?

[theox]

Hi Gatt

 

Did they get out of the contract in the end?

[theox]

Hi Silder

 

oes that mean you have the equipment for five years after you handed your notice. So you could have had the machines for 6+ years?

[Duds]

Sorry to drag this up again but it was discussed at yesterdays conference so I'll add my 2 cents worth.

 

As an ex-Danwood engineer of 7 years my own personal opinion of them is to stay well clear.

 

They have some good engineers but I would not be happy with contract small print.

 

Evergreen, Network Support contracts and (imho) sub-standard non-OEM consumables being just a few items to avoid.

 

If I was a customer, I would be checking my contract and invoices.

[machman]

Thanks for the info , the college however has went ahead with Danwood using papercut software , one thing tho the install was 2 weeks ago , we ran out of toner and they said oh you have 8 printers , I said no we have 5 , so I asked them how they could see the other 3 old ones I just plugged in to finish of the toners , to which they did not answer.

 

On Wednesday during half term I logged into the print server to find the Papercut software logged in and pointing at help pages , I know for a fact it was not me and no one else has the server logon or key code to the room except a premises officer.

 

If it was a hacker they would not be interested in how to get Papercut working in advanced mode ie the help pages , so the only conclusion I can draw from this is that Danwood somehow are in my server , I have not questioned them about it yet but would be interested in your opinion first.

[Simcfc73]

Interesting reading, another company based in leeds have phoned me several times offering a similar service to which I usually reply 'We are a very small school and I only use little deskjet printers in most classrooms'. they still say they can save me money.

[lordasb]

Thanks for the info , the college however has went ahead with Danwood using papercut software , one thing tho the install was 2 weeks ago , we ran out of toner and they said oh you have 8 printers , I said no we have 5 , so I asked them how they could see the other 3 old ones I just plugged in to finish of the toners , to which they did not answer.

 

On Wednesday during half term I logged into the print server to find the Papercut software logged in and pointing at help pages , I know for a fact it was not me and no one else has the server logon or key code to the room except a premises officer.

 

If it was a hacker they would not be interested in how to get Papercut working in advanced mode ie the help pages , so the only conclusion I can draw from this is that Danwood somehow are in my server , I have not questioned them about it yet but would be interested in your opinion first.

 

hi, i would check for remote control software like "teamveiwer, vnc,gotomeeting, or any other number of remote desktop software" which might be installed, did you give permission for them to gain remote access ? we have to monitor remote access of external agents or get them that engineer to sign a policy doc and then they are given a personnal username and password.

[Duds]

Hi Machman,

I am not familiar with Papercut so not sure if it has it's own remote access software installed with it.

 

I would think it's not beyond the realms of possibility.

 

As Lordasb said, I'd be checking for various installations of remote access software and having a read up on exactly what is parcelled with Papercut.

 

I'll make some calls when I get five minutes and see what I can find out.

[80s_throwback]

I have noticed some negative comments about Danwood and would like to share our very positive experience on using them ,

 

We are a college in Leicestershire and we have just had a Danwood Printer Solution Installed and I cannot fault them , Software was tricky to set up as we wanted multiple cost centres setting up in Active directory ( 97 at last count ) , The software installer " Chris" could not be more helpful and obliging and always came to tweek the software if I had to call him.

 

We are using Papercut MF and it's a breeze to use , setting up new groups , printers , centres all from a web interface ,from any PC

 

The printers are all brand new and we opted for a print release station option for student printing and charged back to relevant departmental cost centre , the Teachers also have a card they swipe to release jobs from certain copier/printers around the building and is working well , the only issue we had was with the small learning curve with staff and how to use the release stations/ swipe cards etc.

 

We would personally recommend using Danwood as they have bent over backwards to get us going , thanks to Dave as well for his many emails and hours of sitting in with us listening to our Printer Evolution plan , all in all a great job done very professionally , they listened to what we wanted even if we were suggesting something off the wall in many respects. "proof is in the pudding" as they.

 

Machman , may I pm you , I have something I would like to ask you. thanks

[Duds]

"They have some good engineers but I would not be happy with contract small print."

 

Seems to me you've had good experience with their engineers.

[localzuk]

Just want to make sure I can clean up one thing here - PaperCut does NOT have a remote control tool included in it. It is a Tomcat web service which runs on your machine.

 

If someone else has been accessing your server you should immediately disconnect that server from your network. Question the company about it, and check logs etc... on the server. Also, check your contract with Danwood, as they may have included a remote access clause in there.

 

Also, you should have a firewall on your server, restricting things down to just what should have network access etc... and then another firewall at your network edge preventing this sort of intrusion.

 

If you find evidence of an intrusion, and find nothing in your contract, and no-one has given them permission to access your server, you should report it to the police.

[DavidJA]

We just legally got ourselves out of the Evergreen onto a fixed 5 year term. After that we will leave them for defo.....if im around to see it.

 

I cant stress enough to stay well away from Danwood.....like over the hills & across the mountains away!!

 

Can you advise on how you got out of your Evergreen contract please. Many thanks.

[CopierTech101]

Hi I know this is old

 

But as a Danwood engineer I feel strong about this

 

I'd firstly apologise if you have had issues with us myself and the team of engineers work very hard to forfil out roles

 

My standards are high I'd kick a manufacture engineer around the room anyday !

 

As for contract I think that you should always read before you sign but I also know that sometimes its the customers top brass that make some of theses decisions and then Danwood gets to take the fall

[Duds]

My standards are high I'd kick a manufacture engineer around the room anyday !

Tough Guy!! ;-)

 

You're right, this is old. As I've mentioned before, this isn't about the engineers, though I know for FACT that Danwood engineers attend calls on equipment they are not even trained on. I even have knowledge of Danwood "allegedly" forging a manufacturer's training certificate so let's not even go there.

 

However, I am amazed you are putting the contract at the door of your customers. Danwood wrote the evergreen contract not the customer, they are the ones tying customers up for life.

[copytech1]

Hi,

i am new member and have been reading all your comments on Danwood.

 

I was a Engineer at Danwood for many years and i was always been pulled up by customers about contracts and how much their cost had gone up.Also in small print they will only supply parts for 3 years to fix your copier even though you have a 5 yr lease.

Yes the Engineers work bloody hard and the pressures of fixing any printer without training deserves a medal!!!

Like you my standards were high but when you are sent to a call on your Eric device time after time about a machine youve never seen let alone repaired.I got fed up of doing the same routine on machines that i didnt know about.....

"You enter site, customers going crazy, you cant fix, you call manager,he gives you a series of numbers for you to ring,you order part,you get part,machine still not working" Most Engineers go through this routine everyday and after 10 years of this enough was enough.!!!!!

[lordasb]

intresting to read it from the engineers side

[zahraauk]

Our NHS foundation trust has recently embarked upon a 3 year contract with Danwood.

 

What we have just discovered is that, because their client is being pushed out to everything on the network, it is on laptops too, and when those laptops are used at home, with someones personal home printer, the trust is being charged per page!!

 

When we asked the question it took them around 4 weeks to discover the answer, which leads me to suspect they'd not been asked it before, which makes me wonder how many other organisations may be being charged for printing at home.

[zahraauk]

Also i'd be intrested to know other organisations costs per sheet, we are charged 5p for black and white and 21p for colour which seems very high

[glennda]

Also i'd be intrested to know other organisations costs per sheet, we are charged 5p for black and white and 21p for colour which seems very high

 

on what machines?

 

i've never been part of a danwood contract but we pay less then a penny a sheet for mono on our Ricoh Devices (excluding paper just toner/service)