Ladies and Gentlemen, I have read with interest the replies to Ben Stanton regarding the use of Safecom with Danwood and was concerned to learn of the problems that have been aired with regard to various types of contract that are in use. For the avoidance of doubt I would like to clarify the situation to allay members' fears. Danwood use a variety of different contracts through Danwood Group Finance.
1. Rental - the rental contract for schools normally goes through the OGC contract, is completely transparent, service is charged separately, again on OGC pricing, it is easy to register with OGC and benchmark all the manufacturers, suppliers, products and pricing.
2. Total volume plan - this contract combines the rental and service cost and by adding the two quarterly amounts together and dividing by the volume, creates a cost per page. The advantage of this contract is that the volume dictates the payment made each quarter, and if the machine is over-used, the contract will end early, with no financial liability to the school.
3. Evergreen - this is a complicated contract and was designed in essence as a large, revolving corporate credit card. The fixed payment kicks in when the technology refresh period has been completed and pays down the capital outstanding. At any time during the fixed period, the contract can be opened up to allow new equipment to flow into the contract, either additional machines or machine changes. The contract is designed to keep payments within a budget that the school is comfortable with. Because the Evergreen contract is complicated, the decision was made two years ago to withdraw it from the market place for schools
I note that there are queries over the terms of the Evergeen contract and would be pleased to supply any of the members who have the contract, with terms and conditions relating to their contract and to visit them and explain to them in detail so that they understand the contract and can either use it to their benefit or change to a fixed rental plus service should they wish to do so.
My contact details are as follows:
Gary Elms, Director of Danwood Group Finance
gary. elms @danwood.co.uk (01522 8344565)
