Or more specifically beware of toner cartridge pirates!!
This has nothing to do with wood art or entrepraneurship, but I thought it important enough to share...and I haven't written in a while.
First. Under NO circumstances should you give out your copier model number or machine id over the phone. Your copier vendor (if you have one) should have all of this information - it's their business to.
I've received two calls in two weeks at work that went something like this, "Hi this is Jane from customer service, we're just updating our records, could you please give me your copy machine model number?" Just so you know, our machine is not under any maintenance agreement.
Had I not had a short stint as a copier salesman I would never have known what this call was. It's a fishing call. Here is what can happen.
They may start with fishing for your machine id on one call and maybe your model number on another. They obviously have your phone number so they probably have your address. Perfect. A few weeks after this data is gathered a toner cartridge (or three) will arrive. An unsuspecting admin person or shipper/receiver will sign for the packages, put them on a shelf and think nothing of it. A month or two down the road when almost for sure you've run out of toner and used one of your new arrivals, you'll receive a bill - a HUGE bill for toner cartridges. At this point you're stuck. You've signed for them and used them...you own them. Tough shit on you! These jerks have just stolen your money.
Don't think it happen - your wrong! I actually lost a copier sale due to these pirates. My prospect was in need of a new machine and was ready to pull the trigger, but wanted to know if we could buy back this really expensive toner we sold her. Our records indicated that she hadn't ordered toner from us in well over a year. She said, "on no, we've nine toners on the shelf." I asked her to retrieve her invoices and low and behold they were from some company in California (I was in Massachusetts). You see, daughter doctor took over billing from mom doctor in a very busy practice. Mom doctor never really reviewed the invoices and just paid them...to the tune of $2700 dollars. The cartridges came in lots of three and she was invoiced $900 per lot. Needless to say, she couldn't justify the cost of a new machine when she had all that money tied up in toner. She opted to get her machine repaired just so she could burn through it all.
Know who your copier vendor is. If you get a call from them, they may be checking in to see how your toner supply is - that's ok. If you're not familiar with the voice on the other end, just ask who he or she is and from what company. Also ask them what machine they're calling about - even if you only have one machine. Make them tell you make, model and id. Then order up if you need to.
These dirt bags even have the balls to call copier vendors - they used to call us, as well as copier manufacturers! My next door neighbor works for a major player in the copier world and they used to get calls.
That's my public service announcement for today.
Stay tuned for the background on my Covertly Naughty Wood Art.
6 years ago
