Copier Donation Scam?

[techpro]

Hey Guys, I need someone to tell me if they've ran into this equipment payment schedule before and if so how does it work and is it a scam?
I have a few customers who recently switched companies and signed up for a new lease with this other company. Here's the structure.
This company targets Churches from what I've seem and they talk the board member into signing a lease that is way more then a normal payment.
Ie; My quote could be $200 and there's will be $400 for the same equipment and setup. The reason they are signing with the competitor is because they pay back 100% of the lease payment each month as a donation. How could a company survive not making any money!

The only thing I can tell is that this company is in financial trouble, need cash flow and they are doing so by convincing the Churches to sign for a lease that is way over inflated and using the capital too pay immediate bills.

If this company goes bankrupt the customer (Church) is stuck with a HUGE inflated lease for the remained on the lease term with no one to service their machine. GREAT DEAL! NOT!

Can anyone shed light on this for me?

Greatly Appreciated

[Gregg]

WTF!?!
Anyone with any common sense should see a red flag there.

[techpro]

I hear you Gregg, this company is taking advantage of Churches! God help them! lol
When I peak to them regarding this I always say what there is NOTHING for free in this world! They need to look at the big picture.

[copiman]

I saw an advertisement here locally that said the church gets the machine for free and the company services it. It also said it was extending the promotion to all business. This could be used equipment on a rental program. I don't know. As far as a lease, I'll bet if you read the fine print, you will find that the picture painted is a not so pretty picture. Probably, 1st payment returned only.

[prntrfxr]

Do they get donation money back in taxes or a tax break?

[JustManuals]

WTF!?!
Anyone with any common sense should see a red flag there.

As we all know, the problem with common sense is that it's not all that common.

[jmaister]

Does this lease thing include servicing?

Trust me when I say this, one would actually loose money putting machine in certain churches..

they frekin use it as a printing press...with inkjet gloss paper....

There's always madness to its method, maybe legit, maybe not, I'd do more research on this before putting the period on it.

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

Could be a ponzi scheme...paying the older accounts with incoming money from the newer accounts...

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

I've seen similar postings out there. They're usually left over machines just sitting in storage so they give the machine for free but make up for it in a higher click charge, maybe 2-3 cents per b/w page.

I saw an advertisement here locally that said the church gets the machine for free and the company services it. It also said it was extending the promotion to all business. This could be used equipment on a rental program. I don't know. As far as a lease, I'll bet if you read the fine print, you will find that the picture painted is a not so pretty picture. Probably, 1st payment returned only.