Hidden Page Count - HELP - MPC3003 - Are we being scammed - We are a church

[sturmtrooper]

This intrigues me. The count was normal for the longest time and then all of a sudden it too huge jumps (in sum, we had the printer for 4 years and it says we have done 55,000 color copies and 140,000 B&W. We are a very small church. Just yesterday the service tech did a surprise stop and was messing around with the counter. But didn't say anything was out of order. Problem is, he was supposed to schedule a visit, with me there. Therefore, a part of me is questioning whether he changed the counter from clicks to pages yesterday. Is there anyway to tell what changes are made?

I don't believe there is any way to tell if the meter accounting method has been changed other than comparing a meter sheet from before the tech was there to after.

I THINK that if the machine is set to page count it will say page counter on the meter sheet and development counter on the meter sheet if it has been set to developments. I am not positive though. But I have seen meter sheets that said development on the one machine we have that is set to count by developments.

I still think that the biggest culprit will be someone using the machine off books for their own purposes.

[paulg]

You have had some great advice here.


Firstly lock the copier/ printer down


1. There is the chance someone is making sneaky extra copies. We are all Techs on this site from all over the world and I have visited companies where everyone with physical access to the copier is earning mega money, police stations, Army camps, schools, charities and Places of various worship. They have all found that to control costs they need to lock the devices down. People will just be sneaky and make that extra copy or print often not with malicious intent just because it's convenient.


2. You will be able to see which user is making the most copies/prints and check their settings and how they use the MFP maybe its the way they set the device up as others have said if you have print or scan with even the slightest bit of colour you will get charged for colour and if its set to double-sided if you count the amount of paper used of course be prepared to double the number. MFP's like Computers many casual users will learn a process and use it every time even if not possibly suitable for their current print or copy job.


Emails and web pages with extra headers and footers and even word files where someone has left an extra blank page at the end will end up increasing your prints made.


3. Another benefit of pin codes and locked print is people have to release the print and see the number of pages and suddenly it dawns on them. It's seeing a figure written down makes them realise what they are about to process.


4. It makes people realise often in offices or other "work" environments how pointless the copy or print they are making is, a user will print or copy a page or pages out when they need a few details to complete an order or make a call when they could just write them down on a post-it or notebook.


5. locked print will stop a user if they accidentally print too many or didn't mean to press print but meant to print to pdf for example but default printer on their pc was the MFP, as it gives them an extra step to commit to actually printing.




In a nutshell I have seen many customers realise once prints/copies are accountable, somehow the issue of excess copies just fades away.

[slimslob]

I had a customer who had a similar problem. It turned out the janitorial service was using the copier at night. One other thing to do is for a week or so print the counter sheet before leaving at the end of the day and again first thing the next morning. Compare the two.

[tonerhead]

Slimbob: you are spot on. Seen that too. The "elves" only seem to come out at night. As was mentioned lock it down with access codes. A customer had a crew that came in on the weekends that is until the customer did what you told these guys to do. The meter always climbed a couple hundred each weekend when no one was in. Imagine that!!

On a funny side note, my wife did that once. Had an old hp inkjet and I put in a new oem cartridge from WallyWorld that morning. Eight hours later, I came home from work and wanted a print, the print started ok then faded to nothing. Bad new ink cartridge I thought, I was about ready to return to WallyLand and then I found out my wife printed 200 pages or so from a manual (she hates pdf's) used up all of the ink. Had to go to WallyUniverse anyway, not to return the "bad" cartridge but to buy more.

[blackcat4866]

I can't tell you how many times a small church has told me: "We couldn't possibly have done that many copies!!" but they actually did. Once you've got your department codes set up, most likely you will not see that increase, because the guilty party will understand that they are now accountable. and will get caught.

Go ahead and blame the servicing company if it makes you feel better, but service techs cannot arbitrarily change copy counts. It just can not be done. I am personally insulted by your accusations. =^..^=

[SalesServiceGuy]

Is it possible to set up automatic meter reads via email to both the church and the service provider?

[blackcat4866]

Is it possible to set up automatic meter reads via email to both the church and the service provider?

How often do you want this to happen? Daily? What will it prove? =^..^=

[sandmanmac]

[QUOTE=teetime;589719]

This intrigues me. The count was normal for the longest time and then all of a sudden it too huge jumps (in sum, we had the printer for 4 years and it says we have done 55,000 color copies and 140,000 B&W. We are a very small church. Just yesterday the service tech did a surprise stop and was messing around with the counter.

You've had the machine for 4 years. What were the monthly counts for the "longest time"? because the current meter count divided by the 48 months you say that you've had the machine, add up to basically EXACTLY the monthly usage that that you've indicated is WAY too high