In these times of economic stress and uncertainty, with companies looking for ways to reduce expenses, perhaps it is time to review your existing Records Management Agreement and the price increases reflected in their most recent rate schedule.
You will likely find:
1. Your rates can increase at any time with only 30 days notice and no maximum increase is specified. In fact you may find that your rates have been increasing more frequently than once a year and by more than the industry average of 3%.
2. The cost to permanently withdraw your stored material will most certainly increase and historically it has been increasing disproportionately to the amount of increase in other rates. This is intended to make it more difficult for you to move your stored material to another vendor who is offering a less expensive alternative with better systems and improved customer service.
3. New rates, such as a $25.00 monthly administrative fee, have been introduced in the past and who is to say that new rates will not be introduced in the future. That’s $300.00 a year in additional expense. And this is on top of a minimum monthly storage invoice and a minimum service order charge.
4. Many customers have seen charges for unauthorized work - such as re-boxing of stored material - appear on their invoices. And you may find it odd that your vendor charges you to provide the detail supporting their invoice.
What You Can Do to Save Money on Records Management
Since it is unlikely that your incumbent vendor is going to be willing to address any concerns you may raise about these increases or changes, unless you make a decision now to change vendors, you have little choice (and even less choice in the future as your incumbent vendor continues to increase their “hostage fees”) but to accept these increases and changes.
There are many reputable and more specialized records management companies that can reduce costs by an average of 20% to 30% immediately while offering you protection from indiscriminate price increases.
