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How to compare office copier quotes in the UAE
Two copier quotes rarely compare like with like. Speed class, A3 speed, cost per page, what the service contract covers and the machine's configuration: what to line up before you choose.
Most offices change copiers only every few years, so very few people have done it before. Problems are rarely the new machine itself. They are the things nobody wrote down: a notice period, a scan-to-folder setting, a department's user code. This checklist works whatever brand you are moving from.
The short version: check your contract dates first, plan for the data on the old machine, copy every setting before the old machine leaves, and run both machines side by side for a day if you can.
1. Before you ask for quotes
- Find the contract end date and notice period. Many lease and service agreements renew automatically unless you give notice in writing by a set date.
- Check for minimum volumes or early-termination fees. They change the real cost of switching early.
- Get your actual volumes. Print the meter readings (mono, colour, A3) from each machine. Volumes on paper beat guesses, and they are what a fair quote is built on.
- List who uses each machine and for what: scanning to email, scanning to folders, secure release printing, fax, accounting codes.
2. Comparing quotes
- Compare machines in the same class: same speed, colour or mono, same paper trays and finisher. See how to compare office copier quotes.
- Compare cost per page and what it includes: toner, drums, parts, labour, travel.
- Ask for the engineer response time in writing, and where the engineers and parts are based.
- Decide between buying and leasing. See buying vs leasing a copier in Dubai.
3. The data on the old machine
Most modern copiers have a hard drive or SSD that can hold scanned documents, address books and print jobs. Before the old machine leaves your office:
- Ask the outgoing supplier how the drive will be wiped or removed, and get it confirmed in writing.
- If the machine scanned or printed personal data, the UAE's Personal Data Protection Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021) may apply to how that data is handled. Free-zone companies may fall under their zone's own data rules instead. Check with whoever handles compliance in your business.
- Export the address book first if you want to keep it.
4. Settings to copy before the switch
- Scan-to-email: mail server, port, sender address and login.
- Scan-to-folder: network paths and the service account used.
- User codes or card-login lists, and any department limits.
- Fax numbers and forwarding rules.
- Default settings people rely on, such as duplex or mono by default.
Take photos of the settings screens. It takes ten minutes and saves a day of support calls.
5. Installation day
- Install the new printer drivers on every computer, or push them centrally, and remove the old print queues.
- Test scanning to email and to folders from each floor or department.
- Keep the old machine for a day if your contract allows. If it does not, schedule the swap for a quiet day.
- Check that the new supplier has stocked toner for the new machine before the old one goes.
6. After the switch
- Record the starting meter reading on the new machine.
- Get written confirmation that the old machine's drive was wiped or removed.
- Check the first invoice against the agreed cost per page.
Switching to Ricoh with Gtech
Gtech FZE is an authorized distributor for Ricoh in the UAE. When we replace another manufacturer's machine, our engineers copy your scan, user and fax settings onto the new Ricoh, install drivers, and test with your team before they leave. Machines and genuine consumables are held in our Jebel Ali Free Zone stock. Send us your current meter readings and contract end date and we will build a quote around them.
This checklist is general information, not legal advice. Contract terms and data-protection duties depend on your own agreements and circumstances.
