Renting routers / equipment & how much to charge

[archivalbackup]

Question for you all:

I am doing some consulting and the customer bought a router off eBay that they wanted me to configure that is toast. The console ports are completely dead. Breakout shows no voltage anywhere.

They want to get their CoLo up & running ASAP, and I happen to have the equipment on hand that I could pull out of my home lab until they can get a replacement (which could be a week or so).

How much should I charge for the equipment rental? It is probably going to end up being an 1841 router and a 2950 switch for a period of 1 to 2 weeks, including setup & configuration of the devices.

I am only really doing this particular job as a friend-of-a-friend type of deal so I want to be fair, however, I have spent a lot of money on my equipment and feel that I need to be compensated for having it on hand, and letting them use it since they bought a key piece of equipment from ebay for a business critical component.

The equipment is valued at ~ $1700 (which is pretty much what I paid for it)

$50 a day? Is that too much?

 

[Spartacus]

I try not to use any of my personal equipment at a customer site at all. I use my own laptop when I need to and a spare router to test something once in a while, but I wouldn't want to leave anything of that value onsite.

What would happen if they decided to go with another IT vendor after your equipment is already onsite? It happens.

If this is absolutely a crunch and they absolutely need to use your equipment temporarily, then make sure you get a $1500 deposit and let them know it's refunded on return of the equipment. A rental fee seems fair, but $50/day is maybe a bit high, I'd say $25-$35/day.

Did you use the MFR. console cable or just a standard serial cable on the Ebay router?
Try a null modem cable too if you haven't.

Does the GUI work?

 

[TechieSooner]

Ditto... Deposit, daily (or just flat rate) for rental.

They really don't have much choice. They pay the deposit or they aren't running. Simple (refundable deposit and a little rent cash or thousands lost in revenue... hmmm).

 

[archivalbackup]

Good ideas. I hadn't thought of the deposit, however I will have to insist on that. I am a bit protective of my Cisco gear, particularly this router in question since I purchased it retail.

Apparently a breakout box shows that there is no voltage on any of the pins on the serial connection.

We were using a tried & True blue Cisco console cable. I even tried the non-standard, but possible speed 115.2k.

None of the interfaces are enabled, so no go on the SDM.

 

[cancersticks]

Call places that rent the same (or similar) equipment and find out what they would charge for the same situation. Once you know that, cut the price down to a level that you're comfortable with. Plus, if they complain about the pricing you can point out Companies X, Y and Z and how much they would charge. While I've never rented out Cisco gear, but charge $50-$100/week for little Linksys or D-Link routers and $25-$50 for switches (depending on # of ports); totally overpriced for what it is, but a lot less that what other people I know charge.

Definitely do a security deposit, just in case and make sure they sign a rental agreement BEFORE you set up the equipment, specifying all of the rental terms: duration of rental, cost, etc.