Evesham offers to buy out school RM lease contracts

Evesham Micros has declared war on Research Machines to try and steal its customer base. The sneaky system builder today issued a statement to all schools unhappy with their Research Machines (RM) leasing agreement: ditch them for us and we'll give you a better deal. "Evesham... has today confirmed that it will offer a facility to refinance any outstanding credit agreements that any UK schools currently have with Research Machines," it said. From next week, Evesham confirmed it would start approaching RM's customers to "settle" their leasing agreements. "Evesham can then replace each school's existing computer equipment – with higher specification PCs, or with other more modern equipment if desired – without the school incurring a higher monthly payment." Evesham said it had been approached by several educational establishments eager to upgrade their PCs or install a network. "These schools wanted to buy kit from us, but they felt they couldn't because they were tied to their RM agreement," said Andy Cross, divisional sales manager at Evesham. Cross added that the company was ready for a "head-to-head contest" with RM, and would be directly approaching its education customers to nab their leasing agreements. RM was unaware of Evesham's intentions until The Register's phonecall this afternoon. After several minutes' consultation with RM HQ, a representative said the company was not fazed by the plans. "I don't see it as desperately worrying. "They are not offering anything RM doesn't already offer. And we are specialists in the market – all our helplines and software are designed for schools," said one RM representative. "There is no mention of Viglen in the Evesham statement. "Evesham is just trying to make a big noise, but it's not a big issue. I suppose if you take a pop at anyone, you take a pop at the big guys," she added.® Related stories Evesham drops the Micros for dot com Net uptake in schools fuels market growth Dealers expelled from schools market