Just to let you know that IBM Technical Support Services (TTS) have announced a 2014 General Price Announcement (GPA).
The effective date of the GPA is 1st April 2014 for New & Renewal contracts.
The GPA will apply to Existing Annual & Quarterly contracts from 1st July 2014.
For the majority of products the increase will be 4%, but it will not apply to hardware maintenance prices for new products that were announced or became effective on or after 1st October 2012. If you have a contract with price protection this increase will not take effect until the beginning of the next charging period.
Prices for new contracts and additions/upgrades will increase with effect from 1st April 2014 Renewals and new contracts already issued have to be signed and returned to IBM prior to their start date or by 26.03.14, whichever is sooner to avoid the price increase. Any amendments made to existing contracts, including renewals and expired contracts after 31.03.14 will be subject to the price increase.
Should you wish to discuss the details of this announcement, or how it may affect you in particular, please contact me at Kelly.russell-price@recarta.co.uk or call on 01306 646669.
Please find below the contents of the official letter issued from IBM;
IBM is committed to ensuring that you, as a valued customer, continue to receive both quality service and value for money. On an ongoing basis, we work hard to meet your service requirements whilst also keeping our charges under control. Each year we review our prices and if necessary adjust them accordingly.
I am writing to inform you that the impact of inflation on our operating costs now requires that we implement a price increase for our Hardware Maintenance and Software Services excluding Software Maintenance which IBM reserves the right to change at a later date.
Product types that have transferred to Toshiba are not affected by this announcement. In accordance with the terms of our Agreement, this letter constitutes the three months notice in writing that is required prior to such a change.
For the majority of products the increase will be 4%, this includes usage charges where appropriate, but will not apply to Hardware Maintenance prices for new products that were announced or became effective on or after 1st October 2012. However, if your existing contract has a charge increase restriction then it will take precedence over this price increase.
For those customers with contracts that have price protection this increase will not take effect until the beginning of the next charging period. ·
- Prepaid contracts will be protected for the period of prepayment. E.g. a contract that is prepaid for 36 months on 1st March 2014 will not have the increase applied until 1st March 2017 ·
- Prices for new contracts and additions to existing contracts will increase with effect from 1st April 2014.