Does anyone have any knowledge regarding business to business auto renewing type contracts

At work, 5 years ago I signed up to a 5 year service contract for our printers. We had expected to just allow the contract to expire at the end of the term but now find that buried in the small print it says that we have to give 90 days written notice of termination prior to expiry or the contract rolls over for another 12 months. There are also quite penal cancellation charges imposed if we now try to terminate the contract

From the attitude of the business, which is a large company, they use these clauses frequently and probably make a lot of money out of them

To be reasonable, should we have been contacted and reminded that our contract was about to lapse? Are these contracts unfair?

It seems that this type of contract has been largely outlawed in business to consumer type situations. Is it different in B2B and I just need to be more careful in the future

Many thanks Steve

Its for them to make extra money of course hoping folk dont realise or they forget, like all these subscriptions that say we auto renew when your present subscription expires for the same period as your original term. Then they add "for your convenience"
Heck it doesnt take a second to renew it yourself if you need to.
Rubbish its for theirs and only their convenience, they must make hundreds from the strength of it when folk forget, plus they usually take out tge funds for the next term well in advance like a few days or weeks even so if you do happen to remember on time its too late to stop it.
Happens with lots of contracts and its really sly craftiness.
But of course as its written into the contract small print when you took it on theres no way of getting out of it once the renewal/extension wheels have started to turn so to speak.

I'm afraid they are very common especially more recently with cloud and software as a service type contracts. They are perfectly legal since you have a clear right of termination and conditions under which that termination right can be exercised. It is very much "tough titties" in that respect. Since you entered into a five year contract and the auto renewal is for only one further year, you would struggle to prove that the clause was unreasonable and hence unenforceable.

If you truly have no intention of renewing again, automatically or otherwise, you are best advised to give them notice now rather than waiting for the 90 days and at least be safe in the knowledge that come next year it won't auto renew. Make sure the notice is sent to the address given in the contract for serving notices and send it recorded delivery. Just in case!

I fell foul of this when I took over a role from someone else.

A contract "auto renewed" before I could get my feet under the desk, and before I knew it I was automatically signed up for another year.

When the invoice came I argued the toss with them and ultimately said I wasn't paying and that I'd see them in court.

They chased it a few times and when it was clear I wasn't budging they wrote to cancel the renewed contract and the invoice.

Ironically, if it had gone to court I'd have probably lost - but in this case I fancied my chances at a game of brinkmanship and I happened to win.

Thanks for the replies guys......looks like I am stuck with it............memo to self..........be more careful in the future!!

I think that around 5 to 10 years ago their was a growing attitude in some businesses (particularly those owned by Venture Capital Funds) that customers were a commodity (and mugs) to be screwed for as much cash as possible in the quest for quick short term profits. The long term relationship was of no interest to them. Think banks, insurance companies etc etc.

Thankfully many of those businesses are now being brought to book, having to pay for their past misdemeanours and find out what that means in terms of customer retention and trust. I think that corporate attitudes are much better now, but there will always be the "bad apples"

Steve