Blog / News The VMI Value-added Factor 15 May 2023 — by Barry Bassett Seriously, why choose one rental company over any other? We think that exemplary customer service, delivered entirely carbon-neutrally and which is competitively priced are our value-added-factors. Let’s face it – when you want to make a significant purchase, the first thing that any of us do is to hit Google to make sure that we are not overpaying. After all, we all want to receive both a great deal and great service but choosing a rental company isn’t quite that easy. VMI’s Value-added as standard. VMI’s highly accessorised equipment is delivered with exemplary customer service in an entirely carbon-neutral way, so selecting a rental service on rates alone doesn’t reflect the whole picture. ARRI Pro Kits as standard. VMI fit our cameras with ARRI Pro accessories as standard*, with generous battery and media storage, packed into a custom flight-case to ensure uniformity across the fleet, so that even the smallest cameras have plenty of mounting points to ensure that all accessories work and fit across all cameras. This approach can add £thousands to the purchase cost but is not universally adopted by all companies, so beware! Six Camera Test Rooms as standard. Our services also include free camera test rooms with unlimited coffee, fruit and snacks, which help your crew to both be organised and have a great experience on-set. Our six test rooms are spread across both of our buildings. Carbon-neutral hire as standard. VMI is an Albert-assured carbon-neutral company who has won much acclaim for its sustainability measures, from generating our own electricity from our 55KW of solar panels, using recycled paper and potato starch film to seal cables and filters, to becoming a nil landfill company. Hiring from VMI generates zero CO2 emissions and we even calculate and print on quotes how much Carbon you are saving by hiring from us. VMI has also been Living Wage accredited (since 2018) and invests in young people by offering apprenticeships. Exemplary Customer Service as standard. Customer service is another intangible for which we all take for granted but really miss when it is lacking. We have independently surveyed our clients annually since 2008 to ensure that we are delivering to the very highest standards and our clients have consistently voted VMI 96% for customer service over the past 8 years. VMI 2022 Client Survey All provided as standard. We don’t charge for any of these services but we still work very hard to ensure that we are competitive, so even if you have found a better price elsewhere, then always give us an opportunity to see if we can match it, as we usually can. So be confident that when you do decide to hire from VMI, reassure yourself that you are hiring from a responsible company who truly takes sustainability seriously. Sincerely, Barry Bassett, VMI Managing Director, May 2023 * VMI stock ARRI Pro kits for all their cameras for which ARRI makes accessories for and we sometimes customise existing kits when specific kits are not available, such as Sony FX-6, Phantom VEO-4K Slow-Motion Cameras and Canon ME20fsh super low-light cameras. This ensures harmonisation across our fleet and compatibility with all other VMI rental cameras. We stock Wooden Camera base plates and accessories when ARRI accessories are not available/easily customisable.