An excellent example occurred recently at our firm, where we made a selection to purchase some software over the web. The research done indicated that one firm had the same product at 20% less than a rival that we had done business with previously. Bear in mind all of these firms are offering essentially the same product, and delivering over the web.
The decision was made to buy from the 20% less vendor and see what their service was like. The product was not expensive; less than $100, and the order placed. Then the problems started. Firstly the vendor did supply the discount coupon, but it did not reflect in the check-out price; which should have been a red-flag immediately. Once email was received, turns out they do not deliver the product immediately and electronically as our previous supplier had done.
Next stages were to send an email to their support desk (had an individuals email address; red-flag number 2). Good news a response was received in a few minutes; bad news was the response, read below:
So assumed that this was not really what was intended, a follow up email was sent indicating that this was not the ideal way to treat a customer. Next received another email along with 2 refunds to our account, one for the discount that should have been applied in the first place, and the second for the balance; no explanations, just we don’t need the business that bad. Within an hour our firm returned to the original supplier, paid 20% more for the product and received it within minutes. Moral of the story, stick with your existing suppliers and if they are not competitive, call them and ask them if they can meet the others price. In this example, more time and energy was eaten up dealing with a vendor who could not care less about their customers. Imagine if these guys were someone important in your project supply chain.
Excerpted from Michael J. Cunningham’s Finish What You Start
