140 replies to this topic

[Chris Miller]

I have had suppliers ask that sample orders and such be faxed but to be honest I am getting a little tired of faxing everything back and forth. I get a lot more done when I can pickup the phone and talk to someone about things.

Look at this great fax from CPS Keystone. My order is being rushed, wont arrive by my in-hands date and if I want to communicate with them I should fax. Calls will be ignored.

Suppliers who put policies like this in place amaze me.

I had one last month who needed payment by the next day to ship but wouldn't take a credit cards. I had to wire the funds. :eek:

Or how about yet another supplier who refused to take my credit card without a scanned copy of the front of the card. :lol:

Or how about those few rare suppliers who put everything on hold until a "hard copy" of the art is received? :mad:

Then you have those suppliers (very rare but there are some) who just will not take a PO any way except fax. Are you serious? :sleep:

I've also had suppliers who refuse to accept OUR credit card authorization form. It must all be filled out and on their form. :rolleyes:

Why when suppliers screw up on orders do they have to bother us to send samples back before they will authorize a return of the goods? Do they think we are lying? Are they hoping to argue that there is nothing wrong the order?

Signed credit card forms.... we had 1 supplier tell us they needed our signature on the credit card form to accept it. We have NEVER been asked for a signature before. When I told her we didn't have a physical fax machine and couldn't print anything she says "sorry its policy". So I tell her I can type it out in a cursive font and fax it over through efax. She says "If its not a real signature we wont take it" WHO ARE YOU TO SAY WHAT MY SIGNATURE LOOKS LIKE?!?! :mad: :mad: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Suppliers need to wake up and accommodate their customers 100%. If I made it this difficult to do business with me I wouldn't have a single customer.

Anyone else have any stories to share?

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[steveb]

Allan, you must like things to be simple. Guess you're one of those who believe in KISS. What would life be like if we didn't get our knickers in a twist about stuff like this? Guess we wouldn't have a reason for living.

aapromotions said:

Boy, you sure worry a lot. I just do what the supplier wants and get my order processed, invoice my client and try to make a living.

[gil levitch]

Suppliers need to wake up and accommodate their customers 100%. If I made it this difficult to do business with me I wouldn't have a single customer.

Anyone else have any stories to share?[/quote]

No stories, Chris, but some advice. Call either the President or Owner of the supplier who is giving you a rough way to go. You will be admazed how this can change things very quickly. If not then forget this supplier and go elsewhere. I've only had one supplier in the last 2 years that gave me the policy before they could do something. I told them to shove their policy where the sun doesn't shine. I went to another supplier and didn't miss a beat.

[Chris Miller]

aapromotions said:

Boy, you sure worry a lot. I just do what the supplier wants and get my order processed, invoice my client and try to make a living.

That's pretty funny actually. So you have no standard method of operation? How many orders do you write each day?

[borovitz]

I agree on the hard copy of the art. I am doing an order and sent the vendor vector art, a PDF of the vector file, and a virtual sample JPEG of the logo on the product and they still want a hard copy of the art! This is stupidity! They then called me to tell me there would be an $8.00 paper proof charge which they sent via email. Essentially they sent me my virtual sample file in PDF format, and charged me $8.00. This experience just makes me not want to do business with this supplier ever again.

[sdmillar]

Orders faxed in only, I dont agree with, but I am not a fan of taking complete orders over the phone. Customer wanted a blue bag shipped red or was that a red bag shipped blue? Details in our business are very important and if an error is made and there is no written word, someone is going to be upset and it may not be the party that made the mistake. All the other policies mentioned seemed to be unnecessary.

I guarantee the reason this supplier has gone to a ridiculous policy of verbal responses will be ignored is because they have experienced to much "he said" "she said" It is sad, but there are people out there that will lie to get an edge or get something that is not coming to them.

Is this policy crazy? We have a policy that when a customer sends us a PO either by email or fax and the pricing is wrong, we need them to either send a revised PO or at least something in writing that we can attach that acknowledges that they understand the price to be X instead of the price Y on their PO.

I think we all want to process orders as efficintly as possible and at the same time be sure we have as little opportunity for error as possible. Sometimes the two goals get in conflict and logical thinking must sep in.

Good topic

[Mike Betts]

I agree with a lot of your points, Chris, however, some I disagree with. Anytime someone calls me and wants to buy something, or change an order ect. I say "great... send it to me in writing and I'll take care of it right away". There are just too many things that can go wrong if it is not in writing. Fax, well maybe thats a little overkill - we accept e-mail at least.

Secondly, if you are not willing to accept a suppliers policy, regardless of how stupid it really is, then move on to someone else. If you cannot accept their policy, why should they accept yours... becasue you are the client? Well, there is a little logic to that, but suppliers have to do things in certain ways, or else everything gets f***ed up. Policy is set to reduce the occurance of errors - at least in the eyes of the policy maker.

[bigimpression]

I personally don't mind either faxing/e-mailing orders and sample requests. To many variable to worry about when someone else it trying to jot down what you are saying. With written requests it's all documented. If it takes an extra 5-10 minutes per order, I'm willing to make that sacrafice.

I can't go into walmart and change their policies...If you don't like it go elsewhere!

[Tigerpaw]

Friends...
Chris writes.. "Why when suppliers screw up on orders do they have to bother us to send samples back before they will authorize a return of the goods? Do they think we are lying? Are they hoping to argue that there is nothing wrong the order?"

To this I agree.
I'm tired of suppliers making an error, then wasting the customer's time along with mine, plus money to have me send them a sample.
-- Do they not have an overrun from the order?
-- Do they not have a copy of the screen, the ink color used, the imprint, the copy, the die, a sew-out of the order, etc.?

In all my years in this industry, I don't recall a time when a customer said the imprint on their order was wrong, that it wasn't wrong. Nonetheless, far too many suppliers want to see a sample before correcting the error. --Such a waste.

Very truly.. Tom

[steveb]

Oh, the buzzin' of the bees in the cigarette trees near the soda water fountain, at the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings, at the big rock candy mountain.

Awardmasters said:

None of the suppliers I use ever screw up and they all do everything exactly as I say:)

Dream on, brother!

[Schlep]

Awardmasters said:

None of the suppliers I use ever screw up and they all do everything exactly as I say:)

Wow and Pete said that with a straight face.:lol:

[ArtsAds]

My pet peeve is suppliers charging for email proofs. :mad:

We all know they have the artwork setup (which most charge for).
The proof is good insurance for the mfr and the dealer, it saves money and email is FREE, so why charge extra?

Keeping track of who charges for proof, who doesn't and how much proof fees are is a needless nuisance! Bah-humbug!

[Volant]

That is what it is all about Allan, quality of life... not just having a "job"... don't sweat the small stuff, and let's face it ... when you look back, most of it is just that. Just don't rub it in too much. ha.

[steveb]

I love that quote. Gotta tell you a story. When I was 14 (1956) I got a job at Murray's Chicken Ranch on Chinquapin Road in Holland, PA. He had 14,000 chickens in a space big enough for 7,000. One of my jobs was cleaning out the chicken houses, shoveling out the straw, scraping the floors, etc. I was industriously scraping away at the floor one day, diigging into the cracks, when one of Murray's regular hands looked at me and said "Don't sweat the small stuff. Just hit the high spots." To me the quote is incomplete without the second sentence, especially when I think of what I was scraping!!!

To this day I recommend that chicken farm hand's statement as a philosophy of life.
:offtopic: :lol:

Volant said:

That is what it is all about Allan, quality of life... not just having a "job"... don't sweat the small stuff, and let's face it ... when you look back, most of it is just that. Just don't rub it in too much. ha.

[Chris Miller]

aapromotions said:

Well, let me put it this way. Enough so that I can have as much of the sweet nectar of the good blue agave plant that my body can ingest. One trip to the Virgin Islands per year to indulge in Cruzan Rum. One trip to Napa to sip the sweet nectar of the vine.

Clearly a difference in how we run our companies. I deal with several orders a day and these are usually from all different suppliers (many times with suppliers we haven't dealt with yet and dont have accounts with) so things can get hectic. These are usually in the $200 - $700 range so I guess you could say my business model is based on quantity - not quality. It doesn't stop me from doing $20 - $30k / month @ 38-40% though so I am not complaining.

That's the one disadvantage of selling online. There isn't as much control over the customer and you don't always get to utilize your "preferred supplier" list.

[KLKS]

"I'm tired of suppliers making an error, then wasting the customer's time along with mine, plus money to have me send them a sample. "

I keep my digital camera with me.......... take a pic of the incorrect item and quickly email to the supplier. Yes, it's still a step that I'd rather not have to take, but it is an alternative to shipping a sample back to them.