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Thread: Ripping off customers

  1. #1
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    Ripping off customers

    I do everything in my business ... I am the rep ... the design engineer ... the person who prepares the quotes ... the person who physically does the job ... order and collect the materials required ... the person who completes the job card ... including labour and material and then generate the invoice and email it to the customer and lastly the person who follow up with regards to payment.

    I have never had a problem with the wholesaler ... we have a good arrangement ... until today ... I realised the salesman I am dealing with is not only ripping me off ... but adding stuff to my invoices ... and lies like cheap watch.

    You know those little things things that keep popping up ... you see an item listed on the invoice that you dont recall actually collecting ... its just added to an invoice ... At the time I didnt think much of it ... you think ... I must have collected the item ... but realise as more and more things start popping up ...I started scratching deeper ... I keep soft cover books of every thing ... with sites notes ... things to do and materials lists of item required for a project.

    Everytime I buy something the price changes ... and I hear the same story ... ther ewas a price increase ... I do realise with covid and all this bullshyte stock issues etc ... but when you pay normally pay R30 for and item ... but one day the invoice is R48 ... 3 days later the invoice is R30 ... then a week later its R30 ... then you ask why the price difference ... he tells you there was a price increase but when you produce the invoices ... how was there an increase if the price is less now ???

    I understand that copper prices fluctuate and all that ... the more reliable companies have the daily price fluctuations on a board in the shop ... even that should change the price so much considering the stock purchased in stores

    Today I not only did I catch him out for lying ... but adding stuff to invoices ... for example instead of charging for 10 meters I am getting charged to 10 lengths of product ... instead of taking 3 items it will be 4 ... We are only talking small numbers R100 - R500 ... but you start adding it up the number suddenly becomes a substantial amount

    You only have to screw me once.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

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    Diamond Member Blurock's Avatar
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    My policy is never to fight with a salesperson or waiter at a restaurant. Call the manager as he/she is ultimately responsible for the actions of their staff.

    I have seen this happen so many times and even at the big supermarkets. In their case it is mostly because items are marked wrong with wrong prices.
    "Specials" are not communicated to staff or items not marked correctly. You only realise this when you get home and it is too much trouble to go back for R10 or R20.
    Excellence is not a skill; its an attitude...

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    I purchase quite a lot of engineering plastics like HDPE and Acetal. I've taken to running a spreadsheet with costs per material / area / thickness / diameter.

    Prices vary based on 3 criteria.
    1. Popularity - popular thicknesses / diameters are more expensive.
    2. Price per volume is not fixed, linear or even on a curve - I can't see the pattern because I don't have enough data.
    3. Cut price is easily 50% more than full sheet price.

    I often work out what the most cost effective purchase is based on those factors - sometimes it is more cost effective to buy thicker material than I need because the unpopular size costs less. 12mm Acetal costs less than 10mm Acetal by volume.

    Bolts and nuts and such things are much worse - the hardware shop has a 200-500% mark up on such things. I recently purchased 4000 10mm M4 cheese head screws for 16 cents each after doing some research into the best supplier. One has to be careful to check prices though, another bulk supplier quoted me double the price and a two day lead time (The dumbasses were probably buying from BoltFast as I did)

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    My concern is not so much the price variation or additional amounts ... its more about being lied to ... if there is one thing I cannot tolerate ... a bullshyter.

    We all make mistakes ... but when you are have to send emails literally every week to correct figues ... it starts becoming an additional cost to every project.

    Its like the products being sold at the moment ... you have to set aside a staff member just to check the locknuts fit the adaptors ... trim the inside of female adaptors ... ... check the threads of screws ... check all the switches function correctly etc etc ... its a f%^& en joke. There is absolutely no quality control of rubbish being dumped in this country ... and people worry about standards and regs ... what standards and regs.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

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    I have to spend my Saturday ... preparing quotes ... not for my customers ... for the wholesalers ... its time to move wholesalers ... all because I cant trust the salesman I deal with anymore ... its sad when people bite the hand that feeds them.

    When you are a small fish in a big body of water ... unfortunately you just have to just keep swimming ... like the wholesaler owner said ... suck it up cup cake ... my little R300 000.00 per year is small change compared to the big contractors who spend a million rand a month ... little companies like mine ... come and go like days of our lives.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

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    Diamond Member Blurock's Avatar
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    . its time to move wholesalers ... all because I cant trust the salesman I deal with anymore ... its sad when people bite the hand that feeds them.
    Moral of the story is, do not #@ck with the customer. The customer is the most important person in your business. Lose the customer and you lose income.

    Why can't people understand this basic principle?
    Excellence is not a skill; its an attitude...

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    Its not just about the lying and adding a little extra ... and getting it wrong over and over ... having to send emails to correct double product invoices ... the other this that gets under my skin ... is rubbish quality product being sold.

    Today for example I had to create a material list and send it out to all the wholesalers ... wait for the prices .. then decide where to buy the product ... which means I cant start the job on Monday anymore ... so now the project is gonna be behind schedule.

    I bought all the products to restock my van ... stuff like glands ... adaptors ... couplings etc.

    This has become another wasted 2 hours in a day ... checking each female adaptor ... sanding off the plastic blow out ... checking that the coupling fit the pipe ends to make sure the pipe the same width throughout the length

    Today I found another issue ... the glands are such rejects ... the colour of the back part that screws on is not even the same colour as the front piece ... one is white and the other shyte colour off white ... the blue rubber which is suppose to compress onto the cable is so hard that the plastic piece wont compress onto the cable or fit ove rthe cable ... so what is going to happen the "teams on site" will just throw the blue rubber piece away and now your installations is no longer up to standard ... but who cares so long as it works.

    I cut the pvc pipe to check the couplings fit ... SANS stamp of approval and all ... yeah well no fine ... as I mentioned earlier ... the pipe has an SANS stamp of approval it must be legal
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

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