Friday, August 14, 2009

Was This Inappropriate?

I have a supplier that recently pushed out the delivery on a part (which I've purchased before) from 4 weeks to 12 weeks. Needless to say, this is outside my customer's window for the project they have going on, and my customer wants to know why it's late.

Thus, I have been peppering my vendor with questions. Is this a supply chain issue? Are their sub-vendors late? Is the factory behind schedule? Is there an infrastructure issue that we need to know about, and possibly try to find another supplier?

Each time I sent her an email, she would simply reply that the new delivery is 12 weeks, with no other explanation. She repeated this statement each time I asked her why the lead time tripled.

Finally, exasperated, I changed tactics, and sent her the following message:

What is driving the lead time? Does it have to go through a 4 week heat-treat process? Did the factory get leveled by a flood/earthquake? Are you waiting for it to be forged by dwarves under a mountain, using primitive tools, and then carried by donkeys?

Her response: In the future, please refrain from the inappropriate comments. I do not treat you with any disrespect. She then rambled on again how the lead time is 12 weeks and she won't respond to me again if I keep using inappropriate language.

I knew she wasn't going to change her answer, but I at least got her worked up a little. I just hope she knew I meant the mythological dwarves found in the Lord of the Rings, and not someone you'd find in a sideshow, or a reality tv show. Because if it was the latter, well, that would've been inappropriate.

13 comments:

  1. Reasonable question. Unreasonable answer. Why should the thing need an extra eight weeks to produce?

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  2. Steve she is treating you with disrespect. She knows you don't want the part for you, you want it for a customer. By not explaining the situation, she is inferring the reasons are beyond your comprehension... or perhaps they are just beyond hers. I guess you'll have to find an intelligent person to ask where the hell your part is.

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  3. Forward your email thread (including her response)to her supervisor!

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  4. Dude...what a royal biotch!!! I'd do the same thing Jenny suggests.

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  5. Time to track down a new supplier!

    Funny email too

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  6. Not inappropriate AT ALL. I agree with Jenny, and I think nothing you said could come back to bite you. You are a customer. It is her job to make you happy. Fine a new fucking supplier. Just because she doesn't know how to explain what's going on doesn't mean you don't have the right to know. Dumb cunt.

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  7. I loved your last inquiry to her! I've got a new sales rep for the printing company that we deal with who is similar in her douche bag vague responses. Not to mention, when she comes out to talk to me, after every response she places her knuckle under her chin and poses like she's taking a senior picture.

    Write her for me Steve!

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  8. Explain to her that with her sales ability, she's a 50 cent cab ride from selling Tupperware or some other product at Checkbook Parties.

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  9. I reckon she's simply fucked up and won't admit it. LOVE your work.

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  10. Thanks Nat! I realized I would not get the answer I wanted, so I felt it was better to simply give myself a laugh.

    And unfortunately, forwarding to her supervisor isn't much of an option. He's just as much of a douchenozzle as she is.

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  11. I am still confused as to where the "inappropriate language" is in the email. Is she saying that English is inappropriate? There is certainly nothing profane in your email.

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  12. Maybe she is Amish and objected to my mockery of primitive tools.

    Which of course would be ironic, seeing as how this was an email exchange.

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  13. I was thinking maybe Chinese was a more appropriate language to use for ordering most manufacturing parts.

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