Deadlines --- aaargh !

Silky · Dec 17, 2008

Why am I having such problems with suppliers missing deadlines and then just ignoring emails?

A design team who promised a job in 3 weeks, it's now week 8 and still running (we desperately wanted the project in for Christmas and have now missed this

), an IT guy who's had 2 laptops for 5 weeks now and no sign of repair, another IT guy who said he'd be back to me in a week but never did.....

In times of recession I'd really have thought customer service would be top of the list, am I missing something?? :|

Silky

Simon-M · Dec 17, 2008

You get what you pay for

Mister B · Dec 17, 2008

Get the jobs completed, get a discount on the price, move on and find more reliable suppliers. In this day and age, letting deadlines lapse is suicidal. Customer is King.

BTW, you could also pay their invoices late...by a time which corresponds on how late they were completing the job

Mister B

Mark_anderson · Dec 17, 2008

Simon-M said:
You get what you pay for

May be, If you pay a handsome amount; you will not wait so long. There may be two reasons:

1. They have work load alot so they are busy and can't complete your work.

2. They havent good employees, a cheap company.

KreativeJuice · Dec 17, 2008

Mark_anderson said:
May be, If you pay a handsome amount; you will not wait so long. There may be two reasons:

1. They have work load alot so they are busy and can't complete your work.

2. They havent good employees, a cheap company.

1. In that case sensible lead times should have been agreed giving the OP false hope that a job will be complete is fool hardy and leads to a bad relationship with clients.

2. Agreed, you get what you pay for.

Kind regards
Karen

Dawg · Dec 17, 2008

Where did Silky say that she had gone for budget companies? Bit of an assumption, casting nasturtiums and all that don't you think?
Design Companies can have a high Flake to Diamond Geezer ratio, (sometimes excused by 'creativity'...patooi), and local IT can (only sometimes, calm down, calm down), be delegated to spotty youf, more interested in gaming and pron than work.
More explanation than excuse: just get on their case, chase, chase, chase.

blackandwhite1986 · Dec 17, 2008

If the supplier is local then i find the personal touch often helps. Pop on down there, unnanounced and not in a threatening way and find out what the situation is.

Faith28 · Dec 17, 2008

I am having the same problem here. Was hoping to have products made before xmas for sale in shops but alas it looks like it is prolonged till well into the new year!

These things happen...in my case I've had to get a job as I've placed all my eggs into this product development. My way of dealing with this in future is to have back up illustrators and not depend on just one (that's the line of business I'm in).

blackandwhite1986 · Dec 17, 2008

Silky said:
Why am I having such problems with suppliers missing deadlines and then just ignoring emails?

A design team who promised a job in 3 weeks, it's now week 8 and still running (we desperately wanted the project in for Christmas and have now missed this ), an IT guy who's had 2 laptops for 5 weeks now and no sign of repair, another IT guy who said he'd be back to me in a week but never did.....

In times of recession I'd really have thought customer service would be top of the list, am I missing something?? :|

Silky

In my time I've certainly come across those who class customer service as "deal with the customer who is paying the bigger bucks first, the rest can wait". Often I've fallen into the latter category. I'm not saying that is necessarily the case here but in times of hardship sometimes people cannot see further than the end of their nose.

A lesson learned the hard way but perhaps now you realise that your suppliers are not as reliable as first thought. Thats why I'm thankful that I work in B2B. The most I have to worry about in the Christmas period is scheduling around the break.

I would always recommend waiting for their reply before hurrying off to someone new as it may benefit your next action.

UKSEOAgency · Dec 17, 2008

I cant say we always hit deadline - but we give it everything we have to hit a deadline!

I dont know how some companies can operate - every customer is paying there wage, it doesnt matter if they are paying £100 for a job or £1000 they should still be treated with the same respect and given reasonable timescales - which should be adhered to!

blackandwhite1986 · Dec 17, 2008

NathanHall said:
I cant say we always hit deadline - but we give it everything we have to hit a deadline!

I dont know how some companies can operate - every customer is paying there wage, it doesnt matter if they are paying £100 for a job or £1000 they should still be treated with the same respect and given reasonable timescales - which should be adhered to!

100% agree. The key for us is to keep the lines of communication to our customer. OK they may not be happy if something will be late but its best to let them know about it as soon as possible so they can act accordingly.

I.P Paul · Dec 17, 2008

Have to agree with blackandwhite. If the supplier cant deliver then let us know and we can work on it. Don't make pie in the sky claims and then not deliver. I've got a bike in at the moment been here 2 weeks now as a supplier let us down with parts again. The upshot being we look bad and i wont use them again. If they were honest things would just be alot better

Silky · Dec 17, 2008

Dawg said:
Where did Silky say that she had gone for budget companies? Bit of an assumption, casting nasturtiums and all that don't you think?
Design Companies can have a high Flake to Diamond Geezer ratio, (sometimes excused by 'creativity'...patooi), and local IT can (only sometimes, calm down, calm down), be delegated to spotty youf, more interested in gaming and pron than work.
More explanation than excuse: just get on their case, chase, chase, chase.

You're actually right here Dawg, neither supplier is particularly cheap so I would hope to expect a reasonable level of service.

On the design front I also have to agree on the Flake ratio

D ), I used to use an excellent designer who'd be quite upfront about asking for work if he was quiet but would still take ages to complete it. He could have been extremely successful if his service was anywhere near as good as his design capabilities.....

Frustrated of Cheshire

Dec 17, 2008

Silky said:
You're actually right here Dawg, neither supplier is particularly cheap so I would hope to expect a reasonable level of service.

On the design front I also have to agree on the Flake ratio D ), I used to use an excellent designer who'd be quite upfront about asking for work if he was quiet but would still take ages to complete it. He could have been extremely successful if his service was anywhere near as good as his design capabilities.....

Frustrated of Cheshire

Wull....If you need a designer that literally turns round something brilliant in hours....then use Kay at Calibre.

You just need to know how to blackmail him. (will lend you the racy pictures if you like - I didnt destroy the negatives - like he asked)

BusinessChump · Dec 17, 2008

I know the feeling. Im in the process of setting up my shop. Been pushing it so we can open over the Xmas period when people are off work to try and get the business name around but just found out today that my main supplier now wont deliver my stock til wc 5th January.
Totally killed the idea of opening over xmas now as they are supplying 80% of our stock initially whilst we build our brand and business background.

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Deadlines --- aaargh !

Silky

Simon-M

Mister B

Mark_anderson

KreativeJuice

Dawg

blackandwhite1986

Faith28

blackandwhite1986

UKSEOAgency

blackandwhite1986

I.P Paul

Silky

BusinessChump

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