semi OT, not quite an ad...

[Warren]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Wirecutter:
The trickiest, believe it or not, is getting stuff into the US from Canada. Really hard to guess how long that'll take. I've gotten parts directly from China faster.</font>

That is because China is a peace loving industrial nation just trying to feed their masses & Canada is an evil commie regime bent on taking over the world! U.S. Customs knows that & is looking at every package carefully coming from Canada.......Or do I have that backwards :-)

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Warren

[This message has been edited by Warren (edited 08-18-2001).]

[Wirecutter]

It's great when a plan comes together. I just received an order for aluminum plate that I made on Tuesday. Almost 40 pieces, 7 different sizes, 50+ lbs of material, UPS ground shipping. Place up in Bay Shore, NY called metalconnections - ran into them on eBay, and I've used them once before for the same order. Turned out that the material was already loaded on the cutter, so they cut and shipped the same day.

Of course, the downside is that now the pressure is on me, and I can't blame delays in the testset build on "waiting for material".

I need to find that list of excuses and practice saying them to the boss...

[Evan]

For customers:

No--------- Excuse and Your Reply
1 I will call you tomorrow with the answer. Do not call back

2 I will call you tomorrow with the answer. Do not call back

3 I don’t know what happened to the message you left. You did not talk to me. I will call you back tomorrow. Do not call back.

4 I promise to call you this afternoon with the answer. Do not call back

5 The item is almost ready. I will call you tomorrow with the ship date. Do not call tomorrow

6 The item is ready but needed some additional work. I will call you tomorrow with the exact ship date. Do not call tomorrow.

7 The item is ready for shipping. We are sending it to shipping today. Don’t say anything else.

8 I don’t know why you have not received it yet. Let me check shipping and call you back tomorrow. Do not call back tomorrow.

9 We have a problem. The item was not ready for shipping after all. That is what the computer said. I will call you back when I know what the status is. Do not call back.

10 The problem is greater than we thought. We are putting extra people on the project. I should be able to tell you the status tomorrow. Do not call back.

11 The person who is doing the work on that order is out at the moment. Can I have him/her call you? Do not call back.

12 Your order is almost ready. We are almost ready to ship it. I will call tomorrow to let you know how it is going. Do not call back.

13 Your order has a couple of additional problems but it should be going to shipping today. Don’t say anything else.

14 Your order is in shipping now. It should go out today. Don’t say anything else.

15 I thought your order went out yesterday. Let me check and call you back. Do not call back.

16 I checked shipping and they can’t find your paperwork. I will call you as soon as they find it. They assure me it probably was shipped yesterday. Do not call back.

17 Shipping says that they still have it. It should be shipped tomorrow. Don’t say anything else.

18 Shipping says that it will go out today. Don’t say anything else.

19 There was a problem with shipping and it should ship today. Don’t say anything else.

20 Let me check shipping and call you back with the answer. Don’t say anything else.
21 Shipping says that it will absolutely go out today. Don’t say anything else.

22 Shipping still has the order; they should have shipped it 3 days ago. They say it will go out today. Don’t say anything else.

23 Shipping says they shipped it. I will FAX you with the tracking number. Do not FAX it.

24 I don’t know why you did not get the FAX. I Faxed it the day I talked with you. I will refax it. Do not FAX it.

25 Shipping was wrong. They did not ship it. They promise to ship it today.

26 Shipping did ship it. The tracking number is ********. Give them a wrong tracking number.

27 I don’t know what was wrong with the number. Here is the correct one. Give them a wrong tracking number.

28 Shipping found your order. It was hidden under some other orders. They are putting it on a special courier to ship to you today. Don’t say anything else.

29 The order was delayed because the courier did not arrive. Don’t say anything else.

30 The courier should be there today. Let me check and call you back. Do not call back.

31 The courier truck broke down on the way and we had to order a new one. I will call you when the new truck is on its way with your order. Do not call back.

32 The item was delivered today according to the courier. Don’t say anything else.

33 The courier says they delivered it. Let me check with them again and call you back. Do not call back.

34 The courier had a heart attack on the road and crashed the truck. As soon as a new truck is found, I will call you. Do not call back.

35 Bad news, when the truck crashed it ruined your order, but we promise to have a new order out today. I will call you when it is ready. Do not call back.

36 Go back to excuse #1


[This message has been edited by Evan (edited 03-02-2006).]

[ACF]

Evan,

That is excellent, quite a few people do business that way!!!

Chris

[newhobby]

Makes me think of my job! Why can't wholesalers and manufacturers just tell the truth? I've learned; they promise shipping in two days--I tell the customer five days, maybe six. They say five days--I say two weeks. I hate distributers that say "I will ship it today-this afternoon!" I find out they ship it one or two days later! If you can't ship it until Thursday and this is Monday, then tell me! Don't lie and tell me you are going to ship it Tuesday! The CUSTOMER can live with a realistic shipping schedule whether he likes it or not! It is the false moves that trip him up; and me.

[Tim125]

Under promise and over deliver, is the best way.

[Wirecutter]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Tim125:
Under promise and over deliver, is the best way.</font>

Yeah, it's hard to explain exactly how I do it, but asking a vendor about delivery time, I try to sound more casual (when do I need to be present to sign for the delivery), less urgent (Ohmygod I have to have it now). Try to get a realistic idea, rather than an "enthusiastic" promise.

Fortunately (knock on wood), the vendors I've dealt with for a good while are pretty good at that. The trickiest, believe it or not, is getting stuff into the US from Canada. Really hard to guess how long that'll take. I've gotten parts directly from China faster.