roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) (08/24/88)
This doesn't really have anything to do with lans, but it does have
a lot to do with a lan company. Pardon this intrusion of flamage into what
is usually a very civilized forum.
A while ago we started looking for Ethernet bridges. UB sent us a
quote for a pair of their DataLink Bridges for something like $17k (about a
15% discount off list). We looked around and found what seemed like a
reasonable alternative (an ACC 4030) for not much more than half the price
($10k a pair) and decided to go with them. When I told our UB salesperson
that we decided not to go with UB, she countered by offering us the UB
bridges for $12k a pair, which we eventually accepted.
We wrote a purchase order on August 8th which our salesperson
picked up in person. We then placed additional orders with other companies
for assorted related equipment (V.35 modems, instrument rack, trancievers,
etc) adding up to another few $k. Some of this equipment (the V.35 modems)
is of no use without the UB bridges. Today, I get a call from our new UB
salesperson who says that UB is now refusing to honor the price their
salesperson gave me! They are not claiming that she gave us the wrong
price, but simply that she exceeded her authority to extend discounts. In
reality, she 1) lied to us when she said she got approval from her
management and 2) she lied to her management when she told them how much of
a discount we needed to make the purchase. I pointed out that it's not my
fault that their employee screwed up, and that any self-respecting company
would stand by a promise made by an employee. If you want to fire the
person later, that's OK with me, but don't throw the problem back in my
face and tell me I'm out of luck. UB doesn't see it that way.
I havn't yet finished climbing the management tree at UB, so there
is a (small) chance that this may get resolved yet, but it doesn't look
like it. I can't believe that UB is actually willing to screw a customer
because of some internal problem between a salesperson and a manager.
Especially after having our purchase order for 2 weeks (they got it on the
8th; today's the 23rd). At this point, it looks like the best that will
happen is that the order will get canceled, I'll have lost 3 weeks time
screwing around with this, and I'll have to go back to the people we
ordered the modems from and tell them that we don't need them after all.
Either that, or I'll have to shell out another $2k. Lets hear it for
customer relations.
If you're currently considering purchasing a UB product, I'd
suggest that you put some very pointed questions to your salesperson about
what kind of ethics the company has.
UB, if you're listening, let me tell you a story. A while ago, I
went on vacation for 3 weeks. Sometime during that time, a big shipment of
equipment we had ordered came in. Turns out that there was some stuff
missing from the shipment -- it was on the shipping list, but not in the
box. Somebody else here had signed for the shipment and didn't notice that
something was missing. As soon as I discovered this, I called the company
we bought the stuff from and told them what happened. What they basicly
said was that they were sorry but given that the shipment had been signed
for by one of our employees 3 weeks ago, there really wasn't much they
could do about it now. We didn't argue with them (too much) because we
knew that essentially they were right. One of our employees accepted the
shipment in the name of his employer, and that was that. Employers are
responsible for the actions of their employees. To claim anything else is
bullshit.
--
Roy Smith, System Administrator
Public Health Research Institute
{allegra,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers}!phri!roy -or- phri!roy@uunet.uu.net
"The connector is the network"ron@ron.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) (08/25/88)
After my last UB flame, I got a phone call from one of their vice-presidents. I suggest that if you can not resolve your problems through seemingly normal channels, that call him. He is: Mike Gardiner (408) 562-5518 -Ron