Ugh. Not This Shit Again

[Dips]

I've posted before about how we managed to gently shot down a customer who thought we'd be delighted to give them money to be on their vendor list:

http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=11943

That idea died out because I guess we weren't the only vendors who politely told them to go to hell.

But I wouldn't have expected them to give up so easily and they didn't disappoint!

What did we get today?

A purchase order from a state agency. It authorized funds for our full price. Very good.

Then the next line mentioned they were charging us a 3% "Marketing Fee" for, I assume, the "privilege" of marketing to them. Laughably, the only "marketing" we did was answering the phone and giving them a quote when *they* called *us.*

They were kind enough to deduct the fee from the authorized total on the PO.

Sadly I believe the boss is going to take the hit this time because it's not cost-effective to argue with a bureaucracy and 3% is less than the discount we would give a reseller if we rejected the order and they bought from one.

It makes me sad but I understand the reasoning.

Bastards.

[It's me]

Bah. Just add an additional 5% processing fee for the extra paperwork involved.

[bainsidhe]

Is this for Florida? I remember dealing with some Florida state agency and their vendor paperwork (whatta pain) which requested that bids include a 2% fee (some tax of some kind, I think) for products shipping into the state. That's right, the seller had to pay a tax for the almighty priviledge of shipping over state lines. I was assured this was a law going into immediate effect.

All of this I find funny, because we have a number of Floridian customers and distributors including state agencies and this is the only time it's come up.

[Mr Hero]

That idea died out because I guess we weren't the only vendors who politely told them to go to hell.

Maybe you were. Perhaps the other venders did not POLITELY tell them to go to hell.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Is this for Florida? I remember dealing with some Florida state agency and their vendor paperwork (whatta pain) which requested that bids include a 2% fee (some tax of some kind, I think) for products shipping into the state. That's right, the seller had to pay a tax for the almighty priviledge of shipping over state lines. I was assured this was a law going into immediate effect.

All of this I find funny, because we have a number of Floridian customers and distributors including state agencies and this is the only time it's come up.

I think Florida charges some kind of 2% extra tax for certain items sold in areas designated special tourist spots or something like that.

[Dips]

I actually don't remember what state it was. I'll have to ask Mark when I get to work today.

I did talk to him yesterday afternoon and he plans to implement a 3% or 5% fee to cover the marketing fee and/or our cost of doing the substantial paperwork. He's going to build it into the accounting software so it won't be a headache for us to add it when appropriate.

[It shouldn't]

I did talk to him yesterday afternoon and he plans to implement a 3% or 5% fee to cover the marketing fee and/or our cost of doing the substantial paperwork. He's going to build it into the accounting software so it won't be a headache for us to add it when appropriate.

That's what we do here.
We have some maintenance companies which we subcontract for, who started sending us letters about a $5/$7/$10 "processing fee" which they would deduct from our payment.

We sent them a letter about our $5/$7/$10 price increase on our service call charge.

[yomiko]

It's not just state agencies, large companies act in the same way. We had an approved PO with a 30-day payment term. On their actual payment they listed a 60-day payment term, paid on day 30 and gave themselves a discount for paying 'early'. Then there was the purchaser who amended the PO to double the agreed purchase for the same price.

I think this is the same for software vendors the world over.

[Dips]

It's not just state agencies, large companies act in the same way. We had an approved PO with a 30-day payment term.

We just filled an order for a large insurance company that tried that trick. Of course we didn't fall for it. We just kept telling them we'd ship as soon as we got a credit card number from them and waited them out.

Others have tried to dictate their own terms and failed as well. Doesn't stop them from trying (and failing) again, though.

[Ironclad Alibi]

A purchase order from a state agency. It authorized funds for our full price. Very good.

Then the next line mentioned they were charging us a 3% "Marketing Fee" for, I assume, the "privilege" of marketing to them. Laughably, the only "marketing" we did was answering the phone and giving them a quote when *they* called *us.*

They were kind enough to deduct the fee from the authorized total on the PO.

Sadly I believe the boss is going to take the hit this time because it's not cost-effective to argue with a bureaucracy and 3% is less than the discount we would give a reseller if we rejected the order and they bought from one.

Perhaps there is some way to put a note on their file that they have not paid in full, and will get no tech support until they have paid in full? Alternatively, charge them for any tech support they want?

[Kullervo]

this is regarding the rules from the first thread link in your first post.

Do you just refer to resellers of yours?
Or do they want actual competitors of yours?
Because I didn't think you had any anymore.

[Dips]

We manufacture a very specialized software product. One of the things it does is drive dozens of models of a specific type of hardware (which we do NOT make or sell). The hardware is sold by hundreds of independent retailers all over the world. Many of those retailers also carry products like ours and sell it with the hardware as part of a package.

So we sell to them and give them a discount so they make something on the resale.

We also sell directly to the public but never at less than our suggested retail price. If we give the public a better deal than our resellers they would be rightfully upset with us for undercutting them.

We do have some very limited competition. One of the hardware manufacturers carries a freeware product that does what ours does. Coincidentally it only drives THEIR models which happen to cost more than anyone else's, but some folks see the word FREE and, well...no need to explain further on this site.

There is another company that makes a paid product like ours. They are more expensive and have much fewer sales than we do, although their customers are very loyal and keep them going.

There are also a few grant-sponsored freeware products out there as well. When the money ran out the developers stopped maintaining the products. They have become less and less relevant over time.

Our one really serious competitor was giving us a good run until we merged with them in 1999.

Most of the time when an agency or a school issues a bid for a product like ours they list our brand by name. That means we ultimately get the sale no matter who they buy it from. Granted if it's purchased from a reseller we lose the discount, BUT we also lose all the paperwork and the hassle of trying to get payment. So we don't mind.

I hope that explains things a bit better.