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About four years ago Mark "fired" one of our resellers, Mr. Sleaze. It wasn't so much for the way he treated us as for the way he treated his customers and potential customers who bought our software. He frequently misled people about the nature of his relationship with us (telling people he was a sole source or exclusive distributer when that is NOT the case) and played lots of games to fraudulently win bids for government sales.
After the sales, we'd end up having to clean up the mess.
When we decided to terminate the contract he accused Mark, who is Jewish, of being anti-semitic. Then he tried calling/emailing every employee of the company trying to pressure somebody to sell him stuff.
When that didn't work, he threatened to sue us for "impeding commerce."
Oh, it was fun. But it went away. He found greener pastures selling fake Rolexes (yes, really) and left us alone.
Until today. I got a call from him. He named his company and it sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember why I remembered it. He asked about buying an update for an end user and asked about the dealer price. So I looked him up in the database and found the address entry complete with large, bold, red warnings all over it. Oh, boy.
I told him we don't provide quotes for updates without a serial number (which is true) and he'd need to talk to Mark [Lastname] about dealer pricing. I guessed that Mark's name might be familiar and unwelcome to Mr. Sleaze.
Woudn't you know it? He didn't want to talk to Mark just then. He'd call back in a few minutes when he had the serial number for me and talk to Mark then. He took my name. I suspect he probably took my name so he could say "Dips" authorized whatever he tries to talk another employee into doing in a few days. He's done that sort of thing before; just because it never worked doesn't mean he won't keep trying it.
For the next hour and half until we closed, both Mark and I were jumping to get the phone in case it was Mr. Sleaze calling back. We both would have enjoyed the conversation immensely.
Alas, he didn't call back. In case he tries calling another day in the hopes that Mark won't be in (another pattern he has followed in the past), I sent out a company email telling all employees that any and all communication from Mr. Sleaze must be immediately referred to Mark and cc'd to me.
After the sales, we'd end up having to clean up the mess.
When we decided to terminate the contract he accused Mark, who is Jewish, of being anti-semitic. Then he tried calling/emailing every employee of the company trying to pressure somebody to sell him stuff.
When that didn't work, he threatened to sue us for "impeding commerce."
Oh, it was fun. But it went away. He found greener pastures selling fake Rolexes (yes, really) and left us alone.
Until today. I got a call from him. He named his company and it sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember why I remembered it. He asked about buying an update for an end user and asked about the dealer price. So I looked him up in the database and found the address entry complete with large, bold, red warnings all over it. Oh, boy.
I told him we don't provide quotes for updates without a serial number (which is true) and he'd need to talk to Mark [Lastname] about dealer pricing. I guessed that Mark's name might be familiar and unwelcome to Mr. Sleaze.
Woudn't you know it? He didn't want to talk to Mark just then. He'd call back in a few minutes when he had the serial number for me and talk to Mark then. He took my name. I suspect he probably took my name so he could say "Dips" authorized whatever he tries to talk another employee into doing in a few days. He's done that sort of thing before; just because it never worked doesn't mean he won't keep trying it.
For the next hour and half until we closed, both Mark and I were jumping to get the phone in case it was Mr. Sleaze calling back. We both would have enjoyed the conversation immensely.
Alas, he didn't call back. In case he tries calling another day in the hopes that Mark won't be in (another pattern he has followed in the past), I sent out a company email telling all employees that any and all communication from Mr. Sleaze must be immediately referred to Mark and cc'd to me.
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