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SC gets the “Extra Discount”

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  • SC gets the “Extra Discount”

    Part of my job is to write quotes for custom built office furniture. I do a really good job of making sure that we are accurately quoting what our costs are going to be, so we don’t overcharge our customer. I pride myself on being able to give our customers the best possible price, while protecting company profits.

    On some projects the furniture dealer I am working with will ask for a special discount. They do this if we are more expensive than our competition. Our sales department is supposed to look at what they are purchasing, because some lines have more profit built into them than others, and decide if we can give an extra discount, and what that discount should be. More often than not, the product is ignored, and sales instead looks at how they are doing for the month, and decides if they want to pump up the sales or not. They know that on some lines there is as little as a 5% profit margin, so a 5% discount can mean we teeter on losing money selling that product.

    Anyway, yesterday I was working on a quote for a very impatient dealer. They sent me a request that did not have enough detail for me to complete it. I e-mailed them back questions. 4 days go by. They e-mail me back answers at noon yesterday and want the quote back at 3. I start working on it. 15 minutes later I get a call from my bosses boss (the VP of sales) asking why the quote was not done. I told them. They were not that surprised. I asked why they were asking. They told me that the dealer called them to both ask why I was not done with the quote (implying that I was incompetent), and to tell the sales VP that they needed at least 10% off the price. I informed the VP that the dealer had no reason to ask for a discount because they did not have the quote, and had not way of knowing what the final number was going to be, because I was not done with the quote, and they had no idea where it was going to be because it was 100% custom, and no where near standard. They are just trying to scam a deal.

    I was not happy.

    I went about working on the quote. Not 15 minutes later I get an e-mail asking where their quote was. I reply “I asked you for more information 4 days ago. Obviously, this was not a high priority to you, or you would have responded. Despite your lack of care, I am working on it now. Barring any problems it will be complete in approximately 1 hour.”

    I finished the costing work and came up with an accurate price. Then, I added another line to the costing worksheet “P.I.T.A. Charge: +15%” and re-totaled. (The costing worksheet gets buried in the internal paperwork, and only the final price gets put on the quote that is sent.) I wrote the quote and sent it to the dealer. I called the VP and informed them that the quote was sent, and that there was a comfortable enough margin for them to offer another 5%, or possibly 8%, but not much more. The VP e-mailed the dealer and BCC’ed me, he informed them that we were willing to extend a 5% discount, and if they wanted more than that, we would discount up to 8%, only if they were to take a matching cut from their commission. The dealer replied that 5% would be fine.

    (By the way P.I.T.A. = Pain In The Ass…oh, and the final price of the furniture should have been a little over $22K, so the 15% was about $3300)

    Score:
    SC: 0
    Revenge: $2200

  • #2
    Thereeeeee goooooes my heeeeeero, watch him aaaaas he goooooes! You are my new hero. <3! Are you in the market for a fangirl? ;-b

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    • #3
      I second Baristagirl! That was totally hot.

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      • #4
        DAYUM, I wish we could do that!!!!!

        *jealous and amazed*
        Teach a SC to fish... and they will whine about you not catching, filleting, frying, and serving it up on a silver platter for them. - EvilEmpryss

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        • #5
          It just goes to show you. You can be ugly, nasty, conniving, scheming, etc.....and get whatever the hell you want. A conscience is not required.

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          • #6
            I'm loving it! Good on ya!
            This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.

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            • #7
              I do impose a sort of PITA charge on food stamp customers who do not inform me ahead of time that they are paying with an EBT card. EBT food stamp purchases are tax exempt, but we must know ahead of time in order to hit the tax exempt button before scanning each applicable item. If you do not tell me ahead of time, I will continue to proceed as normal. I will not rering the purchase to knock off the sales tax. You will pay the sales tax.
              The Borg wouldn't know fun if they assimilated an amusement park. -- B'Elanna Torres, Star Trek: Voyager

              Math! Math, my dear boy, is but the lesbian sister of Biology. -- Peter Griffin, Family Guy

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              • #8
                A PITA charge ... that's gonna keep me laughing for days! I only wish I could use it at the library, but there's just no way.
                I love mankind ... it's people I can't stand. -- Linus Van Pelt

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                • #9
                  $2200!!

                  That's a lot of asshole tax!
                  I know nothing and I can prove it!

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                  • #10
                    Quoth Jadedcarguy View Post
                    $2200!!

                    That's a lot of asshole tax!
                    Well there was a metric craptonne of asshole to deal with.
                    The only words you said that I understood were "His", "Phone" and "Ya'll". The other 2 paragraphs worth was about as intelligible as a drunken Teletubby barkin' come on's at a Hooter's waitress.

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                    • #11
                      In the past job, the margin was up to me to set. For the good customers, they would get the "Regular" price - 27%. For the PITAs - both salescritters and customers - they get "List" at 45%.

                      Sorta liked to put the full Monty on some of those gits.

                      One of these days, my blood pressure will not spike when I think of that last job and I can tell some tales from the trenches.

                      B
                      "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."- Albert Einstein.
                      I never knew how happy paint could make people until I started selling it.

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                      • #12
                        I watched something similar done at my job arouond a month ago. I was asked to give an estimate of my time for a certain job and get a quote on it. I get paid around $20/hour.

                        Basically, this customer was getting this computer ready to give to one of his customers. This job involved me being given a computer, and setting it up for a special task. I estimated 15 hours. The customer rang back and asked us to order the computer as well (having said all along that he'd supply it), thus lumping us with any future warranty issues. The computer carried a cost of around $1400.

                        I passed this info onto our estimator, who said he'd hve to speak to the boss first, as there'd be a grief charge, depending on how much this customer had ben griefing our boss. (He's been a lnog time pain in th arse).

                        So when I see the quote later, we're saying $1900 for the computer, and 24 hours work at $90/hour.

                        Normally seeing that, I wouldn't be able to sleep with a clear conscience, but for this guy, it gave me a good chuckle.

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                        • #13
                          While a part of me questions the "ethicalness" of this practice...the rest of me says
                          I don't go in for ancient wisdom
                          I don't believe just 'cause ideas are tenacious
                          It means that they're worthy - Tim Minchin, "White Wine in the Sun"

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                          • #14
                            Quoth BookstoreEscapee View Post
                            While a part of me questions the "ethicalness" of this practice...
                            Ethics schmethics. It's called "suggested" retail pricing for a reason!
                            I know nothing and I can prove it!

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                            • #15
                              Quoth Jadedcarguy View Post
                              Ethics schmethics. It's called "suggested" retail pricing for a reason!
                              good point...it was only a small part, anyway
                              I don't go in for ancient wisdom
                              I don't believe just 'cause ideas are tenacious
                              It means that they're worthy - Tim Minchin, "White Wine in the Sun"

                              Comment

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