Opinions needed: supplier response time issue

[SumpinSpecial]

I'd love to get your opinions on this. I have a supplier (who happens to be in Ireland) who makes Irish dog muzzles for me. They're good quality and I haven't been able to find any other suppliers of similar muzzles. It seems to be a small family operation, but they also seem to supply equipment to much of the Irish dog racing industry - so they're reputable and busy.

The last couple of times I bought some muzzles from them, they've pointed out that one of the models that happens to have leather nose padding can have the dog's name printed on it. They told me that's at no extra charge and invited me to ask for that any time. So for the last couple of months I've listed two variations of that muzzle in my shop: one that's pre-printed with the name of the muzzle (Kenel Kosy) which is how they mass-produce them, and a customized version. I offer them at the same price but state in the product description for the customized one that there will be a shipping delay because they are custom-printed.

In the first week of March, a customer ordered two, my first sale of the customized muzzle. I emailed the order to the Irish supplier on March 9th. No response. I expect a confirmation reply at a minimum, and ideally a quote for the price to include shipping so that I can pay them. Emailed them again on March 15th to ask if they've received my first email, no response. I called them on March 17th and they said that the lady who handles email had the flu but they'd check with her and get back to me.

No word, so on March 20th, I called them again. This time I got the lady who handles email and she clearly remembered my order. She said she would have to ask her father in law (who apparently makes the muzzles) and would email me the price so I could pay. As of right now, still no email from them.

So I have a customer who has been waiting nearly two weeks for a shipping notification of the product he bought from me. (I did email him last week to let him know of the delay and he was okay with it.) I understand that I'm not their only customer, and a small order like this comes after larger orders already in the works, but I do expect an emailed response, and two-plus weeks is not an acceptable response time. I'm going to remove the customized muzzle from my shop until/unless I can find an alternative supplier for that.

But my question to you guys is, am I being too impatient? I'm almost ready to email the supplier to tell them to nevermind, and offer my customer my deepest apologies, a refund and/or the non-customized muzzles if he wants them. Or should I wait a few more days? Online shops have to compete at least a little bit with the quick shipping of places like Amazon, so I strive for quickest possible/reasonable shipping. If you were my customer who ordered the muzzles, would you be getting a bit ticked off at not having your purchase in hand by now - two weeks after you placed the order?

[Harold Mansfield]

No you're not being impatient, and their response time is ridiculous and the excuse even more so. I've been in similar positions in the past where I'm in the middle of a project, and then it's radio silent from the client. Only to eventually find out that the person who handles that is on vacation. No warning. No advance notice that they'd be out of touch during the weeks of ...whenever. As if it was a surprise vacation. It's burns me the "f" up that people are so easily careless with other people's time and money.

You're between a rock and a hard place. I'd try to get them to commit to when the order will be filled. If you can't get an answer, I'd move to protect your reputation with your own customer and give them a refund. If you do get an answer, give your customer the option of waiting or getting a refund.

For now I'd remove the product until I can get a commitment from the supplier of how long it will take to fill orders. Most people understand a custom order takes longer and are fine as long as they know when they can expect it. No one likes having their money in limbo with no answers.

[Fulcrum]

You're not being impatient. I'd be on the phone after a couple of days.

I would find someone that can print (burn) the name into the leather locally and then keep a few plain muzzles on the shelf that could be used when a customized one is ordered. It's an upsell service so don't feel guilty on adding $5-10 for the extra work and storage.

[SumpinSpecial]

Thanks guys, that makes me feel better to know I'm not over-reacting. I'll call them tomorrow and if I can't nail them down on a ship date then I'll tell them to cancel the order.

I'm looking around to see if a local leatherworker can do the printing for me. If I succeed at that, then I'll have to tack on some $ for the extra work. Meanwhile... they're coming off my shop!

[SumpinSpecial]

I called this supplier again this morning as I still haven't heard back from them. The lady who answered said that my order was scratched off their book (whatever that means) and that she's been told it shipped yesterday. But she doesn't handle the book-side of the orders so she'd have the lady who does that email or call me back. I emphasized to her that if it hasn't shipped (yesterday or today) then I wanted to cancel the order and also that they've been completely unresponsive. She referred to the man who does the work as her father, and the other lady who handles email (and is the apparent slacker) referred to him as her father in law. So, small family operation. I also know that he is quite a bit older if not elderly and I don't know if he has any younger men working with him on the manufacturing side but if he doesn't then his business will likely die with him. (I don't mean to be crass, just thinking in terms of business longevity.)

The reference to scratching my order in the book makes me think they're doing paper-and-pen record keeping. If so, then it's possible she hasn't emailed me an invoice because they just printing it and jammed it in the shipping box with the muzzles, with the idea that I pay them after I receive it. That would be just fine if I had any clue when it was coming, instead of feeling like I submitted an order into a black hole.

The biggest issue I see (looking in from the outside) is that he's assigned a family member who is **** at the job to a key role: customer interfacing. She's going to put him out of business quicker than anything, if she's as unresponsive to their larger customers as she is to me. I think this is an object lesson to all small business operators: nepotism isn't automatically bad, but your staff absolutely need to do their work otherwise your business will be toast.

[Fulcrum]

I haven't heard the term "scratched off the books" in a long time. I was always under the impression it meant that the order was cancelled while "checked off" meant finished and out (or on the way out) the door.

[Bookmemate]

Most small old-fashioned businesses in Ireland simply don't understand American standards of customer service. At the more you push for answers the slower they will come, they will find you stressful & not want to talk to you.

Your best bet is to try and engage with the father/owner, perhaps build relationship with him over shared love of greyhound racing or whatever similarity you can identify. Try and see if you can find out how important your business is to him in terms of volume - at the moment it sounds like it is not very - and see what you would need to do in terms of volume to be more important to his business. Once you're up near the top of his old paper order book in terms of numbers I'm sure you'll find communication a lot easier.

[SumpinSpecial]

Understood. I was trying very hard not to be overbearing with them, waiting a full week before the first checking-in email, and several days before the next and between the calls. I don't like working with people who hound me either, so I can sympathize. The root of the issue is really that they simply didn't acknowledge receiving my order.

The last few (uncustomized) orders I've placed with them, I dealt with him directly through email and his response was fine. I suspect he's trying to get the ladies to take over more of the business side of things to take some of his workload, leaving him with just the manufacturing. The reality is that my business volume just isn't going to be anywhere close to the top of his clientele for a few years, even though my sales of the muzzles are picking up. It looks like he's supplying all of the greyhound tracks, kennels and equipment shops in all of the UK and Ireland, plus other places that I haven't been able to see online.

Re: "scratched off the book" - yes, my first thought was they cancelled the order without telling me, but she kept talking and later it sounded like it meant that they completed the order. Apparently they write orders down on paper and scratch them out when they're done. VERY low tech.

Anyway, the lady who's been unresponsive finally emailed me around lunchtime today to let me know they shipped it on Tuesday. Would have saved a lot of grief if she'd just emailed that... say, Tuesday?

[Bobjob]

We are a three person business and all of us can access each others emails, and do when one is out for more than a day. The manufacturer is at fault, and you should ask them how they are going to address this problem going forward.

If possible visiting them would be great. This way you see how things are done and you have a better understanding. Plus you get some face time and they know you are a person and not just an email or a PO number. You can deduct a lot (if not all) of the cost of the travel as a business expense.

Our manufacturer treat us like family, but when they are going to not ship something on a predefined date - they do not tell us until the last minute. I believe they do this because it would be more work on them managing the complaints for a full week than to wait till the last minute.