Customer changing delivery date on existing PO

[Fish On]

I have an order of 1 each of 2 assemblies. Small order, $900 total bill. Typically, this job has run qtys of 5 or 6 of each assembly at a time, so I get the idea this is the last run of parts for this company's contract (I ran these parts for the last company that had the contract for the same final assembly as well). PO placed on 7/27, with a due date of 9/15. No problem. The next day, they request to change the due date to 11/8. No problem, glad to oblige.

Now, I get an email saying the due date has been moved to 12/31/14 (end of next year), and to please postpone, or if I can't postpone, cancel and she'll resend closer to end of next year. Ugh.

Catch is, I've already run half the order. I happened to have another order that needed the same powder coat color as half of the components in this order, so I went ahead and fabricated those assemblies and got them powder coated last week. Now I've got to sit on and not get paid for powder coated parts for a year and a half, never mind the fact that I'm moving to a new shop in December.

I'd really like to go ahead and ship/get paid for these parts before the end of this year. Can/should I push back on this, or does that run the risk of losing the order altogether, and not getting paid for these parts ever?

 

[Ox]

As a rule, a Cancel Order is still subject to whatever has been spent on it thus far, be it tooling or whatnot.

So, in your case, as I understand it, I would think that you could get the customer to take what you have ready to ship, at least by the 11/8 date, and then hold off on the balance.

I see no reason that anyone would think that not fair.


--------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

 

[standardparts]

I have an order of 1 each of 2 assemblies. Small order, $900 total bill. Typically, this job has run qtys of 5 or 6 of each assembly at a time, so I get the idea this is the last run of parts for this company's contract (I ran these parts for the last company that had the contract for the same final assembly as well). PO placed on 7/27, with a due date of 9/15. No problem. The next day, they request to change the due date to 11/8. No problem, glad to oblige.

Now, I get an email saying the due date has been moved to 12/31/14 (end of next year), and to please postpone, or if I can't postpone, cancel and she'll resend closer to end of next year. Ugh.

Catch is, I've already run half the order. I happened to have another order that needed the same powder coat color as half of the components in this order, so I went ahead and fabricated those assemblies and got them powder coated last week. Now I've got to sit on and not get paid for powder coated parts for a year and a half, never mind the fact that I'm moving to a new shop in December.

I'd really like to go ahead and ship/get paid for these parts before the end of this year. Can/should I push back on this, or does that run the risk of losing the order altogether, and not getting paid for these parts ever?

Moving into a new facility, so maybe time for a change.
If you can afford $900. and do not depend on the customer for the survival of your business, adhere to whatever binding agreement you have and then 'educate' the end user by ending the relationship.
You will feel better.

 

[Ox]

Apparently Standard has never fallen short of "Binding Agreements" on his end before.

Being an ass may help the short term, but it will likely limit the long term.
I find that trying to work with the customer as much as possible seems to go well.


-------------------

I am Ox and I approve this post!

 

[Fish On]

As a rule, a Cancel Order is still subject to whatever has been spent on it thus far, be it tooling or whatnot.

So, in your case, as I understand it, I would think that you could get the customer to take what you have ready to ship, at least by the 11/8 date, and then hold off on the balance.

I see no reason that anyone would think that not fair.


--------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

As a rule, a Cancel Order is still subject to whatever has been spent on it thus far, be it tooling or whatnot.

So, in your case, as I understand it, I would think that you could get the customer to take what you have ready to ship, at least by the 11/8 date, and then hold off on the balance.

I see no reason that anyone would think that not fair.


--------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Good point, I'll nicely explain to them what has been completed thus far and offer to ship that as is.

Not sure what they're going to do with 1/2 each of two assemblies, but they shoulda given a little more notice.

 

[EmGo]

For $900 I would suck it up, if they'll work with you fine, but if they decide they want the assy's in 2024? Well it's $900 not exactly enough to stress about.

Hang on a sec, guys .... I also would not be hateful about it but let's not be too subserviant ? If I borrow money from the bank and agree to pay it back by October 30, then they damn well expect me to do that. And if I order a plate of spaghetti at a restaurant and they bring it to the table, I don't get to say "oh gosh, I changed my mind, can you bring it over next week instead ?"

There's an agreement here. I would not start ww iii over it but still, they placed a binding order with a fixed date, which they already changed once, how come OP has to suck it up ? Have you ever noticed it's always the shop that's expected to suck it up ? How about the damn customer who can't get their shit together gets to suck it up once in a while ?

 

[Fish On]

Right, wrong, or indifferent, this is what I responded with.

"Unfortunately, we've got these parts in production, and partially finished already, so we're passed the point of canceling. Regarding postponing, as we made the necessary arrangements to schedule things in a way to be sure we could deliver on your requested delivery date, while not affecting the delivery date of any other customer, we can't be reasonably expected to store powder coated parts for almost a year and a half, or to finance their cost for that period of time.

If we need to cancel the PO, I'll be happy to bill for, and ship the already made parts as is, as soon as today, or as late as the originally scheduled delivery date. Looking at where the parts stand right now, it looks like the bill for that would be between 1/3 and 1/2 the total original PO cost - I can pencil that down exact if that's an avenue you wish to explore.

Otherwise, I'll be happy to keep the complete order on the schedule for 11/8 delivery.

Let me know which option works better, or if you have an alternative mutually beneficial suggestion. "

 

[Ox]

Hang on a sec, guys .... I also would not be hateful about it but let's not be too subserviant ? If I borrow money from the bank and agree to pay it back by October 30, then they damn well expect me to do that. And if I order a plate of spaghetti at a restaurant and they bring it to the table, I don't get to say "oh gosh, I changed my mind, can you bring it over next week instead ?"

There's an agreement here. I would not start ww iii over it but still, they placed a binding order with a fixed date, which they already changed once, how come OP has to suck it up ? Have you ever noticed it's always the shop that's expected to suck it up ? How about the damn customer who can't get their shit together gets to suck it up once in a while ?

Always the small shop eating it?

I am sure that are oodles of times that this happens to our customers, and they don't say boo, and when the parts come in, they put them on the shelf until their customer decides that they want them.

Just b/c we are not informed of such concerns, does not mean that they don't happen further up the food chain.


-----------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

 

[Doug]

Two things here..... how important is the $900 to the OP and also how important is it to the customer?

It must be important to the customer since they want to delay delivery and date of payment. Maybe not so great a customer if $900 is a big deal.

I had a different set of circumstances in a situation and was lucky my customer was reasonable. A major order, $8K/month for two years, canceled by a customer. Cancelation was totally due to their screw up (I had even previously warned them about the problem which they ignored). They said they would pay for all work in progress so we quickly ran an extra month's worth of parts just out of spite. They paid.

 

[Radar987]

Now, I get an email saying the due date has been moved to 12/31/14 (end of next year), and to please postpone, or if I can't postpone, cancel and she'll resend closer to end of next year. Ugh.

Assuming they're still around at the end of next year.

Sounds like they're about to go under.

 

[Fish On]

Looky here, they just replied to complete the order and ship on 11/8 as originally scheduled.

To @EmGo's point, I wonder how much of this is purchasing agents throwing stuff at the wall to see if it sticks? If I've quoted pricing for both qty 1 and for qty 5 or more, it seems I'll always get a PO for qty 1 at the 5 item rate. They'll immediately revise it when it's pointed out, but it never fails.

 

[Fish On]

Assuming they're still around at the end of next year.

Sounds like they're about to go under.

Doubt they are, they're a pretty well known contract boat builder/shipyard, but I don't have high hopes for the contract itself. I first did prototypes for the first boatyard that had this contract in 2019. When they started production in 2020, they told me they had anticipated sales of 100 boats/yr.

I've supplied enough parts for probably 30ish boats total in the 3.5 years since, and any of you that have anything to do with recreational boats know what kind of crazy market we've had for a couple years.

 

[pgmrmike]

I wont give advice, one of my customers cancelled 3 POs a few days after I ordered $27,000 worth of 17-4, sawed to length. Most of it is still sitting here, been about 3yrs now, I guess. My hope was that I would end up getting the jobs, but over a protracted period. Turned out to be only partially true. This customer is particularly abusive when it comes to hot jobs, sending POs with a due date shorter than quoted etc. Shit gets old.

 

[SteveEx30]

If it's one of my top customers I would probably just eat a $900 order. One time anyhow...

But for the rest, I would give them an option to pay what I have into it and take incomplete work. Or finish it and pay full price.

 

[guythatbrews]

Always the small shop eating it?

I am sure that are oodles of times that this happens to our customers, and they don't say boo, and when the parts come in, they put them on the shelf until their customer decides that they want them.

Just b/c we are not informed of such concerns, does not mean that they don't happen further up the food chain.


-----------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

A few months is one thing. A year is a whole nuther ballgame. Higher up the food chain is seldom a reasonable excuse.

I had a customer that always paid late and had to be called every time. Their most laughable excuse was "My customer hasn't paid ME yet, and you expect to get paid before I do?" I said the logical extension of that is if you don't ever get paid, I won't ever get paid. Told them I sold the parts to YOU and had an agreement with YOU, not your customer. Even if you NEVER get paid, I expect payment, and on time. They paid and never paid late again.

Some customers, just like some people, try to get away with shady stuff. If you don't push back a little they'll often keep taking advantage of you. You don't need to be rude. At first. Save that as a last resort.

Glad you got it handled and handled well Fish.

 

[dkmc]

Some customers, just like some people, try to get away with shady stuff. If you don't push back a little they'll often keep taking advantage of you. You don't need to be rude. At first. Save that as a last resort.

Someone needs to chisel this into a lump of granite someplace.

 

[john.k]

My old friend Leo Becker still had a shed full of fabricated parts for White trucks ,that went broke in the 1980s ......he got well ahead on their POs ,not a good idea ,as it turned out......Funny thing was someone recently asked me if I could find a battery box for a 1970s White ,I immediately thought of Leo ,phoned ,only to be told he had passed away shortly before ,and his sons had scrapped all the White parts.

 

[DouglasJRizzo]

As of this writing, I just tossed a customer to the curb. Changed quantities, delivery dates, and then bounced in unannounced and prowled around the shop, while I was making a trip to UPS. I gave him a "cancel order" and sent him on his way.

 

[SND]

I would have asked them to confirm that 2024 is not a typo and is they meant 2023.
If they can't figure out what they need in 1 month, how the hell can they figure out what they need in 15 months...
And if they're too broke to stock in their own inventory a $900 job they ordered it's time for better customers.

 

[metal-ica]

How do you make money selling ONE powder coated assembly for $900?