Quote Unquote
This is a story told to me by my coworker. We work in customer service, with people calling in or emailing us for quotes to get things built to spec for them. The following exchange took place via email over several days.
Customer: “I would like you to make [Product #1] for me, to the attached specs.”
Coworker: “Certainly. Our current lead time for [Product #1] is two weeks, which means that, once you sign the quote, it will take two weeks from that date for us to ship it out to you. Attached is the quote for [Product #1]. If you agree, just send us back the signed quote, and we will get it put in our queue.”
After a week of silence and two ignored follow-up emails from [Coworker], the customer finally replies — with no signed quote attached.
Customer: “Okay, go ahead with making [Product #2].”
Coworker: “I’m sorry. Did you want us to make [Product #1] or [Product #2]?”
Customer: “[Product #2].”
Coworker: “Okay. We are currently out of stock for a component for [Product #2], so our lead time for that is sitting at five weeks. Should we use the specs you sent in your original email?”
Another week of silence goes by, with another two ignored follow-ups.
Customer: “Has our order been shipped?”
Coworker: “We haven’t yet received a signed quote from you, or confirmation on whether the original specs are correct to be used with [Product #2]. Once we confirm the specs, we can get you a quote for [Product #2], and then it will be five weeks from the date that is signed when that product will ship.”
There are only four days of silence this time, with one ignored follow-up. The customer replies with a signed version of the first quote.
Customer: “Here, please ship by tomorrow.”
Coworker: “That quote was for [Product #1] You stated that you wanted us to manufacture [Product #2]. We will need to provide a new quote for [Product #2], and it will be five weeks from the time that quote is signed before it will ship.”
The customer replies with another email with the signed version of the first quote and no text.
Coworker: “[Customer]. Are you wanting us to make [Product #1] or [Product #2]? If you want [Product #2], we will need verified specs for it, and we will then issue you a quote to sign.”
There is another week of silence and another missed follow-up from my coworker.
Customer: “Thanks.”
Coworker: *Copy-pasting their previous email* “[Customer]. Are you wanting us to make [Product #1] or [Product #2]? If you want [Product #2], we will need verified specs for it, and we will then issue you a quote to sign.”
It has now been three weeks with absolutely no response to a few more follow-ups. The only thing we’ve heard is from a different customer entirely who apparently knows [Customer]. They mentioned that [Customer] has been claiming that we are “so hard” to work with. [Different Customer] doesn’t see what [Customer] is complaining about.