On 2006-10-19 20:41:37 +0100, "legin" said:

I know that this is a DIY group but also know that certain trades
frequent this forum. I would be particularly interested in any one who
has experienced being overcharged by Howdens, the trade division of
MFI. I have requested credit notes for several overcharged items and
despite assurances that these would be processed, they have not
materialised. This has happened before at another branch and instigated
my dealings with this other branch.

When you say "overcharged" do you mean that they entered higher numbers
than the marked price, the agreed price, didn't apply a discount for
the deal, agreed in general or entered the transaction more than once?



The manager assures me that they have been processed.

Maybe they have been at the branch and therefore as far as he is
concerned, he has done his piece and the issue is off of his plate.

Could it be head
office deliberately withholding credit notes.

Unless there is some kind of organised game which is possible but one
can't tell. If they all arrive at once on a certain day of the month
then it may indicate some policy that is a way to improve cash flow.
The more likely expectations are sloppy keying of data at the
branches or incompetence at head office. Normally "the computer" is
blamed and most people are stupid enough to accept the excuse. You
have the same situation from two branches now so there is a bit of a
clue.






To try to speed the
process up I deliberately withheld the credit due from my recent
monthly payment. This immediately sparked credit control to ring me to
ascertain why there was a shortfall especialy as I had endorsed the
payment slip with "awaiting outstanding credit notes".

Amazing, isn't it?

Do the promised credit notes amount to complete transactions or do they
represent parts of larger ones? If they are for complete ones, then
you could write to them disputing the invoice. Actually you could
anyway. Most organisation's credit control have procedures for
dealing with those.



They contacted
the branch concerned and rang back several days later to see if the
branch had contacted me to sort the matter out. I explained that they
had not. A further phone call to me stating that the branch had tried
to contact me but had been unable to get through. The credit controller
went quite when I explained that every time that they had rung me they
had got through.

This is a good reason to conduct these things in writing. FAX is a
reasonably good way that
doesn't eat into too much time writing letters and going to the post
office. That can be saved for if or when it looks like being a more
serious discussion. FAXes also involve the supplier in extra work and
reduce the possibilities for different departments and locations to
bear false witness. Even the stupid think more carefully before
putting something in writing.



Now finally I have just received a letter threatening legal action if I
do not make the full payment.

Jolly good.


They are starting to **** me off.

No need for that, just sit back and enjoy the fun



I just hope that the MD of Howdens is
reading this so he can realise what a bunch of ******* I am dealing
with.

He probably isn't and probably does.


Best of it is I have three branches writing to me with offers of
a superb deal on kitchens. Probably give it to Magnets, that'll teach
em.

No it won't. They aren't bright enough at branch level in most of
these places to really care.


Just out of interest I wonder how Mr Hall would deal with them.
Disgruntled
Legin

Ah well......

From your mail, I assume that you are dealing with them as being a
business vs. being a consumer. If you look through the Ts & Cs of most
merchants who by intent or not deal with consumers, they have one set
that applies to consumers (they have to) and another for business
customers. The former give you a lot more protection because of
consumer legislation.

Business customers have fewer statutory rights AIUI, so in the ultimate
case it's a question of what the courts decide. I'm less familiar
with the scenarios for businesses, but you have to look at the
different implications for sole traders, limited companies etc.

I think that the best comments are to make sure that there is a paper
trail and to start sending that to the company's credit control and
legal representatives (or credit collection agencies). This will
incur cost for them and generally make sure they have their ducks in
line in case it were to go to court.

The other dimension is whether you want/need to deal with them in the
future. It may be that despite all the BS, they have good products
and prices for what you want, and supplier Y next door is just as bad
anyway.

Given the situation, I think that I would play their system. This is
a finance handling problem so find the name of the finance director and
phone him, confirming the conversation by fax or letter. If the
issue is actually at the branches then he may push it onto the area
manager or something like that. You could contact the area manager
anyway. Some of these organisations have regional business
development people as well whose job it is to retain business.

I do think that a key thing is not to rely on verbal promises or
attempts to allocate blame elsewhere. Hence the importance of written
communication.

Taking a different tack....

For the purposes of building materials etc. I am not a business but
tend to use trade rather than DIY sources. Numerous places have
offered me trade credit account and terms, but I've avoided that. I
make sure that anything in excess of £100 is paid by credit card and
that the words "consumer purchase" are entered on any generated
delivery note etc. that I sign.

On that subject, quite a lot of trade places seem to print off
delivery notes for goods being taken and expect you to sign. That's
OK as far as it goes, but these usually don't have prices on them. I
therefore always ask for a quote or pro forma to be printed with the
agreed prices and discounts and to reference those on delivery notes I
sign. This at least cuts out some of the nonsense that can happen in
branches.