In article ,
raden writes:

I find that strange, I've never had any problems getting catalogues out
of RS

When I was at a previous company, I tried opening an account
with RS (would have been ~15 years ago). They sent an application
form, wanted a bank reference and another supplier reference,
a copy of the company's annual report, and probably some other
things I've forgotten. I had got half of it together, and a
sales guy from Farnell knocked on the door and offered a catalogue
and account there and then. It was almost as if he must have known.
We never bothered persuing the RS account.

CPC on the other hand ...

If CPC didn't send me a catalogue, they wouldn't get any orders.
I really wish they would learn to pack things so they didn't
either burst in transit or packed in such a way they're
guaranteed to be broken on delivery. Just had a broken
fluorescent tube from them, although amazingly, given how
split the box was and the number of the tiny parts in it,
nothing was missing. Replacement tube arrived next day at
the wrong address, after I had agreed with the call centre
staff to cancel the item as I didn't need it quickly and I'd
just stick another one on the next order. But I still like
using CPC, and I just can't resist the weekly offer leaflets;
I suspect they are quite a marketing success.

--
Andrew Gabriel