We are trying to raise our little retail business in Melbourne again. A fools errand maybe. Nevertheless we have doubled down are paying over 10k in rent a month and need to make some sales quite obviously. We have been here before and save for a dishonest accountant we’d probably still be in our original shop, although the last few years might have put paid to that. But we’re now in Shop twice the size (in a very similar position) which is good because the sales are half what they used to be due to that prick of a man called Daniel Andrews. Unfortunately we’re paying a little more than half the rent when a double shop normally goes for 70 or 80s% of m2 price of a single shop. That’s another story I could tell, isn’t it James (real name)?
We import most of our product. It has its advantages (lower cost of product) and its disadvantages (mostly in supply chain costs and paying up front for goods which most retailers don’t do). These costs increase if there’s delays as lost sales increase the costs and if your product (that you need to turn over at least 4 times a year) is stuck for a few weeks (or worse) then that 4 times turn becomes a lot more difficult. Well recently our formerly reliable freight forwarder became somewhat of a joke to work with. Names have been changed just in case we find ourselves working with them again which is doubtful at the moment as it’s actually cheaper to use the Post or UPS (but definitely not the now lethargic DHL) these days. The actual freight might be cheaper but the overall costs send a 100kg shipment prices higher than the aforementioned.
On 26th May I was sent an email after my enquiry that the goods were going to be picked up. Fine so far, although maybe they should have told me that they’d already picked up the goods.
On 1st June not having heard anything I emailed again and was responded to by the next day that yes the goods were already in Melbourne and had landed on the 28th (Air Cargo, bad me). Well they’re not keeping in contact are they. I asked when I would get the goods.
Michelle (not real name) from Sydney (real town) emailed me and said that as soon as I paid the cargo they’d release the goods and I’d have them.
I told Michelle that I didn’t have an invoice for cargo so I couldn’t pay it.
Michelle responded exactly the same as before, pay the invoice that I didn’t have and the goods would be released. The way it was worded I assumed that they wanted my supplier invoice so off I sent it.
Michelle didn’t bother replying this time. If you rang Michelle’s number it asked you to press a number (maybe a 4 or 6) and then it would hang up on you. If you rang back it just wouldn’t bother checking your 4s and 6s it would just disconnect you, no message, no nothing.
I rang my account manager (Doris) and left a message with her. She got back to me at the end of the day (this became the norm) and told me that she would “revert to team”.
I think at this stage Michelle got back to me and said no she wanted me to pay the freight invoice which I did not have so of course I told her this. Michelle takes 24 hours to respond if she responds. This time she didn’t. I was starting to get annoyed just as bad cold was coming on, not a good combination (I still have a sore throat).
Normally these things take a few days to clear. You don’t normally get the freight invoice by itself either, it’s an invoice with freight, customs clearance & GST and if you have an account the above invoice will turn up at the same time as your goods. I don’t have a post paid account at the moment (I guess I have not applied although it’s possible said freight forwarder has put this one in the memory hole our account dates back to 2020) so we’re expected to pay before delivery but this doesn’t really slow anything down (unless of course you don’t have the funds but this was not an issue for us).
Doris puts me on to Jimmy. Jimmy has been in the business for 30 years. This should work right? Not a chance, somehow around now (6th June) the Department of Agriculture has objected to some wood in the shipment (only 3 of the items). When I find out about this 3 or so days later I request more info about the items but suggest if the destruction of these items are needed then I can handle a small number of them being destroyed but please provide me more info first and did 3 items mean 3 items or 3 boxes?
About 2/3 days later while I’m talking to my wife on the phone I get an email from Jimmy saying righto the 3 items will be destroyed. Now 3 items could mean 3 individual items or it could mean 3 boxes as the shipment was 3 boxes. I ceased my call with my wife and immediately rang Jimmy who suprise, surprise actually answered his phone. I said to him that under no circumstances was he to advise Department of Agriculture to destroy the “items”. He assured me that he would not.
I think the next day he sent me a form and the instruction from the Department of Agriculture re the items. I sent this form back to him with clear instructions to remove the offending wood from the items but not to destroy the items (the wood could be easily replaced).
The next day Jimmy was not replying to emails or his phone. So I asked Doris to prompt him. This resulted in an email from Jimmy saying that he didn’t have the form yet (that I’d sent previous day and cc’d to Doris). Now Doris was in on this conversation so she immediately sent the form to Jimmy who then advised me by email that he had been given the form by Doris.
This whole time I was probably hung up on about 30 or 40 times (not in fact hung up on but just disconnected when I tried to call various people at this corporate. For example Nellie the supervisor disconnected me 6 or 7 times maybe. I never spoke to her despite being put through to her from the receptionist (no complaints about Hailey the receiptionist she was very helpful) several times. The last time I was hung up on I let Hailey know that it was the height of rudeness to do so. Of course it’s not the person doing it, it’s the Corporate phone system that doesn’t like me (or anyone else that I tried to get to call them). I guess we need to be whitelisted at this firm and we don’t seem to be whitelisted.
It was getting very absurd by this stage. I will mention one other person at unnamed Corporate. Shandy. Shandy can talk for quite a while without actually imparting any information whatsoever. Shandy did this to me twice, once for 10 minutes and the second time for 2 minutes as I cut her short this time.
About this time I had a bit of a stoush with Jimmy and said that it was obvious that there was a lot of working from home going on and that my view was that therefore there was no actual working going on. Jimmy told me about his dying aunt and said that he didn’t normally work from home (so he was working from home). Anyway Jimmy and me, after trying to chomp each other’s heads off, did reach some sort of accommodation and I thought that this should mean we got the goods before the weekend. Hah.
The following Tuesday somehow I got given contact detials to John. I rang John and got his answering machine thinking well I won’t hear from John again. Doris was trying to placate me saying that she was sure the team would organize it. Anyway this time she was right, John rang back (nobody else did) and I spoke to him and he said that he would get it sorted. He did, I picked up the goods from the warehouse the next day (because I did not trust them to deliver).
Jesus what a shemozzle. I’d say that 80% of these guys were “working” from home.
I have a story on similar lines.
Sometimes they still blame the *Covid*; mostly they don't reply.
Kafkaesque.
the overall plan appears to be destroy all small/medium businesses and have only a few large corporates, soon to be all named One, or some similar variation of.
We will have to buy at the 'company store', with CBDC we get from the 'company store', whilst slaving away for the 'company store'.
Step out of the system, create your own society.
fuckem.