Poor practice I think

As from my previous posting i had a job cancelled on me yesterday. Not a problem as firstly there is nothing you can do about it and these things happen. Anyway today the same company who i have actually worked for before and done a good job advertised a nice long job for tomorrow. I call within a minute and speak to the same person and quote on it, same ppm as before. They say i still have the job but dont know what time its loading tomorrow, is that a problem, i say no problem i can load whatever time as long as you let me know ill work around it and make sure im there on time. Ok ill check with the customer and ring you back. Excellent i think, 5 mins later they sell the job to someone else. I call back and ask them and they say oh yeah ive sold to someone who is going to load later in the day. I said i told you i could load anytime, oh, well ill ring you if anything else comes up. Now i dont know if im just having a bad couple of days or what but even if someone had come in cheaper they could have at least called me to see if i could maybe match or whatever especially after cancelling a job on me yesterday. Sorry long post and rant over.

Can i suggest you politely decline any other job they offer you, and don't quote on anything else they have even if it fits into what you are doing. This kind of practise gives us all a bad name, and is something that shouldn't be tolerated. I have sold a job many times before, only to have a lower quote come in afterwards, and that's just the way it is. My priority is time, and it'll usually go to the quickest/nearest, as long as its around the price i'm looking for. To sell a job, then take it back and sell it elsewhere is just plain wrong.

Totally agree, I emailed my wife to tell her and she said the same, not to work for them again. It is difficult as they have long jobs that suit me but i agree that it should not be tolerated so i will definitely not work for them again. I would say and hope that this sort of thing doesnt happen often. I must say that i find 99.9% of vendors easy and good to work with.

Esi Logistics said:

Now i dont know if im just having a bad couple of days or what but even if someone had come in cheaper they could have at least called me to see if i could maybe match or whatever especially after cancelling a job on me yesterday. Sorry long post and rant over.

I have some empathy with the vendor in question here (although i have no idea who it is)....

I think if this vendor had called you to ask and see if you could have bettered a cheaper quote, they would no doubt be accused of trying to auction the job off to the cheapest bidder. I think once a great price is received, there is little point making further phone calls to drive the price even lower, as it does seem to cause ill feeling. We only do this when all our quotes are too high.

Having said that, if there was a firm offer of a job, that would be different. But even after reading your post again, I am unclear if a verbal agreement was made.

When i quoted they said ok but i dont know the loading time tomorrow, will this be a problem to which i said no problem just let me know what time and i will make sure im there. They then said ok i will call customer and find out and ring you back. They then proceeded to sell within 5 minutes to someone else. I agree if a quote is beaten then thats that and the vendor would be frowned upon maybe if they call people back to see if they can beat or match, i agree with that point but from the conversation we had i was under the impression that i had the job. Considering they had cancelled a really good job on me the day before it would have been nice to have been at least called back before selling it for cheaper. Under my misguided thinking i expected to be treated a little better than that. They will get no more phone calls from me thats for sure.

Best to get em to confirm, tho it is a 'lalalaala' trick to pull.

To me it seems a bit underhand to what they did Kevin, but some vendors think actions like that are OK as long as it's their pocket that are being lined more deeply.

Bearing in mind they cancelled one the day before then i think the least you could expect is 1st shout on the next one. Seems only fair. I've read the same text as the "expert" and to me, it seems the offer of the job is there, the only thing yet to be confirmed was the timing. So i stand by my advice. Shisters mate

You should not work for these people again. I sub out a lot of work and as has already been said i have lower offers after i have sold a job but then it is too late. One thing i have learnt is that it is worth paying a decent price for decent subbies. Sometimes waiting for a lower price ends with no one being available as drivers will only wait a short time for me to get back to them and then take another job. You will probably end up paying more than the first quote that you had.

Yes couldnt have put it better myself Rob. As ive had a real crap couple of days i called a company who ive done some long jobs and helped them out last Friday with a late job and they want me to call in and talk about maybe 3 or 4 long trips same customer every week. If i wasnt so pi... Off i may not have thought to ring them asking for more work so it could come good in the end.

Well good luck with that... A complete lack of respect is becoming a bit of a theme nowadays... And i think most of it is unnecessary, and those that do it hide behind the "i'm too busy" tag. Thats bollox, its just plain rude, simple as that... Do we forget that we expect subbies to treat our work with respect? Works both ways ya know!

Totally agree that this type of practice is poor there is no excuse for excepting a lower bid and not ringing driver back. Bad manners in my book