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Business Partners that Renege on Deals

What's your take on business partners that renege on deals. You have an arrangment of commerce put in place during the 4th quarter of 2009 and the partner changes the parameters of that deal in January 2010 to satisify another customer at your expense? Do you exact another type of premium from the partner for this discretion? Walk away? Interested in your thoughts.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Pawelek on February 3, 2010 at 10:17am: Did you have the parameters written down on a legal, signed document prepared by a lawer? If not there is not much you can do. The days of making an honest agreement with a "hand shake" are over and if you don't cover yourself financially and legally up front anything can happen. It is so sad that events of folks working together has come to this but it is a reality. I was fortunate in that I was screwed twice when I first started my business over 35 years ago and learned a huge lesson about dotting all the I's and crossing all the T's in a business agreement. Unfortunately the two separate incidents were with family members which thankfully have nothing to do with my business anymore! :)
Michael Pawelek
Pecan Hill Nursery
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Permalink Reply by Tom Broome on February 4, 2010 at 12:54am: No matter what the details are, if someone promises you anything and they do something else knowing it will hurt you, they are not worth dealing with. So, in basic terms, are you saying this person was supposed to sell you something when the time came and he sold the stuff, or some of the stuff to someone else? If this is the case, you have to deal with this and look at your options. does this person have the only ones that can be bought? Can you get them somewhere else? Do you REALLY need THOSE materials, or can you run your business dealing with another comodity? If this person gave you such a great deal that you just had to take it, you may have just got sucked in from an unreliable person that cares more about money than his word or honor. Bottom line is, if you were promised the items and he sold them from underneath you, not only would I do everything I could not to buy from him ever again, but I would do everything I could (legally :) ) to make him pay for what he did to me. There are a few people who have done worse to me and it has cost them 20 times over in business that they could have had. People like that gets their's in the end. Deal with it the best you can and in the future, as the others have said, get your agreement in writing if you can and if they don't want to do that, you need to deal with someone else, or try to be a better judge of character in the future. All we can do is learn by our mistakes, which makes us stronger.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Roger Bolger on February 4, 2010 at 1:14pm: Thomas:

I have had companies change terms and even cancel shipment of a whole container of product for reasons that had nothing to do with my company. I vote with my dollars and put that vendor on my blacklist. Now when I meet with vendors I take out a form that outlines the parameters of the deal including terms, shipping, delivery dates, co-op, minimum orders, etc. We then sign the form so that there is no dispute as to what was agreed upon in the future. Maybe it isn't legally binding, but it puts the company on notice that I will not forget our agreement. If something comes up and the company can not deliver as promised I can ask for additional discounts or cancel the order with peace of mind that I have documented the original agreement.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Hap Hollibaugh on February 5, 2010 at 5:31pm: If one of your vendors has a negative impact on your company, replace them and quit buying from them. We had a vendor change their terms for delivery and minimums that made it difficult to deal with while we were expanding and relocating, then as they focused more on big box they made it even worse... it was obvious from their attitude that the small local nurseries just didn't matter to them. We took our dollars elsewhere and have built an amazing relationship with another smaller but excellent distributor that has helped us have double digit increases on their goods every year since. You should only be partnering with vendors that realize that by helping you sell their stuff that they win too.; ▶ Reply to This