Ingram-Micro: Unfriendly to Small Business?
If you know me I am a very positive person who rarely complains and always like to take the positive view on things and people. If I hold a grudge it just makes my life miserable but they are times when I feel it’s important to publicly announce when companies have given bad service or put up stumbling blocks in the path of the success of their resellers. We complained more than once and still we’re on the receiving end of rudeness and bad customer service. I do not post this lightly.
SpinningSilk Multimedia was recently presented with the opportunity of selling a managed service that will bring greater value to our customers internet experience. To sell this service the default method was to go through a company called, Ingram-Micro. I had heard of Ingram-Micro but up until a few weeks ago I had never had any direct experience with them. The following is a short list of road blocks we dealt with in regard to this company.
1.) Ingram Micro does not accept American Express
2.) According to our recent correspondence Ingram Micro’s Net Terms requires a regular purchase of $25,000 or more to qualify.
3.) The only other payment option available with Ingram Micro is an automatic monthly checking account draft–as a small business seeking to grow, this is a difficult proposition.
4.) Ingram Micro’s customer service is just about the worst we have experienced in memory. We received a confusing mailing which consisted or a torn and ripped Hewlett-Packard ink catalog instead of an Ingram-Micro services catalog that was supposed to come in a mailing. We then received a phone call from a rude Ingram Micro representative to explain the mailing and the”customer service” person on the phone said they put those HP catalogs in every mailing but if we “really wanted” the other catalog they would take our name and send us one when they had them in stock! Why the heck did they send a letter saying otherwise?
Thankfully the service we are looking to resell has agreed to let us work directly through them instead of going through the bureaucratic channel of Ingram-Micro. I realize publicly writing this complaint may prevent us from doing business with Ingram-Micro and working through another another company like Ingram-Micro has put us off from dealing with these kind companies but if a competitor to Ingram-Micro wants show us they can be friendly to a small business who has the potential of becoming a large business one day and puts quality customer service ahead of bureaucratic roadblocks we will be glad to listen.
If you’re a small business and trying to get to the “next level” be aware of these kind of crazy road blocks. Companies like this should make it easy for rising companies to succeed, not the other way around. Needless to say the Ingram-Micro “brand” is not on the top of our list. Even if we found out that companies our size were not their target we should have received more courteous treatment. What are your experiences with working with companies like this? Is ours a rare case or coming into contact with a chain of bad customer experiences or is this typical?
February 18th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
It’s apparent that small businesses are NOT Ingram-Micro’s target market.
With that said, being rude is NOT the way to win friends and influence people, especially in the world of Web 2.0. I can’t imagine any business, large or small, putting up with the kind of “crap” you were subjected to in the name of “customer service”.
Congrats on finding a way to work around, although I’ll bet the most satisfying course of action would have been to grant your $$$ to a competitor!
February 18th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Yes, Their core business is enterprise customers but one thing companies like that need to never forget is that companies like HP and Apple started off in garages or bedrooms. A lesson I learned when I worked in retail clothing in the early 90’s was to never judge or talk down to a potential customer. Everyone is a potential “someone” if you know what I mean.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:45 am
My name is Justin Crotty. I’m the VP of Services for North America for Ingram Micro. I own the division that the original post author was apparently trying to purchase the managed service offering from.
Obviously, a bad customer service experience is difficult for any business to overcome. I can assure you and the subsequent authors that small vars are Ingram Micro’s bread and butter and your experience is not typical. Small solution providers make up a very large portion of our annual $35B in revenues. Small solution providers are very much our target market.
But talk is cheap, right? The big Fortune 70 company trying to explain away a poor customer service experience. Not at all. I, and every Ingram Micro associate, make my living on the reputation of our company and the way we treat our partners.
I cannot change the experience you have had with our company. But I can offer you my personal attention to try to rectify the situation and demonstrate the customer service and support that thousands of vars around the world rely on everyday. The buck stops here. Anyone that knows ME will tell you it always has. Justin.crotty@ingrammicro.com.
Justin Crotty
VP Services North America
Ingram Micro, Inc.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:54 am
I appreciate you are doing what you can to rectify a bad customer service experience. Bad customer service and an original unresponsiveness to it was what drove me to write this article. However is Ingram-Micro willing to change some of their financing policies to make it easier for small businesses to get to the next level or service and product offerings? What do you consider a “small solution provider?”
What can Ingram-Micro do to cut the “red-tape?”
February 27th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Dear Mr. Crotty:
Add me to the list of small business owners who have been swept out with the trash by your company. To wit: yesterday I logged into our Ingram Micro account and discovered that our account had been purged. When I attempted to call customer service, tech support and my sales rep, I was continually disconnected by the automated phone system because my account number, when entered, was not recognized.
I finally called the “new business” phone number in a desperate attempt to reach a human being, explained what I had experienced and was told to go to the website and fill out a new re-seller application.
That’s the service you can expect if you are a small to medium size business.
Anything you can do to help me re-establish my existing account will be appreciated, mainly because I need access to my order history.
Deborah Cohen
February 27th, 2008 at 9:31 am
I’m not Mr. Crotty. I’ve experienced the bad customer service just like you so I would advise contacting him directly as I don’t know if he is continuing to read this blog post. Thanks for chiming in and adding to the conversation. We need to do all we can to encourage the support and consideration of new and small businesses.
February 27th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Thanks Patrick. I emailed Mr. Crotty a copy of my post.
Deborah
February 27th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Forgot to say one thing in my previous posts: As horrible as my experiences with Ingram-Micro have been, my dealings with Synnex, their competitor, have been wonderful. My Synnex sales rep treats me like I’m her biggest customer. In fact, everybody at Synnex treats me like I’m the Queen. Moreover, I get great terms from their credit dept., or if I prefer, I can use Amex or MC/Visa.
Just thought I’d kick in that plug for Synnex.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:52 am
I have had an Ingram Micro account for a few years which is always being closed due to not spending enough per month. On Monday I tried to submit a urgent order $6500.00 for a client that had IT gear stolen. The reply was fill out a survey, guarantee you will spend a selected amount over the next 3 months which was much less than my standing order and we will get back to? I needed product now to get my client trading! They offered no service and was more concerned about there survey and what I must spend over 3 months. My client today decided to do a total upgrade worth over 17k! I was lucky I was able to talk my client in to other brands. The problem is that they are the sole distributor for many products which means small business are unable to sell the end user product they have requested? I like to be in a position to knock back what ended up being a 17k order.
Brett
June 16th, 2008 at 9:33 am
[...] Writing this post reminded me of when Patrick wrote about a customer service disaster with Ingram-Micro: Unfriendly to Small Business? [...]