Thorn in the Behind

[winning123]

I am at the end of my ropes with a location. I am up to five locations and this is the only one that complains.  Brings in good money but not worth the hassle.  Office setting with all the vending machines equipped to the max, but they are some whiney people. Popcorn is stale cinanmon roll is stale drop sensor machine steals my money are their complaints.  I am like wtf, i just took it out of the box my products to them are just out the box.  My question is has anyone ever abandoned a headache.  They have threatened to kick me out already and I have locations pegged for their machine.  I am just hanging on for the good money though but hate dealing with them.

 

[AngryChris]

I think we have all had annoying accounts, and your account has one of the typical annoyances of an office account... they have nothing better to do than to complain.

If you have a drop sensor and everything, and they are complaining about stale products despite being "fresh" out of the box, then I suggest a couple things.

First, you need to verify what the problem is.  Either the drop sensor is failing, they simply don't know how the drop sensor works, they are lying, or there is a completely different problem like the money is not registering.  I don't know how often drop sensors fail, but I know they can... however, if it's happening so often that they constantly complain, then you should be able to see it happen with 20+ practice vends.  I have a location that complained literally today.  The guy said "You said the stuff wouldn't get stuck in the machine but the stuff still gets stuck" and I had to correct him and say you wouldn't lose money!  Stuff can still get stuck but you'll get a refund instantly.  I even demonstrated it to him several times and he was dumbfounded.  He had no idea.  He said people would simply shake the machine "until it came out" which probably meant the motor jogged and the product fell.

People do lie, and that needs to be considered, but that's difficult to determine.  The way I recommend it is with refund slips where they write their name, the date, and what happened.  If you notice the same individual, you know there is likely a liar, but not 100%.  However, the bigger thing to find out is if people are just losing money for some reason.. maybe coins are missing the coin inlet.  Maybe the bill acceptor is faulty and not registering, etc..  You need to ask people what the problem seems to be.  Get more out of them than just "I put in my money and nothing happened" or "it ate my money."

Secondly, you need to find out specifically what items are supposedly stale and try to find out why they seem stale and possibly discontinue them.  If the problem is specific products, stop carrying them.. or stop stocking them at THEIR location.  Popcorn is notoriously problematic when it comes to being stale well before the best-by date.  I have that problem with popcorn no matter who the customer is.. pork rinds too.  Pastries can be stale sometimes even when relatively fresh, but I think that's because the bag may have opened slightly somehow during distribution and it became stale well before it was supposed to.  But, again, it may be best to simply remove those products so they can't complain about it.

In the end, being in any business is usually always about making profits.  However, if a problematic account is so frustrating that it makes you want to quit what you do, then it's probably worth it to cut your losses and get rid of them.  I have never pulled out from a good account for these reasons, but I have refused to give them certain products such as popcorn.  Just keep in mind that office personnel love to complain.  I have seen everyone from your lowest-level office employee to corporate people complain about the absolutely dumbest things in the world.  I have literally seen people in office complain about the prices in the vending machine WHILE eating a meal from Panera Bread.  I have seen them DEMAND that salads be stocked in food machines (fortunately, this was long ago) only to watch them sit there for 4 days before being REMOVED because the salads only last about that long.. then complain AGAIN because the salads are gone!!! WITHOUT BUYING A SINGLE ONE!! 

Ten years ago, one notorious account that my employer had was managed by this woman.. if you can call her that.  This woman DEMANDED that a glassfront (5591) be stocked 100% full right next to either a 276E or 501E and probably an AP 113 (i was just a driver then).  She threatened to cancel the company if they didn't get a new driver, so the company made me service it.  I noticed one week there were 8 coke zero bottles.  Next week, 7 coke zero.  Next week, 6.. etc...  This woman CALLED the office at one point because the coke zero was "almost out."  I was told to get out there to "restock" it.  Sure enough... 3 bottles were left.  She tried to give me an attitude and I told her that it was selling about 1 bottle a week and they had enough for a few more weeks.  She was all mad and threatened to kick us out over the whole thing lol.  I told my boss and I was taken back off of the route and I guess they called the company and told whoever was above her about it and the problem stopped and she was eventually gone from there from what I heard...  The point is that there are some people who literally have nothing better to do than to complain.  Oh, by the way, to see that the coke zero was down to 3 bottles.. it was on the 4th shelf.  You would literally have to bend down or get on a knee to see it.  She literally was LOOKING for something to complain about.

[Snoopy]

Funny story:  I have a school account that does really well.  A few years ago, a teacher approached me and requested Diet Sprite in 20 oz bottle.  I informed her that I couldn't sell enough to make it profitable. She got mad and told the principle to get a new vendor.  The principle called me in and offered me the choice satisfy her or leave.  I complied with her request.  90 days later the soda was out of date.  I went back to principle and explained, she called the teacher in.  The teacher said she never said she would buy any of mine, she brings in 4 a day and just wanted me to be her back up in case she forgot.  The principle said in her presence that I should put what I want in my machines and when the teacher left, apologized to me.  Handled professionally by myself and the principle.  I am still at that location and doing well.  Sometimes you just have to bite your tongue.

[winning123]

I agree with all,  I verified the drop sensor and realized the customers are opening the bin delivery door before the product actually falls causing the drop sensor to register a product falling in the bin. Leading to no refund if a prodcut fails to vend.    I adjusted the reflectors to prevent this from happening.  Popcorn is going to be a no go for them.  I will remain until A) I am asked to leave. B.) I find something else as suitable with perceived less trouble. 

Not sure if office accounts are my thing but money is money.

[Poplady1]

I have a mfg in Southern CA with about 150 on the floor daily.   Over the past 9 years they have used us to manage their vending program and they have been through 4 vendors. Not because the vendors do a bad job, it is the Plant Manager.  He would remove vendors for some of the stupidest reasons:  

1)  I wanted the drink machine closer to my desk and the vendor would not comply.

2)  I wanted a larger snack machine and they would not comply.

3)  They told me pricing was going up on the bottles because Coke increased the rates but they increased all of the bottles.  

They ended up buying their own machines. He called me about 6 months into their self servicing.  He said he never received the commission from his last vendor and would we be interested in taking over servicing his machines.  Apparently, it was taking so much time from his assigned employee that he really had no time to do his job.

I wrote something up giving us a 3-year exclusive service agreement, they were responsible for repairs, we had all keys, etc.  And all complaints had to come to me directly, not to the driver.  After 7 months so far so good for the company we assigned. Not sure what the lesson is on this subject other than we all have to deal with these types of problem, try to turn it into a win/win if you can!  If not handle it until it becomes to much of a problem and move on.
 

[AZVendor]

The only thing I want to say to this Bev, is shame on you for caving in to a whiny manager.  As a management company you hold the cards and you can tell them why things he wants won't get done.  I think you did a dis-service to those three vendors, unless they all wanted out because the account was too much trouble.

[darkinthepark]

16 hours ago, Snoopy said:

Funny story:  I have a school account that does really well.  A few years ago, a teacher approached me and requested Diet Sprite in 20 oz bottle.  I informed her that I couldn't sell enough to make it profitable. She got mad and told the principle to get a new vendor.  The principle called me in and offered me the choice satisfy her or leave.  I complied with her request.  90 days later the soda was out of date.  I went back to principle and explained, she called the teacher in.  The teacher said she never said she would buy any of mine, she brings in 4 a day and just wanted me to be her back up in case she forgot.  The principle said in her presence that I should put what I want in my machines and when the teacher left, apologized to me.  Handled professionally by myself and the principle.  I am still at that location and doing well.  Sometimes you just have to bite your tongue.

I guess the teacher was the principal's girlfriend.  A teacher at my school requested caffeine free coke...and I knew it wasn't going to sell, but I put it in to give it a shot.  Over 6 months, only 2 sold.  I ended up pouring them down the drain.

[AngryChris]

I had to restock a location today that i want to cancel.  They requested two rows of diet coke because it ran out after two weeks.  Silly me only stocked 12 bottles of diet coke when it apparently needed about 18 bottles.  I can guarantee that i will sell less than 6 bottles over the next 3 weeks but another flavor will randomly sell out.  They THINK they run out becaus they buy so much, but it's really because they don't buy enough. Oh, and they want healthy stuff in the snack machine so employees can snack healthier.  And they give candy away for free.  This account will be a PITA to cancel.