Moral predicament

[etalns]

My dad buys a lot of stuff from this one company (I won't go in depth regarding it) each year. Typically he spends between $1 million and $1.5 million Canadian on this companies product each year. They've routinely made errors which they had no way of knowing they made, as the orders never got entered into their system but they did deliver the product.

Over the last 2 years they've missed over $200,000 worth of charges, and each time my dad has called them up and said that they missed the charge and they added it to his next months bill.

Two weeks ago they made an error and overcharged, he bought a $48 item, and they charged $4800. He called them and let them know and they said that he had gotten $4800 dollars worth of the item, not $48, and that if he didn't pay up that amount they would send repo men to collect their money...he's never seen this side of the business before, they've always been very friendly to him.

This most recent invoice they are missing over $40,000 in charges...and my dad is wondering if he should tell them considering their piss poor additude in the most recent dealings and making my dad overpay by quite a bit, or risk his credit (He paid the $4842 difference, to avoid tarnishing his perfect credit record). He seems inclined to let them know, but I've been saying I don't feel that he should. He's always been very straightforward with them, and they've even admitted that there's no way for them to know if someone doesn't get charged if an order isn't entered into their system... so he's done them a huge favor and saved them tons of money. But when they mad ea mistake that cost my dad, his word went right out the window.

What do you think is the msot appropriate action in this case?

I'm not quite sure why I'm asking here...I'm just wondering if my reccomendation is widely regarded as morally reprehensible.

 

[Insane3D]

It's really something your dad needs to work out. If it were me, I probably wouldn't tell them, but I don't consider myself some shining beacon of morality.

Good luck.

 

[etalns]

And for those of you PMing me, no...he doesn't just spend $1 - 1.5 million on stuff for our house and cars etc All the stuff he's buying from this company is for his company.

 

[Lonyo]

If it's his company buying from their company, I would just pay up, not worth the risk of getting into trouble over it (court etc), better to keep on their good side IMO.

EDIT: Unless you can be sure of finding an alternative supplier

 

[etalns]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
If it's his company buying from their company, I would just pay up, not worth the risk of getting into trouble over it (court etc), better to keep on their good side IMO.

EDIT: Unless you can be sure of finding an alternative supplier

It's easy to find another supplier, and there's almost no chance of them finding out. The only reason errors like this happen are if you change your order at the last minute usually they forget to enter in the order. I'm surprised these guys can make money with the amount of errors they make, or maybe they just screw up a lot when dealing with my dad.

 

[alm4rr]

no - no good deed goes unpunished

 

[pulse8]

If he ends up telling them about their mistake he should send them a letter outlining the full situation to the owners of the company and then find a different supplier.

 

[benliong]

If it's for your dad's company, then I'd say just make clean break from this funiture store, and find another one. Sooner or later you'll find accounting to be a mess because they invoice the wrong amount at the wrong time all the time. Also, from the mistake they're making, they don't appear to be very professional.

Just have an accountant draft out a overall balance sheet between the two company, pay up whatever is owed and move on to the next better supplier.

my two cents.

 

[FleshLight]

Link and sales contact info for company?

 

[Quasmo]

Tell them that their error is $40,000 - $4842 to cover the mischarged items last time.

 

[jjones]

IMO, the company has set precedent by their previous actions. If I were you father, I would pay only what has been invoiced, as that seems to be the determining factor for the company's billing policy, and then begin looking for a new supplier.

 

[bradruth]

I'd let them know, but given this company's obviously terrible business practices I'd never deal with them again.

 

[Rage187]

I would let them know they missed $35252 in charges.

 

[gotsmack]

So the company forced your dad to take 100X the quantity he ordered? or did he just return it? or did they only send $48 worth of stuff and charge him $4800?