deskthority

I'm on the lookout for my first beam spring keyboard, and I've been trawling on the Internet using IBM part numbers as keywords. A few websites claim to stock 1742720, and one of them was ASAP Purchasing.

This afternoon, I called to confirm their stocking status. Here is the conversation:
Me: Hello. I am calling to inquire the stocking status of part 1742720 from IBM.
Agent: What company are you calling from?
Me: I'm a private individual.
Agent: We only do business with a minimum value of $500.
Me: Do you have part 1742720 in stock or do you not?
Agent: What is the description?
Me: "Keyboard"
Agent: As I said, minimum value is $500.
Me: Then why don't you find out exactly how many of them do you have in stock, because they may come up to $500?
Agent: But no keyboard in the whole world is worth $500!
Me: Then why do you even have it listed on your website for sale!?
Agent *hangs up*

If they really have a $500 minimum policy per item sold, then why would they even bother listing items that are below this price point? If they don't have such a policy, why do they hire employees who speak barely intelligible English and try to kick out customers with an invented policy? I made a sincere offer to make a purchase valued at more than $500, and they still turned me out. I advise against dealing with this company, or at least this agent who cannot act in good faith for his employer.

Since I have the required business license, I filled out the forms for an "instant quote" for you. Someone is supposed to contact me within 15 minutes. I requested qty 10

Interesting. I got an email saying thank you for requesting a quote, but that was it. So I called, and the guy kept insisting I had called earlier. I told him I had not called, and he said it takes 24-48 hours to get a quote after you fill out the form. They have a strict policy of no phone quotes.

If you get 10, count me in for one?

I'd love to have one as well. Put me on the list...if there is one

elecplus wrote: I requested qty 10

Haha, I just want to see how many they actually have in their inventory.

All right. I just decided to resurrect my old corporation (of which I am the sole director) just to buy beamsprings.

y11971alex wrote: If they really have a $500 minimum policy per item sold, then why would they even bother listing items that are below this price point?

I guess the order value must be $500 minimum, not the per item value.

elecplus wrote: Since I have the required business license, I filled out the forms for an "instant quote" for you. Someone is supposed to contact me within 15 minutes. I requested qty 10

you need a tank to ship 10 beamspring! keep us posted.

matt3o wrote:

y11971alex wrote: If they really have a $500 minimum policy per item sold, then why would they even bother listing items that are below this price point?

I guess the order value must be $500 minimum, not the per item value.

That's why I previously asked them to find out exactly how many of them do they have. I may buy more than one to overcome the $500 minimum. But their agent was simply obnoxious.

y11971alex wrote: […]Here is the conversation:
[…]
Agent: We only do business with a minimum value of $500.
[…]
Agent: But no keyboard in the whole world is worth $500!
Me: Then why do you even have it listed on your website for sale!?
Agent *hangs up*

If they really have a $500 minimum policy per item sold, then why would they even bother listing items that are below this price point? […]

Of course just hanging up is absolutely inexcusable, but I think the misunderstanding is on your side.
They say they only "do business with a minimum value of $500",
you understand they have "a $500 minmum policy per item sold".

Edit: ninja'd

y11971alex wrote: Me: Then why don't you find out exactly how many of them do you have in stock, because they may come up to $500?
Agent: But no keyboard in the whole world is worth $500!
Me: Then why do you even have it listed on your website for sale!?
Agent *hangs up*

Ahem. I believe I made myself abundantly clear when I said they, referring to multiple keyboards, which may, in aggregate, be of greater value than $500.

I think he realized that right after your previous post:

kbdfr wrote: Edit: ninja'd

yeah the bottom line is that they have a very bad pre-sale

y11971alex wrote:

y11971alex wrote: Me: Then why don't you find out exactly how many of them do you have in stock, because they may come up to $500?
Agent: But no keyboard in the whole world is worth $500!
Me: Then why do you even have it listed on your website for sale!?
Agent *hangs up*

Ahem. I believe I made myself abundantly clear when I said they, referring to multiple keyboards, which may, in aggregate, be of greater value than $500.

"I think planes are per se dangerous, because they may crash."
Meaning, of course, that each of them may crash individually, and not only when more than one is involved.
Same here. He had no reason to know you were "referring to multiple keyboards".

So no, you had precisely not made yoursalf abundantly clear.

kbdfr wrote:

y11971alex wrote:

y11971alex wrote: Me: Then why don't you find out exactly how many of them do you have in stock, because they may come up to $500?
Agent: But no keyboard in the whole world is worth $500!
Me: Then why do you even have it listed on your website for sale!?
Agent *hangs up*

Ahem. I believe I made myself abundantly clear when I said they, referring to multiple keyboards, which may, in aggregate, be of greater value than $500.

"I think planes are per se dangerous, because they may crash."
Meaning, of course, that each of them may crash individually, and not only when more than one is involved.
Same here. He had no reason to know you were "referring to multiple keyboards".

So no, you had precisely not made yoursalf abundantly clear.

This question then begs to be asked: why wouldn't they help me pick out enough keyboards so that I make a purchase valued at more than $500, instead of telling me that each keyboard isn't worth $500 and therefore my business isn't wanted?

And yes, the bottom line is that they have a very poor representative.

y11971alex wrote: [multiple quotes]
This question then begs to be asked: why wouldn't they help me pick out enough keyboards so that I make a purchase valued at more than $500, instead of telling me that each keyboard isn't worth $500 and therefore my business isn't wanted? […]

kbdfr: hangs up on this irascible customer

Reminds me in that Portuguese shop that did not want to ship outside Portugal and did not want to sell to private persons.


But thanks to 2 people here in the forum, we finally made it!


Good luck with this.

This shop, like many others, does not STOCK the item in question. They rent a list that comes out every day from companies that do stock the merchandise. The question remains, if there is only 1, is he going to want $500 for it? Interesting that he never told me about a $500 minimum, and also that the places I have dealt with before that use these resold lists do not have this part number.

According to their stellar agent, "We do not reply when we don't have the part."