I arranged to review their progress in person every 3pm. Their office was right across mine. My suspicion that something was not going right began when their COO asked me to stick to emails (which everyone in the company does not reply to). She said that my presence takes her people away from their work. I smiled and replied that I spend no more than 15 minutes every visit. For a two week piece of work, daily progress review is critical.
Clearly, their employees were not being completely truthful. In my last visit, I explained once again the functional agreement for the fifth time. The junior employee was asking a senior employee in front of me about the agreed specification. The senior guy simply chose not to reply. It was a minute of silence and arrogance. This was displayed in front of me, the customer.
Two days before the target date, I send an email reiterating the agreed deadline. Nobody from their President to the employee doing the actual work bothers to reply. The deadline comes and still no word. The day later, I get a forwarded email stating that the target date was not reasonable. The two weeks originally committed to needed an additional month. I replied back copying all the senior executives asking what he meant by a month. Was it a month on top of the two weeks that has already passed? Was it a month including he two weeks that has passed. Once again, no reply.
The sad part is that these were friends of mine. They were friends before they were taken up as service providers. Second, they were also aiming to have a mutually beneficial x-deal with us. Clearly, the deal is off. I will be writing them come Monday morning. How can my company deal with another company whose management team did not deliver nor bother communicating with us.
The good news is that with the poor state of affairs with service providers in general, any company who wishes to excel can simply do so by providing better service. If and when that happens, the mediocre service companies will either bring up their A game or cease of exist.
Service quality is still king.