|
Intermediary - Negotiation
and Conflict Resolution
|
T-21's Intermediary
services offer our customers professional, impartial mediation of a negotiation or
dispute
- whenever it's needed. It is, by design, widely varied in its nature and
scope. Following are T-21 examples of
this
quality service, available to our customers:
WARRANTY
NEGOTIATION.
|
Problem.
The Plant Manager (PM) of a small manufacturing firm
contacted T-21 with a warranty repair problem on one of his
company's production machines, purchased through a large wholesaler, and supported with a
standard one-year warranty from its maker.
The PM said, "Just
before the end of the warranty period,
a main bracket on the equipment
snapped off at its mounting and disabled the whole machine.
I called the manufacturer and they referred me to an authorized regional service shop for
repair. When I contacted the shop, they told me that
the part was normally stocked, but was on a two-week backorder."
The PM called the local shop
again two weeks later, but was told that the part was
still back-ordered. He continued, "We couldn't operate
very well without it,
so I called around and found another company that had a spare part, which they would sell
to us, if I agreed to sell them our new one, when it came in."
Three weeks after they got the machine
running, using the purchased part, the repair shop called and said that the
replacement part was available, but the manufacturer refused warranty
reimbursement. They stated that the equipment was then past the twelve month
warranty period and the broken part was not available for inspection as
installed on the machine; something could
have hit the machine and broken the part, making it ineligible for
a warranty repair. They said that,
since it could not be inspected, there was no way to determine why it
failed.
The PM pointed out to the local shop that it was in warranty and available for inspection when it failed and that the shop was notified within the warranty period.
The shop management apologized but said that, since there was no replacement part available when they called, no warranty service call was made, so they had no record of the contact date.
The shop manager explained that they had tried to get the manufacturer to honor the warranty, but were powerless to override the warranty refusal.
The PM repeatedly contacted the equipment maker over the next two months, without results. He said, "They just
kept quoting me their policy."
Describing the situation to his
T-21 Team Manager (TM), he explained, "I got hot under the collar about this and I let them have it on the phone. They may not want to hear from me again. Can you do anything for us?"
Action.
His TM assigned an
Intermediary, who gathered copies of all paperwork from the Plant
Manager, as well as a written statement from the local repair shop.
She then directly contacted the manufacturer's Customer Service Manager, and faxed a
polite, factual description of the situation, copies of all paperwork, plus the
local repair shop's statement.
The T-21
Intermediary's
approach was low-key, courteous,
and factual. After reviewing the material from T-21, the
manufacturer's Customer Service Manager agreed that the work probably should have been covered under warranty,
but added that he had no authority to reimburse the funds spent by the customer for a part from another source, nor to replace, under warranty, a part no longer on the machine.
Results.
The T-21 Intermediary continued dialogue with the manufacturer's Customer Service Manager and learned that
he did have the authority to issue an Extended Warranty policy for an additional
two years, free of charge. The Intermediary suggested
this Good Will settlement to the PM, who accepted it, considering the matter closed.
An epilogue came a year-and-a-half
later when a massive failure on the same equipment was repaired under the
free service policy they had received as settlement for their claim.
The Manager commented
to his TM,
"When I originally bought this equipment, I decided against their Extended
Service Policy, but when the company offered it to offset the part we paid
for, I figured that something was
better than nothing, so I took it."
He continued, "But,
if I hadn't gotten that
Service Policy in the deal, this latest failure would have been a big bill
for us - almost $9000. But it turns out that it was entirely covered; so, sometimes, things work out for the best.
I appreciate what you
guys did."
|
BUY
/ SELL INTERMEDIATION.
|
Problem.
A long-term T-21 customer needed us for help in negotiating the sale of his business to a competitor. He said, "We've tried to get together on
this, but he and I, we're like oil and water. I guess
we're each suspicious that the other one is taking
advantage."
Plan.
In an initial conference call, the
TM proposed that T-21 act as an Intermediary for both parties.
He assured each of them of T-21's confidentiality and
impartiality - stressing that the primary goal would be finding common ground.
He added that neither party was bound to accept any terms with which they
did not
agree.
Action.
The T-21 Intermediary talked with each business owner, individually, and made careful,
confidential notes of their positions. While the sale price and terms were the top issue for both, there were other issues each one considered valuable.
After a number of discussions, their T-21 Intermediary determined that the lowest price the seller would accept and the highest price the buyer was willing to pay did not quite meet.
Results.
The T-21 Intermediary persuaded each of the parties to alter their demands, with
side-issue concessions by each one - creating a slight overlap between the acceptable prices.
Keeping each party's position confidential, he concurrently sent a written sale proposal to both owners, making it clear that it was
the Intermediary's proposal and not the position of either party. It proposed a selling price mid-way between the overlapping
figures and listed the side-issue concessions.
The proposal allowed the buyer to obtain the business for slightly less than his maximum price and
allowed the seller to secure a price just above his acceptable
minimum, while both received consideration on other side issues.
Both satisfied, they were referred to a local attorney to complete the transaction.
The business was
sold without further problem.
|
|
