'Give us a lower quote, or else': Karma comes for a nepotistic boss when he tries to pocket $10k in commission by promising his client a lowball offer; ends up losing $60k+ because of inexperience

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Aug 23, 2023 1:00 PM EDT

When working on massive, expensive building projects, oftentimes, the office salesmen get a little too big for their britches because of the promise of a sweet commission check. In the heat of the moment, a greedy salesman might even throw out quotes and numbers that are vastly off-base in a desperate attempt to secure a client and pocket a little bonus check for themselves. However, things can go horribly wrong when that flippant boardroom negotiation actually hits the streets. 

In this case, a nepotistic company director sat in an office to try and win an exorbitantly high bid for a $200,000 building project by attempting to lowball their competitors, which included a safe, well-priced bid from OP. Normally, a lowball offer looks enticing to the client, but when there's more complicated notions to consider than just your bottom line commission check, things can get a little hairy. The company director had skin in the game with the renovation company for which he promised a discount, but because of a lack of experience, he didn't realize that he lowballed an already discounted offer.

Scroll for the full story on how karma came for a inexperienced man who cost his own company $60k in an attempt to pocket a $10,000 bonus for himself. Next, read about some 'delicious compliance', where restaurant employees gave the customers exactly what they wanted– and then some.

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  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/prioriority 8 hours ago Give us a lower quote or else let me handle it M OC
    via prioriority
  • 02
    Font - We were engaged to set up a small R&D lab in a manufacturing plant. It included renovation works, and an analytical instrument. The total project is around $200,000. Everything was
    via prioriority
  • 03
    Font - going fine. The instrument was purchased, the renovation details and specifics were ironed out, and work was to commence.
    via prioriority
  • 04
    Font - It was at this point that one of the company directors of the client company was brought into discussions. According to our contact
    via prioriority
  • 05
    Font - person at the company, this director, whom I shall call Adam, has experience in renovations. They even said Adam has a stake in a renovation company.
    via prioriority
  • 06
    Font - Adam took our specifications for the renovations and decided to get another quote from another renovation company. You can probably guess where this is going.
    via prioriority
  • 07
    Font - The other quote came from the renovation company he has a stake in, and it is significantly cheaper than ours. By his calculations, he
    via prioriority
  • 08
    Font - would have helped the client company save $10,000 (and also profit from this project). What he doesn't realise is that this isn't any regular renovation. It requires using
    via prioriority
  • 09
    Font - specific materials for corrosion resistance, the ducting has to go through a scrubber, etc. Because he's also the director at the client company, he has
    via prioriority
  • 10
    Font - significant power. "We got a quote from another company for the renovations and it's $10k cheaper than yours. Give us a lower quote, or else let this other company handle all the renovations."
    via prioriority
  • 11
    Font - We made very sure to ask him if he has included costs for specific materials and scrubber and other expensive parts. "Yes yes. All in." Adam
    via prioriority
  • 12
    Font - says. We don't know how he can get it done that cheap, but we definitely can't meet his price. And since he has the power, he isn't going to back down, so cue MC.
    via prioriority
  • 13
    Font - "Well... Ok then. We can't match the price. Let the other company do it." Almost immediately the project started to fall apart.
    via prioriority
  • 14
    Font - Our project initially had a government grant helping our client cover some expenses, but it came with a tight deadline. Turns out Adam is a lifelong
    via prioriority
  • 15
    Font - procrastinator and weeks go by without any renovation works carried out. Two weeks before the grant expires, our liaison starts chasing Adam in increasingly frustrated tones
    via prioriority
  • 16
    Font - chat with us (in the WhatsApp present because we are awaiting the work completion to set up the instrument). Turns out Adam was unaware of the grant deadline
    via prioriority
  • 17
    Font - altogether and missing the deadline means not getting over $30k in grants. He starts on a mad rush to get it all set up, but to nobody's surprise, it was an extremely shoddy job, low quality materials, no scrubber.
    via prioriority
  • 18
    Font - "Adam, we can't commission the instrument till the exhaust systems meets specifications. It's that material lining, and it needs the scrubber with those
    via prioriority
  • 19
    Font - specs." we tell the him and the client. "But you never said it's needed!" he says, to which we point to our specifications which HE COPIED to pass over to the other company.
    via prioriority
  • 20
    Font - Adam had to take down part of the renovations, which made the client miss the grant deadline. The renovations company spent even more money than our quote to purchase all the right materials at specs, and
    via prioriority
  • 21
    Font - all this while that the instrument is not usable, they are spending $10k per month sending their samples to a 3rd party testing center. So in his ploy to save the client $10k on renovations,
    via prioriority
  • 22
    Font - they ended up paying at least $60k more in the end. Plus Adam's renovation company made a loss on this project, but he deserves it!
    via prioriority
  • 23
    Font - -dublin-7 hr. ago Excellent result, I hope you got further work from the client company in the future?
    via -dublin-
  • 24
    Font - PLACE prioriority OP - 6 hr. ago Actually, yes! The client continued to give us business for consumables. They aren't upset at us because everyone at the client company involved knew what happened.
    via prioriority
  • 25
    Font - StreetTailor7596 - 5 hr. ago edited 5 hr. ago They were probably grateful for your help in demonstrating how efficient and wonderful a person that director was. I doubt it was his first stink causing episode.
    via StreetTailor7596
  • 26
    Font - "So in his ploy to save the client $10k on renovations, they ended up paying at least $60k more in the end." MET
    via u/canva

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customer service experience salesman nepotism boss director manager malicious compliance commission client Office nepotistic bid sales building Reddit company lowball karma
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