Big manufacturers don’t care about AOG’s.
Some things never change. You would think that in this economy, manufacturers would relish every opportunity to move their product. You would think that their customer service would improve, or yet be adequate. But as usual, this is not the case. Today I called a very large aerospace “conglomerate” with an AOG for a U.S. military aircraft part. Surprisingly, they had the item in stock. But what followed next is the sad malaise that most of my fellow distributors experience. I reasoned that in an AOG situation, with a tail number and aircraft serial, surely this manufacturer would ship this item today. I also reasoned that this manufacturer would put forth a minimum effort to expedite this item, especially since it was for an AOG U.S. military aircraft. I was told that they could not ship the product for three days. When I pressed them with a DOD contract number, they bluntly told me that AOG’s aren’t expedited any sooner than three days. The request could be an AOG for an air ambulance or a U.S. military aircraft, neither really mattered to their customer service team!
What has happened here? Isn’t the goal to place product in the hands of the customers, when they need it? How have we arrived to the point, where large aerospace conglomerates can be financially successful while offering such poor service? As a distributor, I try my best to place product in the hands of my clients as soon as possible. But, man is it hard. Have you had any situations like this? What should we do about it?
