Compaq courts corporates direct

Compaq resellers have voiced a chorus of disapproval over the vendor's alleged practice of targeting blue chip clients directly.

A City-based Compaq reseller told PC Dealer one of its clients, a key Lloyds underwriter, had recently been approached by Compaq about 'delisting' from its current supplier.

The reseller said: 'This clarifies a situation that has been up in the air for some time - when Compaq is less than straightforward, people get angry.'

He added: 'It is only because we have such a good relationship with this particular client that it came forward and told us Compaq had approached it.'

Barry Neil, managing director of Compaq reseller Reliance Computer Services, denounced the move as 'short-sighted'.

Neil said: 'Compaq is trying to go direct for the big clients and we all feel insecure about it. It's not a nice undercurrent to deal with all the time, but the vendor does not have the expertise to go direct.'

Neil said resellers were forced to focus on the SME market because there was no chance of competing for large clients.

He added that he would be reluctant to give Compaq the details of any client with more than 30 users and advised other resellers to draw up watertight contracts with the vendor before revealing the customer's identity.

'The problem is that a lot of dealers are untutored in the political arts. The more naive dealers don't realise vendors have ulterior motives when they ask for certain information and it is these dealers that are losing out,' said Neil.

Barry Dodhai, marketing manager at City reseller Hemini, commented: 'It is a known but unwritten fact that Compaq is looking to establish a direct relationship with its customers.

'My clients have said they have been approached, but it is very difficult to pin down Compaq because it is doing it so discreetly.'

David Petts, director of commercial business at Compaq, said: 'We don't sell anything direct. I don't know what these resellers are talking about.'

But only two months ago, Compaq admitted it would pitch to corporates and sell to customers over the internet (PC Dealer, 17 June).