Critics force Compaq's hand in rebate row

Compaq has speeded up rebate payments to resellers under its Special Pricing Agreement scheme, in response to an article in Computer Reseller News.

Compaq has speeded up rebate payments to resellers under its Special Pricing Agreement (SPA) scheme, in response to an article in Computer Reseller News.Earlier this year, the vendor came under fire from angry resellers, who contacted CRN claiming they were being forced to wait up to four months for rebates, leading to cashflow problems. Compaq is now promising a turnaround time of no longer than four weeks.

Mike Morgan, director of UK channel sales at Compaq, said: "Following the CRN article, which I posted straight to our finance department, I held a number of meetings and worked on streamlining the payment process.

"I can now confirm that, barring disputed receipts, the average claim will take four weeks from when we receive it to the payment hitting the reseller's bank account."

Morgan claimed the department had worked hard to introduce a new automated process that substantially improves turnaround times.

"We have also worked to cut down the amount of paperwork a reseller has to handle, and dedicated more internal resources to dealing directly with the claims," he said.

Morgan said that any CRN readers who still felt they were affected by slow repayments should contact Compaq's finance department, but added that any resellers still not satisfied with the system could contact him.

"I would be more than happy to speak to CRN readers directly," he added.

The move was welcomed by Compaq resellers. "It gives me the confidence to buy larger amounts of Compaq equipment on SPA because I now know I will be regularly paid. It also cuts down interest payments to distributors because I have the money in my account much earlier to clear any debts," said one reseller, who wished to remain anonymous.

Another reseller agreed. "This is important news for the industry, and for smaller resellers in particular who cannot afford to wait four months to get paid. After all, Compaq was putting partners into debt essentially for winning them a sale. I am delighted it is looking to turn the SPA scheme around so quickly," a representative for the company said.

Also published in Computer Reseller News