Microsoft price list fiasco fuels channel?s fury

The software giant has a huge clean-up job on its hands after failing to spot dozens of errors in its volume licensing price list

Dealers are venting their fury at Microsoft after a botched price list put their contracts and profit margins on the line.

The vendor?s direct Lars were plunged into confusion last month after the price list for volume licensing was issued with dozens of pricing errors. Some product codes were left off the list entirely, according to dealer reports.

It took a reseller ? understood to be Computacenter ? to point out the mistake to Microsoft.

The mistake could have far-reaching repercussions for the software giant, costing the company dear, as the sterling price list is used as the basis for pricing worldwide.

One Select dealer said: ?It?s causing big problems because you don?t know if you?re going to make a profit or loss on some deals. Everyone is up in arms. Microsoft?s service is beyond belief, you couldn?t even call it disorganised. They say they?ll give you price support but how do you know? If we made this sort of mistake we?d lose our status.?

Another dealer said: ?They may be wonderful at marketing but Microsoft?s accounting and billing systems are disastrous. Education dealers got hit particularly badly.?

It took the software vendor two attempts to correct the errors. In the first revision, it complicated matters further by using a new format within Excel. One reseller, who did not wish to be named, was distressed.?Without warning, the list came out on a different format and it was really difficult to use. The whole thing?s been a fiasco.?

Microsoft has admitted it caused problems for the channel and for itself. Chris Lewis, enterprise partner manager at Microsoft, said: ?We will take these mistakes on the chin and honour the costs of anybody who has quoted from the error-based list until 15 February. It is critical for us to keep the UK price list tight as it is used right across the globe.?

Lewis claimed there were only 45 pricing errors, which conflicted with dealer reports that there were as many as 200.

Several dealers said that although Microsoft had caused problems, it had been quick to try and remedy them.

?Everyone makes mistakes ? even Microsoft,? said one.