• Home
  • Reseller
  • Distributor
  • Vendor
  • Finance and M&A
  • People moves
  • Cloud
  • Technology and trends
  • Women in channel
  • Events
  • A-list
  • Top VARs
  • Printer Supplies
  • Women in Channel
  • CRN Essential
  • Newsletters
  • Sign in
  •  
      • Newsletters
      • Account details
      • Contact support
      • Sign out
     
     
    • Please contact your account administrator for more information on your access.

  • Follow us
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Newsletters
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • Register
  • CRN Essential
  • Events
    • Upcoming events
      event logo
      CRN Sales & Marketing Awards 2021

      The CRN Sales & Marketing Awards recognise and reward the achievements of those individuals and teams that are responsible for making the UK IT channel truly great.

      • Date: 08 Jul 2021
      View all events
  • Whitepapers
    • LATEST WHITEPAPERS
      What are the opportunities for the channel with the growth of AI?

      Encryption, privacy, & data protection: a balancing act

      This white paper examines the risk posed by encrypted threats; considers the business, privacy, and security implications of managing that risk; and presents constructive measures for balancing security needs with employee privacy rights. In the end, the best way for IT leadership to ensure the rights of the individual employee is to protect the organization from threats and attacks.

      Download
      How do MSPs really feel the channel will shape up by 2020?

      On borrowed time?

      Cybercrime has become a huge part of our economy and it is a topic that is getting more and more attention in the news media. The cybercriminal stories making headlines involve big companies such as British Airways and Marriott etc. However, smaller companies are just as susceptible to cyber- attacks. Often these attacks are much more damaging to smaller businesses, sometimes forcing them to shut down completely. One report from Verizon claims that 43% of email attacks target SMBs.

      Download
      Find whitepapers
      Search by title or subject area
      View all whitepapers
  • A-list
  • Top VARs
  • Printer Supplies
channelweb
channelweb
  • Home
  • Reseller
  • Distributor
  • Vendor
  • Finance and M&A
  • People moves
  • Cloud
  • Technology and trends
  • Women in channel
 
    • Newsletters
    • Account details
    • Contact support
    • Sign out
 
 
  • Please contact your account administrator for more information on your access.

  • Vendor

'On borrowed time with the arrogance they show': The most brutal 2019 Vendor Report comments so far

Which vendor has been castigated for its 'wide boy' sales staff, and whose 'stupid schemes and obscure rebates' are driving the channel mad?

'On borrowed time with the arrogance they show': The most brutal 2019 Vendor Report comments so far
  • Doug Woodburn
  • Doug Woodburn
  • @DougWoodburn
  • 25 April 2019
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
0 Comments

Vendors have variously been branded "arrogant", "useless" and "horrendous to deal with" in comments left in the 2019 CRN Vendor Report.

We have canvassed for brutally honest feedback on how your vendors are faring for this year's report, and channel partners have not pulled their punches.

Can you match these comments to the correct vendor?

"Staff are friendly in the account team, but have no authority. There is still a huge amount of going direct and undercutting the partner and actually taking over the relations with the client; this is usually via poor account management that is then passed onto the partner to front and subsequently discredited, and then they slip in."

Potential culprits: Dell, HP Inc, Lenovo, Microsoft

"Deal registration scheme is generally excellent, easy to navigate and not overly time consuming. Rebate and MDF schemes are competitive and work well for us as a business."

Potential culprits: Citrix, VMware, Apple, Lenovo

"Horrendous company to deal with. Arrogant, obstructive, rigid. Not accessible and not friendly. Antiquated approach to the channel based on their lengthy reign as a true tier 1 vendor but on borrowed time with the arrogance they show."

Potential culprits: F5 Networks, VMware, Cisco, Check Point

"[They] used to be great; not any more! The staff are useless and are out for each other. The tech is clunky and leadership is shocking."

Potential culprits: Check Point, Symantec, Kaspersky Lab, McAfee

"Easy company to make money with - and you don't need a masters degree to understand the partner portal or MDF claims."

Potential culprits: Lenovo, HP Inc, Microsoft, Sophos

"Wide boy sales people, just doing any deal at any price."

Potential culprits: Mimecast, SonicWall, , Barracuda Networks, Oracle

"Mountains of grey stock to quote against. [They] seem powerless to do much about it. Previously lost large deals to grey."

Potential culprits: HPE, Cisco, IBM, Lenovo

"The margins have declined rapidly. Too often the vendor is promising a price to an end user and are squeezing the channel to find the discount. If you stripped out our services the blended retention on any $250k deal is likely to be around 7.5 - 8.0 per cent and they are not a plug and play vendor. The MDF has been awful for a while now and leads, from [them]? You must be joking."

Potential culprits: Check Point, Juniper Networks, SonicWall, Palo Alto Networks

"Lots of stupid schemes, obscure rebates and monthly price changes (usually increases)."

Potential culprits: WatchGuard, Forcepoint, Check Point, SonicWall

Are your vendors channel champions or channel chumps? Rate them across four categories in our survey here.

  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
  • Topics
  • Vendor
  • Microsoft

More on Vendor

4 key challenges facing Gelsinger as Intel's new CEO

The VMware boss is joining the chipmaker as it finds itself adrift and losing market share to rivals. CRN considers why he might be the best person to steer the company through its troubled waters

  • Vendor
  • 14 January 2021
Dropbox axes 11 per cent of global workforce

COO Olivia Nottebohm also set to depart next month

  • Vendor
  • 14 January 2021
Mimecast certificate compromised by 'sophisticated' threat actor

Attack targeted Microsoft 365 Exchange Web Services through Mimecast-issued certificate

  • Vendor
  • 13 January 2021
Wearables market lifted by Covid pandemic

Pandemic prompts spending boom on smartwatches, ear-worn devices and other wearables, Gartner figures show

  • Vendor
  • 12 January 2021
'PCs are here to stay' - All the key info as PC market hits highest growth figures in a decade

Analysts praise commitment of channel and PC industry during COVID pandemic

  • Reseller
  • 11 January 2021

More news

Why threat actors are targeting the channel
  • Security
Why threat actors are targeting the channel

The recent attack on Exclusive Networks is only the latest in a series which has seen cybersecurity vendors, distributors and MSPs suffer breaches to their systems. CRN asks why the channel is seeing itself become a popular target for cybercriminals

  • 15 January 2021
Five resellers secure places on £150m Welsh IT framework
  • Reseller
Five resellers secure places on £150m Welsh IT framework

Contract covers IT hardware to larger customer organisations

  • 15 January 2021
4 key challenges facing Gelsinger as Intel's new CEO
  • Vendor
4 key challenges facing Gelsinger as Intel's new CEO

The VMware boss is joining the chipmaker as it finds itself adrift and losing market share to rivals. CRN considers why he might be the best person to steer the company through its troubled waters

  • 14 January 2021
European IT channel on track for record breaking year in 2021, claims analyst
  • Reseller
European IT channel on track for record breaking year in 2021, claims analyst

Market analyst Context says European IT channel now on track to break first ever €100bn-revenue year in 2021, despite pandemic pressures

  • 14 January 2021
blog comments powered by Disqus
Back to Top

Most read

Eight resellers win spots on £5bn IT framework with East Midlands police
Eight resellers win spots on £5bn IT framework with East Midlands police
Industry Voice: How to get More Business Value for Customers with VMware Cloud on AWS
Industry Voice: How to get More Business Value for Customers with VMware Cloud on AWS
VMware's Gelsinger takes top job at Intel
VMware's Gelsinger takes top job at Intel
Which reseller featured in Glassdoor's Best Places to Work list this year?
Which reseller featured in Glassdoor's Best Places to Work list this year?
BT sets up new 'Digital' technology unit
BT sets up new 'Digital' technology unit
  • Contact
  • Marketing solutions
  • About Incisive Media
  • Terms & conditions
  • Policies
  • Careers
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

© Incisive Business Media (IP) Limited, Published by Incisive Business Media Limited, New London House, 172 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QR, registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 09177174 & 09178013

Digital publisher of the year
Digital publisher of the year 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2017
Loading