You will hear five short recordings about delivery problems. For each re

Thirteen
Once I needed to replace our office chairs, so I compared products in several manufacturers’ brochures, chose the model that best suited our purposes, and ordered ten of them. Well, they were supposed to be delivered within twenty-eight days, and when they finally arrived, practically at the last minute in fact, we found that the description in the brochure had given quite a false impression of them. We sent them back, and had a lot of trouble with the manufacturer.
[pause]
Fourteen
I run a small beauty salon, just the one site, so my orders are quite small quantities compared with the big chains. But I still expect my suppliers to provide a high level of customer service. And with all the packaging that’s available these days, it should be easy enough to ensure consignments are properly protected, but more than once I’ve had to return goods because when they arrived they weren’t in a fit state to be used.
[pause]
Fifteen
We’re a small printing firm, so of course we get regular supplies of ink and paper. The way it works, we sign a contract with a supplier for a year at a time, and they send the same quantity each month, unless we phone to change it, of course. Well, one year we didn’t renew the contract with our regular ink supplier, but the month after it expired, they sent the usual order. We weren’t impressed. I must say.
[pause]
Sixteen
I’m responsible for centralised ordering for a multi-site organisation - we’re a chain of builders’ merchants - and it’s amazing how often suppliers get confused. Of course we double check the paperwork before sending it to them, but even so, things happen like the time bathroom equipment arrived at head office instead of one of the branches, which was desperate for the goods. And once, boxes of mouse mats meant for head office turned up along with window frames and bricks.
[pause]
Seventeen
I’m a store manager in a chain that sells arts and crafts equipment. Our central warehouse orders goods boxed up in small amounts ready to go straight onto the shelves of the stores. For example, poster paints usually come in boxes of ten. Everything’s then distributed to the branches when it’s required. But in the last delivery, the warehouse received the right number of pens, but in boxes of a thousand! It took ages to sort it out.