Here's some perspective from the administrative side of things. In my roles managing our purchasing and ship-ins, I am so not surprised. I've been predicting ever since they switched to that dratted Oracle that Ricoh will lose market share. But, the problem is inbred worse than just a bad software system. It is so hard to get anything done efficiently these days, and I'm pleased when I don't have to work with them.
Here's a recent case in point:
Ricoh sent us an RMAP ship-in. They didn't put service on this unit. It took a month of me begging and pleading with I-don't-know-how-many different Ricoh staff members to get an answer. If a dealer hired sales and admin staff who didn't know their own contracts, those people would be out the door immediately.
At the same time, I've got three different other Ricoh admin staff people calling me for the install date and meter read. Why does Ricoh need to spend so much money on redundant salaries - nobody is talking to each other and all three are doing the same job. Why are these three even talking to me at all when the first batch of admin people clearly know the unit isn't installed yet.
Lastly, Ricoh RMAP sent the wrong cabinet. Again, it took a month of ME telling them about their problem before they figured out that, yeah, maybe they do have a problem. Again, I can't believe how many people on the Ricoh side had to get involved to make that decision and figure out what to do. When they were finally convinced that they need to send a different cabinet, of course they're now paying double freight. And the kicker: instead of giving us an RMA to return their property to them, they tell us to keep it at no charge.
So, how much money in inventory, freight, salaries, and labor (time - theirs and mine) has Ricoh wasted on this one ship-in.
And the saddest part of all: this is not an isolated incident.
You show me a dealer who runs his or her business like that, and I'll show you a dealership that's out of business.