No news is bad news.

In "normal" life, when someone has been M.I.A for a while, people say "no news is good news". And it is usually right. However, in the construction world, I found out that "no news is bad, VERY VERY bad news".  Back in January, we ordered our floors and a material called Prodema that we are using as cladding on one portion of the house. The floors are manufactured in Germany, the Prodema is manufactured in Spain. Both products typically have a lead time of 10-12 weeks.  Given the fact that both orders were placed in January, the materials should be ready for delivery to the job site this week or next. 


A couple of weeks ago, we had a meeting with our Prodema sales rep who told us that the Prodema had arrived on our continent, was clearing custom and was supposed to be delivered to the site a couple of weeks after. Consequently, we started prepping the house for the cladding which involved putting up blue skin on the sheating and mounting the strapping on which the panels have to be fixed. I emailed the rep last week to find out when the delivery was supposed to take place as we have to make room for it. It sort of went last this:


"Hi A, could you let me know when we can expect the Prodema to arrive to the site. Thanks".
" Hi, I am away on business, someone from my office will call you today to let you know."


Ok, great... The day goes by, then another day goes by.... nobody calls. So I decide to call the office. 


Me -"Hi, I am trying to locate an order. Could you transfer me to A?"
Receptionist (who clearly doesn't know sh*t about anything) - "Oh, he is away on business"
Me - "WTF, how long is he away on business for... I need someone to get back to me asap".
Receptionist - "I am transferring you to his cellphone".
Me - "Noooooooooooooo!" Too late. I get transferred to his voicemail once again.
Well, obviously at this point, I realize that the receptionist is running interferences on her boss's behalf and I also realize that he is avoiding me. That is probably because he has BAD news. But how bad?


Well, it turns out pretty damn bad. The order can't be located at this point. It is either on a boat in a container, so it could be here next week or in three weeks or it is still in Spain in the factory. Nobody knows anything. How is that possible? I don't get it. I mean, shouldn't there be a tracking order number? I worked in a furniture store a long time ago and we always knew where our furniture was. Apparently the best case scenario is for the material to show up at the beginning of May... But really, I don't care about the best case scenario at this point, I care about the worst case scenario and I also care about people a) telling me the truth b) not trying to jerk me around and c) not avoiding me. 


Next item on the list: the floors. ETA for the floors was end of April. Great! We are not ready for them yet but it is good to know that they are available if we need them. Last week, I get a call from the rep saying "would it be really inconvenient if the floors arrived mid-May?". Uh oh... that doesn't sound very promising... What's happening now? At any rate, I told her that mid-May was fine but no later than that. Okay, she says, let me get back to you tomorrow. A week later, I still have not heard back. That is definitely NOT good. 
So I called yesterday:


Me - "Hi, how are you? Have you received any news as where the floors are?"
Rep - "No, I am sorry, I will call tomorrow".
Me - (thinking "but you were supposed to call last week...") "oh, ok... well do you have any idea if the floors are on their way... Have they been shipped?"
Rep - "I don't know".
Me - "OK... are the floors still in Germany?" (which would be a fucking disaster).
Rep - "I don't know..."
Me - (thinking "What the fuck do you know then??????") "Can you please find out and let me know tomorrow".
Rep - "Yes, I will call you tomorrow for sure".


The thing is, the rep is this very very nice woman I have been dealing with for years. We have a good rapport and that's the only reason why I stayed calm. During the whole conversation, I felt like banging the phone on the table and saying "What is going on here???? Get me a fucking answer!!!!!". I know she is not responsible for this screw up but what I would like is for her to get me an answer right now, good or bad. She is supposed to let me know today... but I still have not heard. 




I am very concerned and annoyed right now.