How to respond to a supplier running late
Vendor signals a 5-10 day delay on a committed merch order — escalation script, contingency plan and how to protect your event timeline.
First 24 hours — assess, don t react
A late-signal email triggers two parallel actions in the first 24 hours: (1) verify the cause (capacity overload, material delay, QA fail, force majeure) and (2) lock down what you can still control (artwork files, courier slots, recipient lists). Do not threaten penalty clauses in hour 1 — vendors who feel cornered slow down further. Verify first, escalate second.
4-tier escalation script
Tier 1 (Day 1): Account manager email — request revised delivery date, root cause, and what they are doing to recover. Tier 2 (Day 3 if no plan): Production manager call — ask for daily updates, options to split-ship partial volume on time. Tier 3 (Day 5 if at risk): Account owner / commercial lead — discuss penalty clauses, replacement options, partial refund. Tier 4 (Day 7 if missing event): Activate backup vendor for 30-50% of volume, written notification to original vendor that you are mitigating.
How to protect your event timeline
Three parallel mitigations: (1) Partial shipment — request 50-70% of volume on the original date, balance later; (2) Backup vendor — pre-warmed annual test order pays off here: activate for 30-50% of volume with 5-7 day lead time; (3) Event-day substitution — accept a different colour, substrate or finish on a portion of volume to keep timeline. Communicate the substitution proactively to the event sponsor.
Poland-specific notes
VAT 23% is added via KSeF. Production runs out of our Warszawa hub with nationwide coverage across Poland. Vendor renegotiation and contingency activation are handled by your dedicated account lead — all correspondence is logged for procurement audit purposes.