Partners want Samsung to expedite incentives

Samsung partners have expressed their frustration that the incentives that were due to them from 'Mobile Se Mercedes

Tak' scheme have still not reached them, even after six months of the scheme getting over. They say that their cash flows have been affected as a result of not getting the incentives on time.

The incentive issue being a sensitive one, none of the partners who spoke to DQCI wanted to be quoted on the subject. Said one of them, "Samsung has always been clearing incentives within two months. But this time the long wait of six months has been frustrating."

Aneesh Srikrishna, National Marketing Manager, Samsung, admitted that the scheme had closed on 31st March and incentives had yet not been dispatched. He attributed mainly two reasons for the delay. One, there was unprecedented response for the scheme; and second, some discrepancies were found in invoices submitted by partners.

Auditors had to be brought in to check discrepancies and each invoice had to be verified for its authenticity, delaying the entire disbursement process. Says

Aneesh, "We have taken into confidence our leading partners on the delay. We expect to dispatch incentives within a week's time." 

The incentives, however, are in kind and not in cash. At the highest level, there are Opel Astras to be given away. Then there are Marutis and motor bikes. Hence, Aneesh thinks that the complaint about cash flows being affected due to the delay in incentives does not hold water as the total cost to Samsung from the scheme is Rs 2.5 - 3

crore.

However, partners say that they offered discounts on Samsung products when the scheme was running, keeping in mind the prizes that were at stake. But now the delay in incentives has landed them in trouble.

Aneesh, however, disagrees with this. According to him Samsung had tackled the discounting issue right at the beginning of the scheme in November-December by meeting all the leading partners. Despite this, if partners discounted prices, they had done it at their own risk. 

"When vendors take longer than the normal time to release incentives, partners who have limited capital get affected adversely," says Shailendra Gupta, CEO-Asia Pac, Tech Pacific, one of the distributors of Samsung. He is of the opinion that efficient systems and processes go a long way in expediting the clearance of incentives.

Anil Jagasia, MD, Savex, another distributor of Samsung, avers that the delay caused by partners in submitting their invoices also leads to late disbursement of incentives. He says that the current delay is only an exception because the Samsung team always strives to keep partners satisfied.