How do I handle a vendor who keeps letting me down?
Short answer
Tell them once, in writing, with a deadline. Start sourcing a backup the same day. Fire them after the next miss.
The conversation
'We've had X issues in the last 90 days. Here's what we need going forward and the deadline. If it doesn't change by [date], we'll have to move our business.' Calm, written, dated.
Always have a backup
Single-vendor anything is a risk. Even if the primary is great today, line up a second supplier you can flip to in a week. The mere existence makes the first one care more.
Ask your version of this question
This is one business owner-tested take. Your shop size, trade, and team change the answer. Ask the exact version inside Ask a Shop Owner and get a response grounded in how owners like you actually handled it.
Now run it against your numbers.
This answer is written for shops in general. Inside Ask a Shop Owner it becomes your answer: your revenue, your crew, your market, your history. Ask "How do I handle a vendor who keeps letting me down" and get the version that accounts for what you already told us.
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