

Salesforce, the pillow maker and the $125,000 Amex bill - EvanKelly
http://www.itworld.com/software/354146/salesforce-pillow-maker-and-125000-amex-bill

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Jd
Long-term Salesforce consultant here. Can't speak to the specifics in this
case, but mixups of this nature are sadly quite common in the Enterprise
world. In the Salesforce ecosystem particularly the fast pace of growth in
customers with complicated needs has not been met by either by internal
professional services within Salesforce or by the larger partner community (it
is difficult to re-train people in proprietary technologies and rapidly build
up companies around them). This means that many partners are billing high
rates for subpar services. In this case they appear to be under subcontract to
Salesforce, which could mean that Salesforce is partially responsible (IANAL).

I don't think there is any silver bullet here. Large enterprise projects
generally need a lot of hands in the implementation, particularly when there
are tight schedules involved, and when there aren't enough quality resources
available, people end up using resources that aren't able to deliver on what
they promised in the timeline they promise.

I've seen this happen before (generally from a distance) and all I can say my
condolences go out to all involved. As far as advice goes to developers,
consulting in general is filled non particularly interesting repetitive tasks
that rarely attracts great talent, and the most talented people tend to up
into management (i.e. architects) rather than hanging around in the trenches.
As far as advice to people involved on the purchasing side, make sure you vet
your consultants ahead of time. Usually if take someone who promises something
too good to be true, it will turn out just that way.

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EvanKelly
Obviously using your personal credit card for a $125,000 expense for your
business is a little foolish, but does the employee have recourse against
MyPillow if My Pillow is unsuccessful in litigation against Salesforce?

This case pretty much establishes that the purchase was made on behalf of My
Pillow.

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Guvante
Sounds like there was already bad faith from My Pillow on paying by that
point, or else they wouldn't have made the demand.

Not much of a chance for the card holder, CC chargebacks aren't designed for
contract disputes.

