Money for nothing

Now this is a funny story …

One of my company’s sells manufacturing equipment primarily to Chinese manufacturing customers.

One of our sales from a couple of year’s back still has an $80k outstanding final payment from the customer.

So our agent in China approached the company that we believed currently owns the tool and a manager there has agreed to make the payment so long as he also receives a sizeable chunk of the $80k as an under-the-table payment.

When the subject was further examined it was discovered that the tool had in fact never reached the company the manager was employed by.

The tool had been bought by another company that had been sold to the company we are currently talking to, but the tool had been shifted out of the original company before the company was acquired. No one knew this.

So there is no bill-of-purchase or contract to refer to regarding the payment and no tool. BUT they are keen to go ahead with the deal anyway.

So it occurs to me that there is an opportunity for someone to make zillions of dollars in China this way. Just approach every manager with vapour-ware outstanding payments.