Handling substitution requests in the final order run
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Describe a proposed substitution precisely and obtain the required decisions before changing the order instruction. Similar appearance, price or availability does not establish that the alternative meets the customer’s purpose or has been accepted.
Start with the current agreed specification and evidence. If that position is unclear, use the order status review. Do not ask the customer to approve a change against a version nobody has confirmed.
Put the difference in one place
Use a change-confirmation note that can be checked beside the original order:
Order and original instruction: [reference, version and scope].
Proposed change: [exact specification, quantity, timing or fulfilment difference].
Practical effect: [what the customer would receive or experience differently, including any limitation].
Questions still open: [technical, contractual, financial or other advice required].
Customer response: [actual response, authorised contact and evidence].
Business decision: [person authorised to approve, decision and resulting instruction].
Keep a proposal labelled as a proposal while answers remain outstanding. A message saying “please discuss the alternative” is not the same operational instruction as a recorded approval to supply it.
For a fictional example, the remaining stock has a different mounting arrangement from the product originally ordered. Asking only whether the customer accepts “the equivalent model” leaves a relevant difference unexplained. Obtain competent technical input and state the actual change rather than judging equivalence from the catalogue name.
Check every effect of the change
Ask what the alternative changes about the remaining work, customer information, delivery or other agreed service. Keep technical suitability and contractual meaning with the appropriate people. Do not use a closure deadline as a reason to omit those checks.
The part-completed order paper compares whether a change is a workable option at all. A substitution record then defines the particular proposal and its approval evidence.
If the customer requests a further alteration, use the late-change assessment. Check whether the business still has the resources to deliver it before making another promise.
Update the work people actually follow
Once the authorised decision is recorded, update the relevant order, picking or service instruction through the business’s normal process. Identify the old version as superseded where appropriate without rewriting its history.
Tell the people handling the order what changed and what stayed unresolved. Check that the customer acknowledgement and internal instruction refer to the same quantity, version and destination. A correct change note will not prevent a wrong shipment if staff still work from the original printout.
Give UK Auction Group the confirmed consequences for stock or equipment availability. Keep goods released by a change separate from goods that only appear spare while customer approval remains open. The disposal decision should follow the actual revised commitment.
Sources
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