Vendor customer service ratings — looking for input

Dr.AddMedPHL said:

The pattern that distinguishes a bad batch from an exit is behaviour rather than product.

I disagree that testing history is decisive. It tells you what a supplier did when they were being watched. Continuity of behaviour under stress — a late shipment, a failed test, a complaint — is more predictive than any run of good results.

I would rather be corrected than agreed with, if it comes to it.

HPLC_Greg said:

Eight months with one supplier, then a change in how they communicate that I noticed before I noticed anything about the product.

Vendor reputation tracking for vendor vetting: I maintain a personal spreadsheet with every order I've placed — date, vendor, batch number, Janoshik result, personal efficacy assessment (1-5 scale), and any issues.

After 14 orders across 5 vendors: average purity 97.6%, zero sterility concerns, 0 shipping issues (all resolved). This data gives me confidence in my current source and documentation if issues arise.

I encourage everyone to track their orders systematically. Community data aggregation makes us all safer.

LabKate said:

I disagree that testing history is decisive.

Adding the part of the answer the thread has not reached. It helps to say which part of this you are uncertain about. A precise question gets a precise answer; a general one gets everybody’s favourite anecdote.

One thing that is still open after mike.trainer_LA’s answer:

What a vetting checklist should actually contain, as opposed to a list of things that are easy to fake?

Reporting back.

Went back through my own correspondence with an earlier supplier and the warning signs were all there in the replies, weeks before the quality changed. I was reading the product and not the behaviour.