Customer says rate changed after quote

September last year a hotel manager from Pushkar called me at 9 in morning.

He wanted ten power banks. Same model. For the jeep safari boys.

He said send quotation today. Owner is in Ajmer, he will approve on WhatsApp.

I was in my Raja Park shop, Jaipur. I did not even see the hotel yet.

I opened quotation maker and typed ten pieces, 1,499 each.

Total 14,990. Valid till 12 September.

I put DRAFT / ESTIMATE on it. I always put that. BillOnDesk is not GSTN. This is not a tax invoice.

I sent PDF on WhatsApp. He said ok.

Customer says rate changed after quote, what actually happened

On 16 September he came himself. Hot day. He had a print in his hand.

He put it on my glass. He said, you changed the rate. This paper say 1,499. Now you asking 1,649.

I looked. My stomach went small.

I did not remember sending a second quote. I thought maybe I am going mad.

Then I opened my WhatsApp starred messages. I keep PDFs there because if I close the tab, the form is gone.

There were two PDFs.

First one, 5 September, 1,499. Valid till 12 September.

Second one, 13 September, 1,649. I had sent it after wholesale in Chandpole told me the lot finished.

I sent the second quote. He never opened it. He printed the first one. He came after valid date.

He said a quote is a quote. Rate cannot move.

I said, bhai, look the date on your own paper. Valid till 12. Today is 16.

He was not happy. Hotel owner already approved 14,990 in his head.

I showed him my wholesale chat. Screenshot. New carton rate.

I am a small shop. I cannot sell at old rate when my own buy price jumped 120 rupee.

He sat on the stool. He drank the water I keep for customers. He said make new quotation. Same format. I will fight with owner, not with you.

I made a new one on the same quotation maker.

Quote number Q-PUSH-07. I started numbering after this fight. Before that I only wrote shop name and date.

If two PDFs look same, customer will pick the cheap one. Number save me.

I also wrote in the note line: rate valid till 20 September. After that new paper.

He took it. Two days later they bought eight, not ten. Different story. At least they did not shout rate-change in the shop in front of other people.

This is not the only time.

A marble office in Kishangarh did similar in November.

They wanted six phones for site supervisors. I quoted 14,999. Valid ten days.

On day nine they asked, if we take eight pieces, some extra discount.

I made a second quote. Eight pieces, 14,849 each. Volume thing.

Their purchase boy mixed the files. He came with six-piece paper but talking eight-piece rate.

He said you changed rate. I said you changed quantity.

We sat with both PDFs open on my phone. Side by side.

Same shop name. Different quote number. Different qty. Different total.

He understood. His face went red. He said sorry.

I did not laugh. I also used to send files named quotation.pdf, quotation2.pdf, final.pdf. Useless names.

Now I name the download with quote number. Q-KISH-03.pdf. Simple.

Some customers think quotation is a lock forever.

It is not. It is a rate for some days.

If gold shop can change rate same afternoon, phone wholesale can change in a week. I am in between.

I tell them at the start now. This paper is estimate. Valid till this date. After that I make new one.

I do not silently edit old PDF and send again with same number. That look like cheating even when I am honest.

How I make the quotation on this site

New date, new number, new total. Old PDF can stay in their chat. I cannot delete their WhatsApp.

The quotation maker has valid till field. Use it. If you leave it blank, customer will come after two months with a screenshot.

Two months. Phone model even die in two months.

Sometimes I am the one who look bad because I typed wrong rate first time.

Yes that happen.

I typed 2,199 instead of 2,299. Finger on phone. Preview I did not check the total line carefully.

Customer came happy. I saw my mistake when packing.

I told him. I made a new quote. I did not hide.

He said you changed rate.

I said I corrected a typing error. Here, look qty times rate on calculator.

I keep item total calculator for this. Qty, rate, discount. No drama.

He paid the correct one. Grumble. But he paid.

If I had kept quiet and billed 2,199, my margin on that piece was 40 rupee. Tea money. Not worth a lie on paper.

Do not put fake low rate on quote just to win the order, then raise on invoice.

I saw a shop near Gopalpura do that. Customer came back with police friend. Ugly evening.

Quote total and invoice total should be same if they buy inside valid date and same items.

If GST will apply on final bill, show it on quote also, or write tax extra.

Pushkar hotel first quote I forgot to mention tax.

Owner approved 14,990. Invoice draft with 18 percent look like 17,688. They thought I added from pocket.

Second fight. My fault.

Now on quotation I put tax percent in the line or I write clearly, tax extra as applicable, estimate only.

I am not a CA. BillOnDesk is not a CA. I do not file from this site.

If their hotel needs proper tax invoice later, that is a different paper. GST invoice draft maybe, still draft, still not GSTN.

Quote is not invoice. I wrote a whole other thing on that before. I still mix when I am tired.

When customer says rate changed after quote, I do five things.

I ask to see their print or screenshot.

I open my copy with same quote number.

I check valid till date.

I check qty and model name, not only the rupee.

I check if I sent a revised PDF they ignored.

Most of the time it is one of these. Not a ghost changing numbers in the night.

If I am wrong, I say I am wrong. New paper. Same day.

If they are outside valid date, I make new quote with today rate. I do not fight twenty minutes over 150 rupee in a crowded shop. Other customers watching.

I keep a small notebook line: Q-number, date, rate, valid till.

Computer is good. Notebook is backup. Phone fall in tea, chat disappear, notebook still there under the glass.

July this year I updated one habit.

I read the quote loud before sending.

Ten power bank, 1649, valid till 20 September, tax extra, draft only.

Manager hear it. Later he cannot say he never knew.

Sounds funny. Works.

Pushkar people come with hurry. Desert, hotel, owner, all hurry.

Paper with a date is slower, but it stop the rate-changed sentence.

I still get that sentence sometimes. I will get it again.

I just don't panic now. I open the PDF. I point the date. I make a new one if needed.

And I never tell them this website filed anything. It only typed the quote.

Owner still has to approve. I still have to buy from wholesale. Rate still can move.

That is shop life in Rajasthan. Quote is a promise with a calendar. Not a tattoo.