A rather boring problem

Letter from Name and address withheld:

For the sake of shareholder confidence we should like to retain our anonymity in this affair. As the directors of a sizable civil engineering company engaged in a construction project on behalf of a state national client we recently purchased a pair of large diameter, hard rock tunnel boring machines. For legal and contractual reasons, we cannot give you an exact monetary figure for these plant items but it was a large eight digit sum. Recently, some two weeks into this project, the building of an 11.8 km tunnel this machinery has become plagued with problems. In the main, these problems have caused it to become increasingly difficult to cut in a straight line. As you can well imagine, we have to deal in extremely fine tolerances – of around 1 cm per kilometer – and any deviation can be catastrophic. We have spoken to the manufacturer to express our concerns on several occasions at the highest level (and even the premier of the country involved has contacted them) but so far we have seen no resolution.

Aside from the penalty clauses that are likely to be triggered, reputation is paramount for a project of this magnitude. We would be very grateful for any assistance you might be able to provide.

Felicity answers:

I must say, I do get tired of telling readers not to do business, let alone place large orders, with companies based in what are often described as rogue states. There is an initial cost saving of course but that is only tickety-boo so long as there are no problems which, especially with these kind of engineering projects, is rarely the case. It is another example of taking the short view for a little cash in hand but: "skimp now, lose out later" and in my experience what you pay in the long term is always more than whatever you saved in the short. Well, I've had my little say and, yet, I shall be most surprised if you learn your lesson. Nonetheless, I have put you in touch with an intermediary with whom I have had dealings in the past, He is not, by his own admission, the most sterling (or savoury) character but he will probably get you some sort of a result; and without the likelihood of us all getting murdered in our beds. Do be a bit more sensible next time.