Hardware vendors cold calling my clients behind my back
Major vendors like Dell frequently bypass channel partners to contact end customers directly, often undercutting active deals. This long-standing practice undermines established partner relationships and forces managed service providers to constantly defend their client base.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 163.9× more often in r/msp than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Switching partnerships to alternative hardware vendors like Lenovo or HPDid this help you?
- 2Using the MSP's own phone number and email address during client registration instead of the client's direct contact detailsDid this help you?
- 3Setting up a separate LLC to purchase and filter hardware ordersDid this help you?
- 4Leasing computers directly as the end user so vendors cannot get client informationDid this help you?
- 5Sending customers directly to buy from the vendor online instead of trying to resellDid this help you?
- 6Switching to alternative hardware vendors like Lenovo or D&HDid this help you?
- 7Sourcing hardware from alternative distributors like TD SynnexDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“over the last two months Dell has called four customers.”source ↗
“Dell has been doing this for years and years unfortunately.”source ↗
“I was told they cold called one of our clients the other day.”source ↗
“The Dell retail site is consistently the same price or LESS than our **cost** on laptops from Ingram.”source ↗
“Tired of explaining to my customers that we'd have to lose money to match Dell as a Dell reseller.”source ↗
“Dell has a LONG history of screwing their partners. I've experienced this dozens of times over the years with them.”source ↗
“We tried TD Synnex and it was slightly higher on workstations, substantially higher on servers.”source ↗
“the minute we removed the deal from TDS, a Dell direct rep reached out to the customer and offered to sell them what we were building....”source ↗
“Dell Direct regularly runs loss-leader sales on retail specs that are literally lower than wholesale disti cost.”source ↗
“Dell always undercuts you. And then even calls your resell customers direct trying to get them to bypass you.”source ↗
“Any other Salesforce partners finding that Salesforce is now actively selling against you to your biggest joint customers?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4Why won't retailers respond to cold wholesale outreach?
- 5How to follow up with a client who picked a cheaper vendor
- 4Why do online sellers ask for my phone number and email?
- 3How to decline a bad referral from a good client
- 8How to get business clients without word of mouth
- 2How to hit reseller revenue quotas before getting clients