How a Transmission Franchise Recovered $14,000 in Missing Vendor Credits

How a transmission franchise owner scanned through bankers boxes of old paperwork, and discovered vendors had been sitting on thousands in returns they never credited.
Mountains
Written by
Alec Whitten
Published on
17 January 2022
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Joe owns a multi-location transmission franchise. When he first started looking at WickedFile, it was for one reason: stopping internal theft.

"I wasn't really facing what I thought were operational issues," Joe says. "It all started with stopping the steal, making sure that theft never happens again."

He installed WickedFile scanners at each shop and had his team start scanning through bankers boxes of paperwork going back to January. The goal was simple: get visibility, prevent future losses, protect the business.

What he found was something else entirely.

"Once we dialed it in, I spent about four hours in the software and found gobs of money."
Joe

The Problem

As Joe learned to use WickedFile's filters, vendor consolidation tools, and built-in reports, a pattern emerged. Returns he thought had been credited? They hadn't. Cores his team had sent back months ago? Still sitting in limbo.

"Once we dialed it in, I spent about four hours in the software and found gobs of money."

The numbers were staggering. Just from January to the present, three major vendors owed Joe's shops nearly $14,000 in returns and cores that were never credited. One vendor alone was responsible for over $7,000 in missing credits across his three locations. Another key supplier had $6,000+ in unapplied returns.

Joe dug deeper. What he found explained everything.

"We found store managers at the vendor level were holding cores and not posting them. They didn't want negative sales figures showing up on their reports, so they buried the returns."

This wasn't a one-time error. It was systemic, happening across vendors, draining cash flow month after month. And without WickedFile cross-referencing returns against credits, Joe would never have known.

"We were paying for cores twice."

The Solution

Now, Joe and his bookkeeper have a new weekly process. They log into WickedFile, run saved filters, and immediately flag any returns that weren't credited within the expected timeframe.

"We're not letting them go 15 days anymore. It's weekly. Get the cores, get them credited, and get them off the books."

The shift has been transformational. Cash that was tied up in vendor limbo is now back in the business. And WickedFile, which Joe originally saw as a theft-prevention tool, has become a vital operational system for vendor accountability.

Joe is also preparing for WickedFile's upcoming integration with AllData, which will let him monitor profitability in real time.

"I've already started transitioning to electronic invoicing, and I'm watching managers give away profit every day. WickedFile will let me call this out daily, not monthly. I'm making money, but now I can make more."

"We found store managers at the vendor level were holding cores and not posting them. They didn't want negative sales figures showing up on their reports, so they buried the returns."
Joe

The Results

What started as a theft investigation turned into a complete overhaul of Joe's reconciliation process, and a significant recovery of lost cash.

The total impact:

  • $14,000+ recovered from vendors in missing credits and cores
  • $7,000+ from a single vendor across three locations
  • Weekly vendor accountability process now in place
  • Improved cash flow from eliminating "paying for cores twice"
  • Daily profitability monitoring on the horizon

For Joe, the ROI was immediate and undeniable.

"It was a huge cash flow thing. WickedFile showed us how to fix it."

The Recommendation

Joe's advice to other shop owners is simple: the money is there. You just can't see it yet.

"For what you guys have done for me, sharing this is the least I can do."

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