Your conference is in 2 days, your long awaited Branded USB Memory sticks that will be the centre piece of your offering have just arrived and you eagerly open the box with your boss looking over you shoulder…… then you get that sinking feeling! There’s a problem with the Branded Memory Sticks and the sands of time have run out. What can you do?

Apart from picking up your P45, there may be something that can be done  to rescue the situation.

Firstly a problem shared is a problem halved! Contact the UK Branded USB provider assuming you have not purchased direct from the Far East. A reputable company will give you more than excuses and apologies, they should help to dig you out of this hole. If you have purchased direct then contact the factory and wait for the normal  response of ‘return the goods and we shall replace’. This typically takes 3 – 4 weeks and your deadline has already passed!

So what goes wrong and how can you correct it?

1. Delays in customs. If you need the goods urgently, the Far East or UK customs have an unwitting way of selecting your order for inspection. Not much that can be done other than to provide your courier with a letter or authentication prior to despatch to minimise the risk.
2. Courier delays. If the Branded USB Memory Sticks have been delayed in transit and are now stuck at a UPS / FedEx / TNT international hub, you may be able to save some time. Ask them to hold them at their hub rather than sending on a next day delivery and arrange for a point to point courier to pick them up and deliver direct to your event or client. Beware it will have all the commercial invoices on the box so if you want these to remain undisclosed you’ll need to ask the courier to remove.
3. Problems with the Branded USB print. If the brand police are not happy, but end users will not really notice then commercially it may be worth using the USB Branded Memory sticks and then kicking the provider’s shins very hard and asking for a part refund. However, if there is something materially wrong, then ask a UK printer if they can remove the logo using a special solution and then reprint. Can be costly but worth a shot. Alternative produce some dome stickers with your logo printed on and place on top of the offending print.
4. The Promotional USB Memory sticks do not work when you plug them in. You will need to test on various operating platforms and not behind a corporate firewall as this may restrict access. If there is still a problem then format all the disks and pray!
5. Problems with the dataload on the Custom USB Memory Sticks. If data has been loaded on to the USB Drives and it is not protected or has an autorun function then simply format the Branded USBs and reload the data. For quantities of less than 100 units, grab a very long coffee and spend a few hours doing this thankless task. If time does not permit, or if the quantity is higher then contact a UK data duplication house who can do this for you at a price.

If the disks are protected then panic! The only chance you have is to ask the supplier for software that will allow you to reprogramme. This is both a technically difficult and a time consuming process.

If none of the above works then search for a UK supplier that holds blank USB Memory sticks and who can print within the timeframe required. Swiftly followed by a phone call to your corporate lawyer to get your money back from the cowboys that produced the original batch.

Finally always insist on a pre-production working sample, that way you will know exactly what you are going to receive and allows you to sleep easier…well just a little!