I had an automotive customer come back to us 7 years after we last supplied them parts claiming that we had made some components from the wrong material and wanted to charge us £2,000,000 (million) for the recall to replacing these rogue components, and threatening use with legal action. I insisted that this was impossible, and it took many heated conversations (from their end) to get them to furnish me with the dates these supposed “nonconforming components” were received by them.
I supplied all of the manufacturing and shipping information (documented) for that year, and even had the first off components independently tested to show they aligned with the mill certificates as the correct material.
All wend quiet until a month after I supplied all of this evidence when I got a single e-mail saying that “the evidence showed that we had used the correct material and that as this component was dual sourced, so it must have been the other suppler”.
So, they didn’t even know where the components came from, just blamed a supplier until they could prove otherwise and then presumably went after the other one, although I never did find out.
Keeping records is a waste of time, right up until you need them, then they can save you millions
