---
id: KB-TL-027
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/trackline/the-supplier-who-doesnt-use-email
idioma: en
categoria: trackline
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-TL-004, KB-ET-003]
citadoPor: [KB-TL-010]
---

# The supplier who doesn't use email

_They exist, more often than you would think, and insisting does not fix it. Finding who on their side does use it, does._

**Responde a:** my supplier has no email · a haulier never answers emails · requesting documents from someone who doesnt use the internet · small supplier with no digital tools

A self-employed haulier, a two-person workshop, a long-standing supplier who works off a mobile and little else. You send the request, no reply, you chase, and you end up phoning them and writing down what they tell you. It is neither bad faith nor neglect: that channel is simply not part of their day.

## Who tends to be behind that kind of silence

| Situation | What actually works |
| --- | --- |
| Does not use email, but does use their phone | Send the link by message, not by email |
| Their accountant handles it | Ask the accountant, with their permission |
| A relative or partner handles it | Ask who deals with the paperwork |
| On the road all day | A realistic deadline beats three reminders |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> **The question that solves 80 % of these cases is «who handles the paperwork?».** Almost nobody asks it, because it is assumed that whoever does the work is whoever sends the papers — and in small firms it is rarely the same person. Asking once, noting the name and the channel, and using it from then on turns an impossible supplier into an ordinary one.

## What does not work, however often it is repeated

**En corto**

- Chasing through the same channel that has already failed three times.
- Explaining how to use a tool they are never going to use.
- Assuming that no reply means unwillingness to cooperate.
- And keeping what they tell you on the phone only in your head.

> [!WARNING]
> If you end up collecting the paperwork by phone or on paper —which is sometimes the only option— one thing is worth doing: **upload it to the file yourself and record where it came from**. A document that exists only in a drawer or as a photo on someone's phone does not exist: when you need it there will be a problem on, and that day nobody will remember which drawer.

> [!NOTE]
> None of this releases the supplier from their obligations or you from yours: what changes is the route the paper takes, not what has to be held. **If the relationship requires specific documentation, that stays the same**; here we explain how to obtain it from someone who is not going to log into a screen.

**Can I upload their documentation myself?**

Yes, and it is sensible if they give it to you another way. Record who provided it.

**What if they refuse to provide the papers?**

That is no longer a channel problem: it is a commercial decision of yours.

**Is it worth pushing them onto the tool?**

With volume yes; with a supplier of two orders a year, rarely.

## Ejemplos

**A self-employed haulier does not answer three emails in a row.**

- Phones to ask who handles their paperwork and sends the link by message

→ The documentation arrives in two days, through the channel that person actually uses.

**A supplier hands over certificates on paper and they stay in a physical folder.**

- Uploads them to the file and records where they came from and who provided them

→ The document exists on the day it is needed, which is always a bad day.

**The supplier does not read email and gets chased there anyway.**

- Finds somebody on their side who does use it

→ The delivery arrives by a route that works.

**They only respond by phone.**

- Phones them and uploads on their behalf with their permission

→ The file moves with a record of what was discussed.

**They send photos by messaging app.**

- Sends them the link through that same channel

→ Uses the channel they already use rather than a new one.

**The company has an accountant who handles their paperwork.**

- Sends the request to the accountant with their permission

→ The document comes from whoever holds it.