IBM customer number ( was Re: RSE performance )

Jim Essinger wrote:

We had one and only one customer number until we started working with
business partners. I tried for a while to get all of our purchases and
contacts under the same customer number, but it turned out to be a losing
battle. We now have 4 or 5 numbers, and I still usually reference our
original customer number when one is asked for. I have it memorized.

As an individual, I have at least two and apparently three (or more) IBM customer numbers. I've 'purchased' from IBM on three occasions. When I bought my model 170, I asked about using the customer number I already had, but no useful response ever showed up. This gave me my second "customer number" that was totally different from the first.

When I continued through the process for Software Subscription and for hardware maintenance, I saw that those contracts/invoices had a variation of the customer number for the 170 itself.

When I check my account through the web, the "customer number" isn't quite the same as any of the others. It doesn't _appear_ that the variations are from 'branch number' nor any other recognizable entity.

There has been no indication of how many digits make up my "customer number" except that the forms on the web have editing requirements. If I try to use a "customer number" from my contracts or invoices as direct input for my web/account access, it doesn't work. Fortunately, I did mange to get web access configured and working at some point, so now I can simply use the "customer number" that appears by default or select one from the entry-field pull-down list.

Tom Liotta