[Andy]

Unfortunately you are spot on, and it has become a lot more prevalent because as any salesman knows once a merchant has gone through all the work of signing docs they are "pot committed" and are much more likely to accept a greatly reduced offer than to walk away.

In my experience it is far more likely that the merchant is lying or exaggerating the approval, then that the competitor sent them bull**** contracts. The point of asking for the contracts is to call the merchant on their bluff. Especially when they are claiming they have an approval that any sales rep in the industry recognizes as too good to be true.

And this is still the step that I would follow. Even if merchant can produce the contract, and you know that its bull****, tell them go ahead and sign it! Tell them whats going to happen, let them go through the motions, and they will come back to you and respect your wisdom and judgment and be a loyal client for years.