Many a slip between the cup and the lip.

The Tamil equivalent for the above is: Kaikku ettinathu vaikku ettavillai.
(What reached the hand did not reach the mouth).

It was the famous cricketer Krish Srikkanth who once said something better than this. Vaikku ettinathu vaiththukku ettavillai. (What reached the mouth did not reach the stomach.)

Two days back I was in similar predicament.

About a month back a customer about 60 kms from my showroom rang me up and wanted a freezer. Also he felt that if he took it from me the transportation would be high and wanted me to suggest a nearby place.

I told him that I would help him out. With some difficulty I located a dealer located just less than 10 kms from his place and asked him to supply.
(After supplying the person did not have the courtesy to thank me for
giving him some business! Such are the days !!)

Two days back the very same customer rang me up and said this time he wanted a freezer about 3 kms from my residence. I told him I have the product in stock and I would supply him the same.

He was happy. He said he was going to a particular place to buy some
equipments and he would contact me in the afternoon.

Then and there I knew that I had lost the business. Because the place where he went to buy the equipments - they also sold freezers.

The customer did not call me again. A business gained by goodwill and lost by present day business dynamics.