Rather than ask a registrar for "references", I asked for a "Client List". It may be only a subtle difference, but it allowed me to choose companies that matched, as closely as possible, our business environment; I felt this was preferable to using "References". I did the same when I was assigned a Lead Auditor, and was fully prepared to reject the assignment if I was not satisfied.
As it worked out, I was satisfied with the assignment, our registration audit was completed early in December and our corrective actions approved in late December, so we are now recommended for Registration to ISO 9001 with QS 9000 - TE Supplement.
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Tom Goetzinger