II. Letters of complaint

Complaints and claims usually arise from the delivery of wrong goods, damaged goods or not enough goods; there is also the matter of the goods not being of the kind expected, i.e. not being according to the sample or description. Delay in delivery is another cause for complaints.

Replies to letters of complaints should open with an apology, or at least an expression of regret, when an apology is inappropriate. Then the circumstances, which caused the trouble, should be explained. It will then be advisable to express the hope that the party making the complaint has not been unduly inconvenienced.

Then the writer should state what is proposed to be done to set things right. In most cases the Sellers can do no more than offer to take the goods back or allow a special reduction in the price.

Finally the writer should state that every effort will be made to prevent the recurrence of this kind of trouble, and express hope that the good relations between the two parties will continue.

Any complaint should be dealt with promptly, otherwise delay will cause more trouble. If an investigation is required which is likely to take sometime, the complaint should be acknowledged, with an explanation that it is being attended to and a promise of a full reply as soon as everything is cleared up.

Study these letters of complaint and find the English equivalents.

A.

Dear Sir

Equipment under contract No. 184/115

We are sorry to have to inform you that in the consignment of equipment we have received against the above Contract there are several broken cases and some machines are damaged.

We are sending you the report signed by our inspectors from which you will see the extent of the damage.

Also, we would like to draw your attention to a fortnight’s delay in shipping the machines. This is an infringement of Clause 4 of the Contract which, you may well see, also stipulates payment by the Supplier of damages in case of delay in delivery.

So we ask you to transfer to our account the sum of the penalty and to strictly observe the terms of the Contract in future.

We hope to hear from you soon.

Yours faithfully

B.

Dear Sirs

Order mdx/13/16b

We have received the documents and taken delivery of the above order which arrived at Piraeus on the M. V. Spitfire.

On checking the goods we found that crate 17 contained only 12,000 HB “ITEX” pencils, although 20,000 had been entered on both the packing list and the invoice.

The full consignment is urgently required to complete orders for two of our major customers so it is absolutely essential that you ship the additional 8,000 pencils on the earliest possible flight from London.

This is the third time in the last twelve months that you have short-shipped one of our orders. If there is any further repetition of this we will be forced to look for an alternative supplier.

Yours faithfully

1. с сожалением сообщаем вам, что

2. вся партия товара необходима срочно

3. размер ущерба

4. просим перевести на наш счёт

5. вы недопоставили нам

6. мы будем вынуждены искать другого поставщика

7. 2-недельная задержка в погрузке

8. предусмотреть оплату ущерба поставщиком

9. были занесены в упаковочный лист и счёт-фактуру

10. нарушение статьи договора