Examples of letters

1. Comhlaint about delay in delivery. Dear Sirs,

When we made our order for machine tools (No. 2372) two months ago we did so on the understanding that delivery would be by the 7^th of August.

We have not received the machine tools yet, and would appreciate your immediate advice as to when we may expect them.

You have always kept to delivery dates before, and this is the first time we have had cause to complain¹. We are no doubt, therefore, that you will do your utmost² to ensure that our consignment arrives soon.

Yours faithfully,

2. Reply to the above — cause of ddelay and advice of shipment. Dear Sirs,

We have your letter dated the 10^th of August, and ask you to accept our apologies for the delay in sending your order for machine tools.

The tools are in fact still with forwarding agents. We assure you that your order has been attended to in strict rotation*, but we should inform you that ordering has been particularly heavy over the past six months and it has been as much as we could do to meet the demand.

We have instructed forwarders to treat your shipment with absolute priority, and we are given to understand that dispatch will be effected on the m.v. BRECKNOR, due to arrive at Bremerhaven on the г!¹* of August.

Owing to the increase in business, we are making a number of modifications to our organization which will ensure that such a delay need not occur again.

Yours faithfully,

3. Comhlaint about assortment of delivery not up to order. Dear Sirs,

We would refer to our order No. 2491 for cutlery⁴, which arrived on the 19^th of May.

While thanking you for the promptness with which you executed the order, we have to point out that the dessert spoons⁵ are missing from Case No. 31. On the other hand, you have sent an extra case of teaspoons⁸

Would you kindly let us have 250 "Cicero" dessert spoons at the earliest opportunity, and confirm by cable when this will be? We shall be unable to sell this cutlery until the full order is completed.

Please also advise if we should return the case of teaspoons to you, or if we should try to sell them on a "sale or return" basis. There is a small market for unmatched cutlery items.

Yours faithfully,

4. Reply to the above —advice of shipment of missing items.

Dear Sirs,

We confirm herewith our cable of today's date as hereunder: Order No. 2491 regret error dessertspoons sent rail today.

Please accept our apologies for this error. It occurred in our packing and dispatch department, and was due to our reorganization programme. We are in the process of installing⁸ a computer, which we expect will provide a more efficient, service to our customers.

Regarding the extra case of teaspoons, to save return freight charges we would prefer you to try to sell them. We authorize you to reduce the price by 10% to help clear them quickly.

Yours faithfully,

5. Complant about big delay in delivery. Dear Sirs,

Our order No. 243A, sent to you on June 1^st, should have been delivered by now, but there is no sign of the goods, although documents have been received by our bank, and we have your advice of dispatch.

We promised to supply our own customers before July 5^th and we are now placed in the very awkward⁹ position of having to tell them that the goods are not yet available.

Please advise, us by return what has gone wrong.

Yours faithfullyi, '

6. Reply to the above — apologies for of flooding cases in the wrong port.

Dear Sirs,

We acknowledge receipt of your letter dated the 5^th of July regarding the non-arrival of your consignment of textiles.

We have been in touch with our forwarding agents, who inform us that your three cases were offloaded in error¹⁰ at Hamburg, and are awaiting transshipment to your port.

.Agents there have been instructed to send the cases forward by the earliest shipping opportunity, which we understand to be the m. s. BATTENBERG, e.t.a.¹¹ your port July 10^th. —

We must apologize for the inconvenience caused to both you and your customers through this error.

Yours faithfully,

7. Complant about defective goods in consignment. Dear Sirs,

Our order No. 6321BA was received yesterday, and we have now examined the contents against your enclosed lists and invoices.

Although we are perfectly satisfied with the bulk of this large consignment, we find the undermentioned items unsatisfactory:

1. Bale No. I Woolen underwear 12 with elastic

MR UNIVERSE belts loose¹².

2. Bale No. 5 Sweaters 3 with seams near

CLIMATIC neck coming away¹³.

3. Bale No. 9 Shirts 50 not tip to

LIGHTEX sample¹⁴.

4. Bale No. 12 Shirts 40 colour patchy¹⁵.

SPORTSFIELD

We can sell the shirts at 15% below the list price if you agree. The other goods are really unsaleable, and we await your instructions regarding their disposal.

Yours faithfully,

8. Reply to the above — replacements shipped.

Dear Sirs.

We have received your loiter dated the 27^th of August, and must straightaway apologize for sending you goods of inferior quality. We have always prided ourselves that our quality control is second to none¹⁶, however, we certainly seem to have slipped up" badly with your consignment.

To put the matter right we have shipped replacements for all the items you have found unsatisfactory, and would ask you to send us by airmail at our expense two each of the «Lighlex» and «Sportsfield» shirts for our factory manager to examine. We agree to your selling the remainder of the shirts at 15% below list price.

Yours faithfully,

9. Complaint about goods dataged in shipment. Dear Sirs,

We received your consignment of toys¹⁸ this morning (our order No. 15060 refers). However, on examining the contents we found that the electric trains packed on one side of case No. 3 were badly dented¹⁹, and are unsaleable. This case had obviously been struck by a heavy object or dropped, and we pointed this out to your local agents, who endorsed the receipt²⁰, «one case side damaged».

No doubt you will take the matter up will) shippers: however, for the present we should be obliged if you would send us 25 replacement trains²¹, Catalogue No. 354D.

The surveyor's²² report will be forwarded immediately it has been prepared.

Yours faithfully,

10. Bvpiy to the above — replacements sent. Dear Sirs,

We regret to see from your letter dated the 19^th of May that one of the cases of order No. 15060 was found damaged on arrival.

A further 25 trains have been sent to you today, and you should receive these within ten days. Please hold the damaged items at our disposal until we hear from our insurers²³.

Yours faithfully,

11. Complaint about goods staked due to faultu. Dear Sirs,

We would refer to our order No. 20-30XN, which arrived two days ago.

We found that one of the adding-machines²⁴ had been placed in its case without any padding²⁵, with the result that its casing is smashed and the mechanism exposed and damaged beyond repair²⁶. The surveyor's report is attached herewith.

We should be obliged if you would forward us a replacement machine as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully, End.

12. Reply to the above — replacements dispatched.

Dear Sirs,

We are in receipt of your letter dated the 10^th of November Re your shipment of adding-machines under order No. 20-30XN, and arc sorry to hear about the faulty packing which resulted in one machine becoming unserviceable.

Our packing and dispatch department has been working overtime²⁷ to clear the increase in orders which usually occurs this time of year, and it would seem that one case was allowed to go through without proper inspection.

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience caused. A replacement machine has been dispatched today by container service²⁸, and should reach you by the end of the week.

Yours faithfully,

13. Complaint about receiving goods intended for another buyer.

Dear Sirs,

We would refer to your consignment of rugs²⁹ (Order No. 240-10) which arrived this morning.

On opening the cases we found that we had received the wrong goods, the shipment apparently being intended for another buyer.

Please advisewhen we can expect to receive our order, as some of our customers have been waiting for up to six weeks. .

Please also advise us what we are to do with the rugs now in our possession.

Yours faithfully,

14. Reply to the above — apologies and advice of correct shipment.

Dear Sirs,

We thank,.you for your- letter of the 9^th of March informing us of the wrong delivery of rugs.

We must apologize for this error, which originated through confusion at this end caused by the recent dock strike³⁰. A number of cases were withdrawn from the docks and redirected by container service through ports unaffected by the stoppage, and we can only assume that someone else's consignment somehow found itself in a case marked for delivery to you.

While confirming that your consignment is indeed on its way to you, and should arrive within the next five days at the latest, we would again apologize for the inconvenience caused, and would ask you to hold the rugs already received until local shipping agents can call for them. We are instructing agents accordingly.

Yours faithfully,