How to write a Complaint Letter

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Complaints

Parts of a complaint:

1. Acknowledge receipt of the goods

2. State the condition of the goods and the reason to complain

3. Presume possible causes (if any)

4. Enclose necessary documents

5. Suggest solutions

6. Hope for the action

Reasons for complaints:

1. Late delivery

2. Non delivery

3. Wrong goods

4. Damaged goods

5. Shorted of goods

6. Bad packing

7. Bad / poor / inferior quality

1. Acknowledge receipt of the goods

We acknowledge receipt of full documents and the consignment of 100 Water Heaters Model H302 under the order / contract No. 123 sent against B/L No. XYZ, which arrived at Saigon Port on White Horse on 15^th May 2010. And we are now writing to you to give some complaints.
I have received / taken delivery of a consignment of 50 rice cookers from you yesterday, which were ordered from your summer catalogue.
I am writing to you to complain about the shipment of sweaters we received yesterday against the above order.

2. State the condition of the goods and the reason to complain

On first account, everything appeared to be correct / perfect and in good condition. But after careful examination / inspection, it has been found that:

Shortage of goods

After careful inspection / examination, it has been found that against 100 units ordered and invoiced, the consignment contains only 92 units, 4 cases with 2 units per case bearing number 8 – 15 were missing, thus making up a shortage of 8 units.
On checking the goods received, we find that some items on your invoice have not been included.
There is a discrepancy between the Packing List of the case No. 20 and your invoice. 30 dozens were correctly invoiced, but the case contains 2 dozens.

Damaged goods

The package containing these goods appeared to be in perfect condition and we accepted and signed for it without question. It was on unpacking them when the damage was discovered.
The boxes were damaged, and looked as if they had been broken in transit.
On inspection, it has been found that 120 bags were torn. It is estimated that 3600 kg were so heavily damaged that they were a complete write-off.
Out of 92 units delivered, 6 units were badly broken, 2 of them were beyond repair / were a complete write-off, looking as if they had been damaged in transit, making an estimated damage up to 5000 USD.

Bad packing

We also noticed that some of the outer edges of the wrapping have been torn through, presumably as a result of friction in transit / careless stitch.
The results of inspection show that the damage was caused by your improper packaging. The goods were packed in single bags rather than double bags as required.
We regret that we have to complain about the way in which the consignment has been packed.

Wrong goods

On first account, everything appeared to be correct / perfect and in good condition except case No 13. When we have this case opened, we found that it contained quite different articles. / But on unpacking them, we found that heaters had been sent, instead of water heaters asked for.
The consignment also contains 3 units model H200 and 4 heaters, which were for another order.

Poor quality

We are far from satisfaction with this consignment because its quality is too inferior to meet / satisfy the market demand / requirement.
The goods were received are very much inferior in quality to your sample.
We are very sorry to inform you that the last shipment is not up to your usual standard.

Late delivery / Non-delivery

We have heard nothing from you concerning the shipment of the order No. 123TL, which should have been reached us one month ago.
We have to point out that the items were ordered on condition that / on the understanding that they were delivered / had to reach us by the end of August. However, until today, they have not reached us yet, we find it difficult to meet our commitment to our customers.
We have to point out that the articles were ordered subject to their arrival here by the end of August. However, until today, they have not reached us yet, we find it difficult to meet our commitment to our customers.

3. Presume possible causes (if any)

We can only presume that a mistake was made and the contents of this case were for another order.
We can only assume that this was due to careless handling at some stages prior to packing.

4. Enclose necessary documents

We are enclosing COR, ROROC, Copy of Invoice, Copy of Order, B/L, Packing List and Survey Report issued by Vinacontrol to the effect that the damage was not due to handling / the damage were caused by improper packaging / the damage was noticed when the goods were discharged at the port.
To prove the shortage, we are enclosing a certificate of a Lloyd’s surveyor.

5. Suggest solutions

As we are in urgent need of the goods to complete our sales to local customers, we must ask you to:

repair the defective goods
send the substitute / replacement for the 6 broken / wrongly delivered units
send the supplement for 8 missing units / ones
send someone to pick up the goods and pay for the storage
reduce the price
complete the order as soon as possible

In view of the condition of the goods, we can’t offer it for sale at the normal price. We suggest that you make us an allowance of 10% on the invoice cost.
We are prepared to accept the broken / defective goods if you are willing to reduce the price by 30%.
We would like to ask you to repair the goods at your risks and expenses at your earliest convenience but not later than…
We will buy the goods from another supplier but damage and costs arising from or in connection with this will be for your account.
In the mean time, we are holding the above-mentioned case at your disposal. Please let us know what you wish us to do.
The damaged goods have been kept aside in case you need them to support a claim on your supplier for compensation.
For such situations, we are forced to make a claim on you for the sum of 1450 USD including inspection charge of 235 USD as compensatory / liquidated damages.

6. Hope for the action

We hope that this will not occur in the future and that our next orders will be dispatched strictly according to our wishes.
We hope you will understand our position in this matter, and trust that from now on we can rely on punctual delivery of our order.
As you will no doubt understand that a recurrence of this situation will result in our customers placing orders elsewhere and this is the risk that we are unwilling to take. So, we must draw your attention to delivery deadlines for future orders..