VIII. Delays in Delivery

Delays in Delivery and Non-Delivery—Missing Consignments

Delays In Delivery and Non-Delivery

The buyer follows up his orders to make sure that the goods are delivered on time. If there is any delay in delivery, the buyer sends the seller a reminder or warns him that he will rescind the contract unless the goods are delivered within a certain period of time or by a certain date. (In many cases, the buyer sends a reminder — or even several reminders — before fixing a final deadline for delivery.)

Reminders and the allowance of additional time can, of course, be dispensed with if the buyer reserved the right to cancel his order in the case of any delay in delivery, or if it is quite obvious that the seller is not able or not willing to perform his contract.

Delays in delivery or non-delivery may result in losses for the buyer and lead to action for damages. Sometimes buyer and seller themselves, when entering into a contract, fix the amount of damages payable in the event of a breach of contract (liquidated damages).

Missing Consignments

Sometimes a customer complains of a delay in delivery, although the goods have been dispatched by the supplier and should already have arrived at their destination. In such cases, investigations have to be made. These investigations may reveal that the consignment has been delayed, misdirected or lost in transit. Occasionally it is also discovered that the consignment was overlooked by the customer, or that some other error has occurred.

Specimen Letters

I. British Representative of German Company Complains of Repeated Delays in Delivery

2^nd July, 20…

Dear Sirs,

The long delays in the execution of our orders are causing us great concern.

From time to time we have contacted you and have been given various promises which we, on our part, have passed on to our customers. These delivery promises have in almost every instance been broken by you, with the result that our customers now no longer believe any promise we make to them.

We are now faced with cancellations of orders by many of our customers. Consequently, we shall have to put your machines into our stock when they finally arrive here in England, as we shall no longer have any customers for them.

The latest cancellation is that by Sheldon & Co., Birmingham, a firm which bought over £4,000 worth of equipment last year. The date of their order is the 10th March, and when you acknowledged it on the 23rd March you promised to send the machines "within a few weeks."

While we are on the subject of delivery dates, we also have to remind you of the spare parts we ordered on the 5th May. As these parts have not yet arrived, we have had to postpone several urgent repairs, a fact which has added to our customers' annoyance.

You will understand that we are very unhappy over this most unpleasant state of affairs, and we only hope you will realize that this loss of confidence on the part of our customers will have very serious consequences for your company as well as ours.

Yours faithfully,

NEWMAN & CO. Ltd.

Andrew D. Newman

Managing Director

II. Supplier Apologizes for Delay in Delivery

Dear Sirs,

We have received your letter of March 13th and offer our apologies for the delay in the execution of your order.

Unfortunately this order was overlooked in the pressure of business, but we are pleased to say that the goods are now ready for dispatch. Shipment will be effected by M/V "Norfolk" on April 29th, and the consignment should reach you about May 12th.

We hope this delay has not caused you any serious inconvenience and assure you that every effort will be made in future to ensure prompt delivery of your orders.

Yours faithfully,