实用商贸英语口语对话 Unit13:Claims and Complaints

（13）Claims and Complaints
Claims and Complaints I
◆ A clerk discusses an insurance claim with his boss.
◆ Boss : What\'s your hurry?
◆ Clerk : Bad news! That shipment of parts from Japan has been partially lost and damaged at sea. What should we do when loss or damage occurs?
◆ Boss : We must prepare our claim and send it to the underwriter to secure payment.
◆ Clerk : Won\'t our broker take care of that?
◆ Boss : Yes, that\'s part of the service on the broker\'s side.
◆ Clerk : So the first step would be to contact our broker?
◆ Boss : Yes, and we\'ll need to submit some documents to him.
◆ Clerk : Is it enough that we have an on-board bill of lading to claim settlement?
◆ Boss : I\'m sorry to say it isn\'t. We\'ll need a statement from the shipping agents stating that the goods were actually loaded and noting when the vessel sailed.We\'ll also need to present proof of ownership.
◆ Clerk : How do we do that?
◆ Boss : We\'ll have to file a full original set of ocean bills of lading, the insurance certificate, and the original commercial invoice.
◆ Clerk : No problem. I have them on file.
◆ Boss : We may also need a statement of protest.
◆ Clerk : What\'s that?
◆ Boss : It\'s usually an extract from the ship\'s log which describes how the goods were lost or damaged. It\'s prepared by the master of the vessel. Sometimes that documentation is also required.
◆ Clerk : Well, that covers all the things I want to know. I guess I\'ll call our broker.
◆ Boss : Yes, let\'s get started right away.

Claims and Complaints II
◆ A customer discusses an error in his order with the manufacturer.
◆ Buyer : We have a problem, sir.
◆ Seller : What on earth has happened?
◆ Buyer : You remember that we ordered 50 of your BD 205 laser jet printers?
◆ Seller ： of course. We shipped them two weeks ago. Haven\'t they arrived?
◆ Buyer ： That\'s the problem. They\'ve arrived, and they\'re the wrong model. You sent the QR 224 model. That model is incompatiblewith our computer system.
◆ Seller ： I\'m sorry to hear that. I\'ll look into it and try to get it corrected for you as quickly as possible. Do you have the invoice number?
◆ Buyer： I have a fax of the invoice right here.
◆ Seller ： Yes, there certainly seems to be a mistake. For some reason we shipped the wrong model. Would you mind waiting a few minutes while I check with our shipping department?
◆ Buyer ： Not at all. I\'m anxious to get this straightened out.
◆ Later...
◆ Seller： Well, I\'ve discovered the source of the error. It seems your customer account number was incorrectly entered into our computer at the warehouse. This resulted in the wrong shipment.
◆ Buyer： That\'s an understandable, but regrettable mistake.
◆ Seller ： We\'ll airfreight the correct printers immediately.
And since it\'s our error, we\'ll pay the freight charges.
◆ Buyer ： That\'s good of you. My home office will be glad to hear it.
◆ Seller ： I\'m very pleased we were able to get to the bottom of this so quickly. Just return the wrong printers sea-freight, and our company will pick up those charges too.
◆ Buyer : Thank you so much.
◆ Seller : That\'s all right. We hope to provide you with good service for many years to come.