How to correctly write a claim for a defective product and a refund?

Why do you need to answer?

A response must be given to the received request. When considering how to respond to a claim, remember that there must be enough arguments to:

• maintain relationships with a client or partner;
• avoid trial;
• reduce legal costs, for example, compensation for moral damage;
• eliminate or minimize financial losses;
• avoid complaints to regulatory authorities.

Lack of response means for the applicant:

• agreement with the presented requirements and their consequences - for example, with the suspension of work or shipment of goods under the contract;
• disagreement of the recipient of the complaint with the requirements set out in it and, accordingly, refusal to fulfill them.

The last example is important when the law or contract establishes a mandatory pre-trial procedure. The sender, after the expiration of the period for response established by himself, the contract or the law, should file a claim in court.

IMPORTANT!

You should not ignore statements sent by email; you should respond to them as usual. In civil and arbitration proceedings, such an exchange of documents is possible - Art. 160, 434 Civil Code and part 3 of Art. 64 APK. Electronic correspondence is written evidence in court and is subject to evaluation along with others.

Do I need to agree?

The recipient has no obligation to agree to the complaint. Options:

• send a refusal;
• accept the arguments and acknowledge the essence of the demands;
• agree partially.

Features of filing a claim for shortfall in product delivery

To complete this requirement, you can use any standard forms. When printing the sample form, you should check that all significant circumstances are reflected, dated and signed.

Filling out the request form is carried out by an authorized person of the company. As a rule, this is the manager or his deputy. These documents are not concluded and cannot be terminated, since they represent a claim of one party to the other.

At the same time, there is no need to have them certified by a notary, since the authenticity cannot raise doubts.

Who prepares the response and in what time frame?

After receiving a client's request, set a deadline for a response. It installs:

• the nature of the complaint is a demand for termination of the contract (clause 2 of Article 452 of the Civil Code);
• an agreement whose provisions have been violated;
• legislation.

The legislation establishes deadlines for responding to some pre-trial appeals. For example, a response to a claim for a refund should be given within 10 days. The table shows the duration and regulations for certain types of customer requirements.

IMPORTANT!

They respond within a reasonable time. If it is not established by the applicant, the agreement and the law, the courts accept it within an interval of 2 - 3 weeks (ruling of the Khabarovsk Regional Court dated July 14, 2017 in case No. 33-5747/2017).

Depending on the organizational structure, different employees prepare the answer:

• secretaries on behalf of responsible persons;
• lawyers;
• heads of departments in whose area of ​​responsibility the object of the complaint is located.

Transfer of claim

If the document drawn up does not contain specific agreements regarding the methods of exchanging claims and correspondence, you can choose one of the following methods:

• Submit the claim to the supplier yourself via courier;
• Submit a claim for non-delivery of products by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt.

Any of the above options is proof of service of the claim, which will be necessary in court cases if it comes to that.

How to agree and object

Consent assumes that the applicant’s requirements will be satisfied:

• fully;
• partially.

It's better to agree if:

• the trial is likely to end in favor of the applicant;
• the mistake made (defect, violation, etc.) is accidental and can be quickly corrected;
• admitting guilt will reduce the amount of sanctions or increase the period for correcting the situation.

The applicant's consent will save time and avoid going to court. Include in your response:

• confirmation (full or partial) of agreement with the arguments;
• description of the procedure and deadlines for satisfying requirements;
• if we are talking about deferment of fulfillment of obligations, the response records the date or period for their completion in full;
• a request not to apply penalties or to reduce their size;
• proposed plan for fulfilling its obligations;
• debt repayment schedule.
• an indication of the satisfaction of the client’s (counterparty’s) complaint, if it has been completed by the time of writing.

In case of disagreement, provide a legal position on each of the requirements - prepare objections:

• formulate arguments against unfounded claims, factual circumstances or legal arguments set out in the claim;
• use any type of objection to prove that you are right;
• provide evidence and attach support for your position.

Make the answer clear to the other party. The response should indicate the results of its consideration. A statement of your position, the arguments and evidence presented, a reference to laws and regulations will form the main part of the text of the answer.

RESPONSE TO CLAIM for replacement of goods of inadequate quality

On December 8, 2021, supply agreement No. 130 was concluded between our organizations (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement), in pursuance of which, on December 15, 2021, our organization transferred to your organization the Grinder grinding machine (delivery note dated December 15, 2019 No. 154).

On April 30, 2021, we received a claim (dated April 29, 2020, ref. No. 17) from your organization with a requirement to replace the product due to poor workmanship of the side surfaces.

In response to the complaint, we provide the following.

According to paragraph 2 of Article 475 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the buyer has the right to demand replacement of goods of inadequate quality only in the event of a significant violation of the requirements for the quality of the goods. Such violations include fatal deficiencies, deficiencies that cannot be eliminated without disproportionate costs or time, or are identified repeatedly, or appear again after they have been eliminated, and other similar deficiencies.

The defect indicated in the complaint is not significant, since it can be eliminated by adjusting the grinding functions of the machine.

Thus, your organization cannot demand a replacement for the Grinder machine transferred under the Agreement, and our organization finds no grounds for satisfying the claim dated April 29, 2020, ref. No. 17. We are ready to configure the operation of the equipment transferred to you within a time period agreed upon additionally.

Attachments: copy of claim dated April 29, 2021, ref. No. 17 – on page 2.

M.P.

What to include in your claim

1. First of all, a complaint about the quality of a product to a supplier contains details of the purchase, namely, date, time and place.
2. Then they describe the main characteristics of the purchased product: name, model, brand, dimensions, color, equipment, and so on.
3. After this, the shortcomings of the product are described in detail. It is recommended to separately indicate that it cannot be used for its intended purpose due to identified defects.

So that the seller does not have doubts about the nature of the origin of the defects, it is recommended to include in the claim a clause stating that it is possible to carry out an examination of the goods at the seller’s expense. In addition, you need to add links to regulations governing the return and exchange of products of inadequate quality. Among them, it is worth mentioning Article 18 of the Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights”, Articles 309, 310 and 503 of the Civil Code.

You should also include a clause stating that the buyer has a sales receipt and a warranty card (indicating the warranty period). The sample claim 2021 given in illustrative form shows that copies of the receipt and warranty card are given in the annexure to the claim. If these documents are not available, you can refer to paragraph 5 of Article 18 of the Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights”. According to this rule, the absence of a document confirming the fact of purchase is not a reason for a claim to return goods to the supplier to remain without consideration and satisfaction.

If a dispute arose due to the return of a large item weighing more than five kilograms, then, in accordance with paragraph 7 of Article 18 of the Law, the seller is obliged to pay for its delivery back to the store. This is also worth mentioning in the complaint.

At the end, the document is certified by the buyer’s signature, and the date of its preparation must also be indicated. We took all these nuances into account in the example shown below.

In order to help the reader draw up a paper on his own, we have prepared a sample claim for a defective product.

Please note that this document must be prepared in two copies. One of them is given to the seller, and the second with a receipt mark remains with the buyer. In addition, please note that the sample claim for product quality contains the name of the store - it is important to indicate it correctly. This information can be found in the buyer's corner.

If it is not possible to come to an amicable agreement and the store refuses to return the money and reimburse expenses, a copy of the document sent to the store and the answer to it will need to be attached to the claim, with which you will go to court.

How to prepare an answer: step-by-step instructions

The letter is drawn up in the same form as the claim itself. The requirements for its form and details also apply to the response. The document is drawn up and presented:

• in free form;
• in writing on a form;
• addressed to the applicant;
• signed by the recipient of the claim personally or by a person authorized by him.

The structure of the letter to the applicant and step-by-step instructions on how to write a response to a claim are based on current regulations and the practice of resolving such disputes.

Step 1. In the header, indicate the sender - the full name of the organization, actual address, INN, KPP. Fill in the addressee's details:

• position, surname, first name, patronymic;
• or the full name of the company, actual address.

Indicate the registration data of the outgoing request in accordance with the internal document flow of the enterprise and indicate the date of preparation.

Step 2. The second part is the main one, containing a detailed and reasoned answer. Be sure to indicate here:

• the exact date of receipt of the claim;
• indicate its essence and, if there are financial requirements, enter the amount (in numbers and words);
• number and date of signing of the document within which the sender of the claim acts (for example, an agreement).

Formulate the text of the answer - your opinion on the essence of the content of the requirement.

IMPORTANT!

If the counterparty's request consisted of several points, respond with separate points.

The summary part, as the example of a response to a claim shows, contains references to clauses of the contract and the norms of current legislation.

Step 3: Provide a summary. Reflect in it your readiness to fulfill the demands put forward in full, in part, or disagreement with them.

Step 4. Finally, the text is signed by the responsible employee of the enterprise with the obligatory decryption of the signature.

Request form for the return of goods of inadequate quality

Even if all the conditions for identifying a defect meet legal requirements, the buyer should prepare for the fact that the seller may try not to fulfill its obligations to exchange the purchase or return the money. Therefore, you should pay attention to the correct preparation of the claim (this document is also sometimes called the act of complaint to the supplier). The success of the case will depend on the correctness of the document.

Existing legislation does not regulate the form of this document. However, in practice, a sample complaint to a supplier has been developed, which includes all the necessary information. Let's take a closer look at a sample of how to make a claim for a defective product, as well as the main points that need to be taken into account when drawing it up.