The Bearings with the Wrong Bore
You are the maintenance and stores liaison at a small agricultural machinery workshop in Paphos. On Tuesday 10 March a delivery, DN-4471, arrived against order PO-2098 for 24 tapered roller bearings, part number 30206, needed to service six feed-mixer gearboxes. All 24 boxes are labelled 30206, but the first three you measured had a 25 mm bore instead of the specified 30 mm: the supplier's warehouse has mislabelled a batch. Two mixers are now out of service, and the customer's contract says repairs must be finished by 20 March or a penalty of €150 for each day of delay applies. The supplier's terms of sale allow five working days from delivery to report a discrepancy, and their sales office is closed at weekends. You have photographs, the delivery note and the original order. Your manager wants a short email to the supplier's sales office (110–150 words) and is watching how you handle the deadline.
1. Write the email to the supplier's sales office, using the order and delivery references and stating clearly what you want and by when.
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Model email (about 140 words):
Subject: PO-2098 / DN-4471 – incorrect bore on 24 × bearing 30206
Dear Ms Georgiou,
I am writing about delivery DN-4471, received on 10 March against our order PO-2098 for 24 tapered roller bearings, part number 30206.
The boxes are labelled 30206, but on measuring the first three we found a bore of 25 mm, not the 30 mm specified. Photographs and the measurement sheet are attached. We cannot use any of the 24 bearings, and two feed-mixer gearboxes are currently out of service.
The repairs must be completed by 20 March; after that date our customer applies a penalty of €150 per day. Please confirm by Thursday 12 March how and when you will supply 24 correct bearings (30 mm bore), and tell us how you wish to handle the return of the incorrect ones.
This notification is within the five working days allowed by your terms of sale.
Yours sincerely, [Name], Maintenance and Stores
Why it is built this way: references in the subject line so the message can be filed against the order; the fault is stated with the measurement and the evidence, not as an accusation; the consequence (two mixers down, €150 per day) is given as fact, because it is verifiable and creates justified urgency; and the request has a date and a content ('24 correct bearings, 30 mm bore'), so silence counts as a missed commitment. The five-working-day sentence protects the workshop's right to a replacement: five working days from Tuesday 10 March ends on Tuesday 17 March, so the email must go out well before then.
2. Explain two deliberate choices of tone or content in your email, and one thing you deliberately left out.
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Choice 1 - factual, unemotional description of the fault ('on measuring the first three we found a bore of 25 mm'). Writing 'you sent us the wrong parts again' would invite a defensive reply about blame and slow the replacement down. A measurement plus a photograph is hard to argue with and moves the exchange straight to the remedy, which is what the workshop needs with eight days to the deadline.
Choice 2 - the penalty is stated as a fact about the contract, not as a threat ('our customer applies a penalty of €150 per day'). This gives the supplier a real reason to prioritise the order without the workshop appearing to claim damages itself. It is also true and checkable, which keeps the message credible.
Deliberately left out: the name of the person who picked or labelled the batch, and any comment on the supplier's warehouse. Naming an individual turns a supply problem into a personal dispute and may be inaccurate - you know the batch was mislabelled, not who did it. Also left out: internal cost figures, which the supplier does not need and which would weaken the position if the email were forwarded.
3. A colleague suggests this sentence for the email: 'We hope you can maybe send the right ones soon, as this is really causing us a lot of problems.' Rewrite it so it is firm and professional but still polite, and explain what you changed.
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Rewrite: 'Please confirm by Thursday 12 March when the 24 correct bearings (30 mm bore) will reach us; we need them on site by 16 March to complete the repairs before the 20 March deadline.'
What changed and why:
- 'We hope you can maybe' → 'Please confirm'. Hedging ('hope', 'maybe') tells the supplier there is no deadline. 'Please confirm' asks for a commitment and expects an answer.
- 'soon' → a date. 'Soon' cannot be measured or chased. A date can.
- 'the right ones' → 'the 24 correct bearings (30 mm bore)'. Naming the quantity and the specification removes any chance of a second wrong delivery; the original phrase relies on the supplier remembering what 'right' means.
- 'really causing us a lot of problems' → the concrete consequence. Vague complaint is replaced by a fact the supplier can act on: 16 March needed, 20 March deadline, penalty attached.
- Politeness kept through 'please' and through stating the need rather than accusing anyone. Firmness in business writing comes from specificity and dates, not from harsh words.