Saying 'Late' to a Long-Standing Client
A long-standing client, a government-aided school, ordered 400 printed yearbooks for delivery on 20 March. The contract carries a penalty of ₹5,000 for every week of delay. On 14 March the print shop discovers a paper-stock shortfall and can now deliver only on 29 March. The school's annual-day function is on 25 March, and the principal is on leave; the vice-principal, who handles purchases, is anxious about the function. Your manager asks you to draft the opening of the email to her. A colleague offers three openers: (a) 'Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, the delivery will be delayed.' (b) 'We are sorry to inform you that we cannot meet the 20 March deadline.' (c) 'We will deliver your yearbooks on 29 March.'
1. Which of the three openers should be used, and why are the other two weaker?
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Use (c).
The reader's first question is not 'why' but 'when'. (c) answers it in the first line, in the active voice, with a specific date she can plan the function around. Everything else - apology, explanation, remedy - can follow in that order.
(a) is weak on two counts. 'Unforeseen circumstances beyond our control' is vague (which circumstances?) and passive-evasive; it reads as a bid to escape responsibility precisely when a penalty clause exists and the fault is the shop's own stock planning. It also delays the only fact she needs.
(b) is honest but terminal. It states a failure and stops. The vice-principal is left to ask 'so when?', which means another email and another day lost with the function on 25 March. A refusal to meet one deadline is acceptable only when paired immediately with a new commitment.
Order the message: date first, brief apology, one-line cause, then mitigation - for example 150 copies by 20 March for the function, the balance on 29 March.
2. Rewrite this sentence from the draft body so that it is grammatical and unambiguous: 'The paper supplier having failed to deliver on time, our delay, which we regret, was caused by them, and it is not our fault.'
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The original fails three ways: the absolute construction ('The paper supplier having failed...') is left dangling without a main clause that agrees with it; 'caused by them' has an unclear referent; and 'it is not our fault' is defensive and, to the client, simply untrue - the supplier is the shop's supplier, not hers.
Rewrite: 'A late delivery from our paper supplier delayed the print run, and we regret the shortfall.'
The rewrite has one subject per clause, names the cause in a subordinate but clear position, keeps the regret, and drops the blame-shifting sentence. To the client, subcontracting risk is the vendor's risk; the useful content is 'what happened' plus 'we regret it', not a legal allocation of fault. If a longer version is needed, add the remedy rather than a denial: 'A late delivery from our paper supplier delayed the print run. We regret the shortfall and are couriering 150 copies to reach you before the annual day.'
3. The draft must acknowledge the penalty clause without turning the email into a legal admission. Write one sentence that does this and justify your word choices.
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Sentence: 'We recognise that this delay falls within the penalty clause in our agreement and will confirm the applicable adjustment in writing by 31 March.'
Why these words:
- 'recognise that this falls within' acknowledges that the clause exists and applies, without the loaded verbs 'breach', 'liable' or 'compensate', which invite a formal claim.
- 'applicable adjustment' points to the contractual mechanism rather than naming a rupee figure, so no number is fixed before the delivery is complete.
- 'will confirm in writing by 31 March' substitutes a concrete, checkable commitment for an open-ended promise, which is what actually protects the relationship.
One judgement point: with a client of many years and a delay that is plainly the shop's own fault, excessive hedging costs more goodwill than it saves in exposure. If the manager prefers a firmer line, 'we will apply the delay adjustment in the final invoice' is defensible and arguably better. What must be avoided is a sentence that both admits everything and promises nothing.