Trade Dispute

Buyers make complaints

September 2, 19..

Dear Sirs,
    The 100 cases of prunes invoiced to us on D/A basis reached us yesterday through our forwarding agents in London and were immediately examined, but we regret our inability to accept the goods. We ordered well-dried goods of fine quality, but you have sent us prunes totally unmerchantable and unfit for consumption. Most of them are in a very maggoty state, and in many cases there are large fat maggots crawling out of the half-rotton fruit. For this reason we telegraphed to you today as follows:

    "PRUNES 100 CASES RECEIVED HOWEVER GREATLY MAGGOT EATEN UNMERCHANTABLE PLACE AT YOUR DISPOSAL"

    We confirm our telegram, and request you to dispose of the goods at once and refund to us our disbursement of £34 for duty and for freight from London to Manchester.

   Yours sincerely                       
Hamilton  & Martin                     

Sellers decline liability

Naples, September72, 19..

Dear Sirs,
    To our astonishment, we learn from your telegram and the subsequent letter, both dated the 2nd inst., that you refuse to accept the 100 cases of prunes invoiced to you on the 9th August, alleging that the goods are maggoty and unfit for consumption.
    To this we wish to say that we do not accept your complaint, on the contraty, we insist upon the strict fulfilment of our contract and demand that you acknowledge the amount of the invoice without any deduction for the following reasons:
    (1) In accordance with your order we selected the prunes from perfectly dried goods, and as a precaution, we asked several impartial witnesses to be present at the packing. They can certify that the goods were faultless. If your complaint is based on facts, it is evident that the damage must have occurred during transport.
    (2) For damage incurred during transport we are not responsible. The legal delivery of the goods tool place in Naples, and without any doubt the prunes were in perfect condition here. The responsibility for any damage incurred during transport has to be borne by yourselves. We, therefore, decline any liability for an indemnity.
    (3) As we delivered the goods CIF London, it was in your interest to have the goods inspected at Naples, or at the latest in London, where they passed into your possession. We decidedly object to an inspection in Manchester and to the attempt to saddle us with responsibility for the result of such examination.
    We sincerely regret that you should have occasion to complain, but if you carefully consider the matter and weigh up the circumstances from a legal stand point, you will come to the conclusion that you are not justifies in trying to make us responsible for the damage, since according to the contract of purchase, you have undertaken this responsibility yourselves.

   Yours sincerely                       
Ambrose Cataneot &  Co.