BUSINESS ENGLISH – BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE
ENQUIRIES
We are interested in..., particularly in...
We would be very pleased/grateful if you could send us ... together with/along with ...
We would like to receive...
Some samples would also be greatly appreciated.
Kindly let us also have ...
to meet requirements / to be up to expectations
to place an order/a trial order within the next three months
REPLY TO ENQUIRIES
Here enclosed you will find / Please find attached
Your order will be executed with the greatest care
We are delighted to send you ... We are also sending ..., as requested.
We can assure/guarantee delivery within one month.
Payment can be made/effected ...
ORDER
Following our conversation
your prices compare favourably with others
We therefore have the pleasure of sending our order form No. ...., here enclosed.
As agreed, we will pay by ... as soon as our bank receives your pro-forma invoice and the shipping documents.
Please have the articles carefully packed, as we will be obliged to refuse any lot in bad condition.
If .... we will be glad to place larger orders with you.
We look forward to your confirmation of order.
EXECUTION OF ORDER
We have received your order form 56666 for (product) dated ... and we thank you very much.
Our sales department informs us that they are able to dispatch your stock by the end of next week following your
packing instructions.
As agreed, we have arranged transport and insurance CIF Genoa with (shipping company) who will load the cargo on
the first available ship.
We are sending herewith a copy of our pro-forma invoice. Please therefore open a letter of credit in our favour for £...
plus VAT. The consignment will be sent as soon as the bank informs us that the sum is available.
We hope you will be satisfied with the fulfilment of this order and that it will be the beginning of a business relationship
to our mutual benefit.
Will you kindly have the (articles) shipped in two months’ time, that is, not later than ... Please note that
Payment by draft against documents at 60 days for one third and the remaining on receipt of your pro-forma invoice.
I was very glad to receive your order of (date) for:
(articles)
Our despatch department is processing your consignment today and can guarantee delivery by (date) as requested
I hope you will find this proposal satisfactory and look forward to receiving immediate confirmation by fax or email.
You can rely on our usual prompt and careful execution of your orders.
As we find that the quality of your produce is of a very high standard, we are pleased to order ... according to the list
here enclosed.
Prices: as stated in your offer.
Delivery: since the articles ...., they should arrive by the end of ... at the very latest.
Packing: .... to avoid breakage during transport
Payment: half on receipt of and the rest on arrival of the consignment by bank transfer.
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We shall reject articles that are not up to the samples given.
we think we will be able to place repeat orders with you in the future.
Thank you for your order.
It is already being attended to and we can guarantee delivery well before 31 st October, as you requested.
boxes which have always proved an efficient protection against breakage.
Enclosed please find our invoice: as agreed we ask you to pay ... we have issued a draft on you at 30 days for the
remaining.
We hope that this initial order will lead to a lasting business connection with you and we look forward to receiving your
further orders.
ADVICE OF DISPATCH
We are glad to inform you that the 50 cartons of spare parts ... as per your order No. ..., have been collected by
(shipping company) for shipment by the (ship name) sailing from Naples on (date) due to arrive in London on 10th June.
Our bank have informed us that you have opened a letter of credit in our favour and we have handed the following
documents to be transmitted to your bank in London: (commercial invoice, certification of origin, insurance certificate,
bill of lading)
We trust you will receive the goods in good order and hope you will be satisfied with our articles and continue to favour
us with your order.
ADVICE OF SAFE DELIVERY
We are completely satisfied with the quality of the goods, which arrived in perfect condition.
We hope to place further orders with you in the coming months.
We are pleased to inform you that we have today received the (articles) as per our order No. 888777/99.
REQUESTING A QUOTATION
We have undertaken to make several shipments of office equipment to Italy over the next 12 months. We would be
grateful if you could issue an all risks open policy to cover these shipments from the above address to ports of
destination, through road-ship intermodal transport.
Could you please quote your best rate for this policy at your earliest convenience?
SENDING A QUOTATION
We are in receipt of your letter of (date) concerning shipments of office equipment to (Country).
We thank you for choosing our company to insure the goods you want to ship.
We are sending herewith our best quotation for the value of the whole consignment, which covers all risks, including
breakage and pilferage.
You will see that our tariff is very low and we hope this will give us the opportunity to handle your insurance business.
Enclosed you will also find several declaration forms, which we ask you to fill in with all details and then send back to
us for each shipment.
PAYMENTS
We are pleased to submit here enclosed our quarterly statement of account for a total amount of £ ...
Will you please check the entries and, if they are correct, arrange payment by bank transfer as usual at (bank name and
address, IBAN).
We look forward to receiving your settlement.
COMPLAINT ABOUT WRONG QUANTITY
We have just received the cartons of goods ordered on (DATE)On checking the goods we discovered that there is a shortage in the number of articles you sent us. We received only 10
pieces of items No. 78877 and ... instead of ... .
We inspected the packing cases, which were in good order and showed no evidence of tampering, so that it appears that
the shortage is due to a failure in your packing department.
Please investigate the matter and send us the missing goods ASAP.
We are looking forward ... We trust this kind of mistake will not occur again.
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REPLY TO A COMPLAINT ABOUT MISSING GOODS
With reference to your fax of yesterday we assure that the remaining items as per your order of October 15th last, and
precisely:
...
...
Are already on their way to your store. We have in fact despatched them by DHL courier and you should receive the
missing goods within three days at the latest.
As you pointed out, the fault was due to a failure... and we have arranged new checking procedures to avoid such
mistakes happening again.
We hope that you will continue to place our orders with us and that we can serve you better in the future.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
COMPLAINT ABOUT FAULTY ARTICLES
We refer to our order of (date) for (articles) No., your Autumn/Winter catalogue.
Some of our customers report that ... making the article dangerous... and have asked for a complete refund of their
purchase.
We checked the remaining (article) we have in stock and we found that many ... had the same problem, due to a defect
in manufacturing.
Although this is the first time that we have had to complain about your products and this is the only consignment that
appears to have such problems, you will understand that we cannot continue to sell your (articles) as they are.
We are therefore keeping the lot at your disposal, pending your instructions as to what to do with it.
REPLY TO A COMPLAINT ABOUT FAULTY GOODS
Following your complaint of ... , we have checked the matter with our manufacturing control and we found that a whole
batch of (articles), sent out from our factory after (date) had been poorly constructed because of an oversight of the
assembly line controller.
Fortunately our designers have constructed a new part, which can easily be substituted for the faulty one. We are
sending you these new replacement parts so that you can put (article) in order.
But we realise that any accident to our customers, however slight, would have extremely negative effects on our
marketing as well as possible legal complications. We would therefore ask you, as our long-standing retailers, to contact
directly all customers who have purchased the faulty (article) and offer to replace it free of charge immediately. We will
be more than happy to refund you fully of this.
In view of the seriousness of the situation, we are also publishing a nation-wide press statement informing the public of
the problem and inviting them to return the faulty (articles) to the store where they purchased it.
We rely on your help to overcome the unfortunate circumstances and we assure you that an inconvenience of this kind
will not be repeated.
That you very much for you co-operation.
COMPLAINT ABOUT DELAY IN DELIVERY
On September ... we placed our order for ... .
These articles were ordered on the clear understanding that they should reach us by mid October. They are in fact a
fashionable novelty, which we intended to advertise particularly for the Xmas season.
The Xmas sales are now approaching and we received neither the goods nor an explanation, and we may run out of
stock and be unable to meet our customers’ requirements. You will understand that this delay could cause us a loss of
business.
Under the circumstances, we cannot wait any longer, so if we do not hear from you be the end of this week, we will
have no option but withdraw from our contract and order from another supplier.
REPLY TO A COMPLAINT ABOUT DELAY IN DELIVERY
We received this morning your letter complaining about the delivery of ... you ordered on (date) and we apologise very
much for the trouble caused by the delay.
Unfortunately a strike in our factory stopped the production for a period of ... . The strike has now been settled but we
are now faced with a backlog of orders. We are however doing our best to keep the delay of the scheduled deliveries
within reasonable limits, and we are arranging despatch of your order by airfreight, so that you will be able to receive
the consignment by the end of the week.
We are extremely sorry for the delay, which you will realise is due to circumstances beyond our control. Please accept
our apologies for the inconvenience caused.
We look forward to receiving an early reply.
We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible / soon.
We are looking forward to your reply.
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COVERING LETTERS (JOB APPLICATIONS)
Dear Sir,
I have read your advertisement on Internet, ref. No. ... .
I am interested in this kind of job and I think I am qualified in both my education and my social and personal skills.
I am sending you my CV together with references concerning my character and skills.
I hope you will give me the opportunity of an interview at any time suitable to you.
Yours faithfully,
...
Dear Sirs,
With reference to your ad, ref. ...., in yesterday’s Corriere della Sera, I would like to apply for the position offered.
I have the qualifications required for the job, as you will see from enclosed CV.
I hope you will take my application into consideration and that you will call me for an interview.
Yours faithfully,
...
Salutation
Dear Sirs,
Gentlemen:
Dear Sir,
Dear Madam,
Dear Sir/Madam,
Dear Mr Thompson,
Complimentary close
Yours faithfully,
Yours truly, / Very truly yours,
Yours faithfully / Yours truly
“
“
Yours sincerely, / Truly yours, / Best / Regards
GLOSSARY
despatch or dispatch: mandare, inviare
backlog of orders: cumulo di ordinativi inevasi
Prof. Ermanno Maggi
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