Sooner or later every importer opens a bale to find something wrong — water staining, a crushed carton, two rugs short, or a defect the factory should have caught. What separates professionals from the distressed is not luck; it is having a claims routine before they need one.
The First Hour Matters Most
Inspect on delivery, before signing. If anything looks wrong outside — torn baling, water marks, crush damage — write it on the delivery receipt ("received with visible damage to 2 bales") and photograph everything before and during unpacking. A clean signature on the receipt is the single biggest destroyer of transit claims.
Route the Claim to the Right Party
- Transit damage (water, crushing, loss): claim against the cargo insurance policy, notifying the insurer and forwarder immediately. Keep all packaging for possible survey.
- Shortage: reconcile bale numbers against the packing list first — then insurer or supplier depending on where the count fails.
- Manufacturing defects (size out of tolerance, wrong colour, workmanship): a supplier claim, made with photos, measurements and reference to the written specification and approved sample.
What a Good Supplier Does
Acknowledges quickly, asks for evidence rather than excuses, and offers a concrete remedy — replacement pieces in the next shipment, credit against the invoice, or a discount you actually agree to. Serious exporters have a written claims process; ask about it before the first order, when the question costs nothing.
The Long Game
Track claims by cause. A pattern of transit damage means change the packing or the forwarder; a pattern of defects means change the supplier. One claim honestly resolved is, oddly, the strongest trust-builder in the trade — we have won decades-long customers that way. Ask us for our claims terms in writing; suppliers who hesitate have answered a different question.