Letter to Supplier for Wrong Billing - Request for Revised Invoice

Supplier sending you across an erroneous invoice could be entirely unintentional most of the time and in very rare cases it could be a willful blunder. Hence, before making this issue further disputable - it would be advisable for you to first speak with the supplier or write to him regarding the alleged inaccuracy in the invoice(s). And, seek for a revision in the invoice(s).

Important things to remember while writing such letter to supplier:

(1) Accurate details of the invoice number and date with purchase order or contract reference;
(2) What for the billing was done - describe the goods supply details, if needed - quantity and date of supply, etc;
(3) What is the exact error in the invoice - describe briefly;
(4) What is the corrective action suggested by you - explain;
(5) Show your disappointment about the wrong invoicing but do not use harsh words which could hamper the business relationship.

Following format could be used. Modify it suitably as per the exact nature of error in your case.

FORMAT

Ref: ......................
Date: ....................

To
(Name of the Supplier)
(Address)
(Tel. No.)

Sub.: Erroneous invoices received - request for revision.

Dear Mr. ...............,

Greetings! Hope you are doing well.

I am writing this letter with a bit of disappointment regarding the wrong invoices received from your end. Kindly go through the following details about the concerned invoices and please do take appropriate action in this regard.

We have received on (date) the following invoices wherein we have found some errors in the billing amount.

(1) Invoice no. ..................... dated .............. (ref: Purchase order no. ............... dated ..............)

Error: Billed quantity is 120ton of goods whereas it should have been 102ton of goods as we had returned 18ton of goods on (date) because of the faulty nature in it. Returned goods were received at your company's warehouse #.......  on (date). Acknowledgement no. ........... dated ..............

(2) Invoice no. ..................... dated .............. (ref: Purchase order no. ............... dated ..............)

Error: Billed rate in the invoice is US$ 5000 per ton of goods whereas if you refer our email correspondence dated .......... You had agreed to give a discount of 10% on it. So the billing rate should be US$4500 per ton of goods.

(3) Invoice no. ..................... dated .............. (ref: Purchase order no. ............... dated ..............)

Error: There is a gross error in the calculation of the bill. The total amount should be US$16,000 whereas it is showing US$19,000. This needs to be corrected.


As you will notice these errors are quite genuine in nature and hence, it should be corrected and revised invoices should be issued to us at the earliest. We believe these errors must have been unintentional and therefore we are not letting it to be any kind of hurdle in our business relationship. Although we do hope your team will take extra measures in reassuring the accuracy of the invoices in the future.

Looking forward to receiving the revised invoices as soon as possible from your end.

Thanking you for your understanding and cooperation in the matter!

Yours faithfully,

signature
(Name of the Authorized Officer)
(Designation)

Apology Letter to Supplier for Late Payment of Invoice (Sample)

Making delayed payment of invoices to your vendor (or supplier or client or any other parties) is a bad business practice. If you want to succeed in business, then you should put best efforts to pay the dues on time to the parties. Only in extraordinary circumstances or where there are some disputes on payment amount, the payment can be made in a later date after everything is settled.

In case there is any delay in payment of bill amount to the supplier, then you should write an apology letter (in advance, if possible) wherein you have to explain the cause of delay and seek his forgiveness for the delay so caused and give commitments to make a payment on a certain day.

Apology letters to the party can be written under three scenarios:

1) Apology letter before the due date of payment when you are expecting a delay in payment;

2) Apology letter after the due date of payment is crossed but before actual payment is made;

3) Apology letter after the due date of payment is crossed and after actual payment is made.

The formats for all these letters are almost the same. You can use the following format and make necessary modifications in it as it suits your case.

FORMAT

Date: ...............

Ref: .................

To

(Name of the Officer)

(Designation)

(Name of the Business)

(Address)

(Contact No.)

Sub: Apology for delay in making payment

Ref: Invoice No. ................. dated ..............

Dear Mr. ..................,

At the outset let me apologize for delay from our side in making payment towards the invoice no. ......... dated for the supply of .............. We are deeply sorry for this delay and we apologize for any inconvenience that may have been caused to your organization for this delay.

While I would not like to take any ingenuine excuses to cover up the delay, but I would really appreciate if you would kindly understand our situation and excuse us for this late payment. We were expecting a few large payments from our big clients, from which we were going to make payment to you as soon as the monies were to be received. Unfortunately, there are some inadvertent delays from our clients' side too for which some of the payments are not yet received. We're in touch with those clients and hopefully they will be making payment in the next few days.

In order to make payments to you at the earliest, we are also in touch with our bankers and they may allow us extended overdraft facility by the end of this week. If that comes through, we will make payments to you immediately upon receipt of bank approval.

Let me reassure you that we are committed to make payments to you as soon as the funds are realized. Until then, I would request you to kindly bear with us. Our deepest apologies once again please for the delay.

Thanking you for your understanding and cooperation in this regard.

Yours sincerely,

For ....................... Limited

   (signature)

(Name of the Employee/ businessman)

(Name of the Organisation /business)