Damaged, wrong or missing items: what to reply

First, the order

Open the order before you write: what was in it, how many parcels it shipped in, and when they were delivered. Words in {{braces}} are blanks to fill from the order or your policy, never from memory.

It arrived damaged

Ask for a photo before anything else — it's what a carrier claim needs too. Don't ask them to pay to send it back: a faulty item is the store's cost to return in the EU and UK.

Hi {{first_name}},

I'm so sorry order {{order_number}} arrived damaged. Could you reply with a photo of the item and the packaging? That's all I need.

Once I have it, I'll {{what_your_policy_offers}}. You won't pay anything to send the damaged one back.

{{your_name}}

They got the wrong item

Check the order against what they received. The mistake is yours, so the fix should cost them nothing.

Hi {{first_name}},

You're right — we sent {{item_sent}} instead of {{item_ordered}}. I'm sorry about that.

{{how_you_fix_it}} {{return_label_or_keep_it}}

{{your_name}}

Something is missing from the order

Check the order's fulfilments: one order can ship in more than one parcel.

Hi {{first_name}},

Thanks for letting me know. I've checked order {{order_number}}: {{what_the_order_shows}}.

{{next_step}} I'll email you as soon as it's on its way.

{{your_name}}

Who pays

In the EU, the cost of returning a defective product "is the responsibility of the trader" (Your Europe). In the UK, a store must offer a full refund if an item is faulty, not as described, or doesn't do what it's supposed to (GOV.UK). Whatever your policy says about change-of-mind returns, a faulty or wrong item is a different case.

When AI drafts the reply

These replies are easy for an AI to write and easy for it to get wrong: offering a refund your policy doesn't, or naming a replacement you don't have in stock. Corresso drafts them from your approved policies, holds any draft that promises a remedy without citing a document allowed to offer it, and leaves order details as blanks a person fills from the order. Corresso for Shopify stores.