Reporting a product difference clearly

Something arrives and it is not what you expected. The instinct is to send a photograph and "is this right?", and the reply is a question, and the exchange takes a week.

The report that gets investigated quickly has three sentences, in this order.

Three sentences

1. What you observed - The physical fact, with no interpretation. "The outlet thread on the delivered item is external; the marking beside it reads G3/4."

2. What you expected, and on what basis - "We expected an internal thread, per requirement Rev B and your quotation Q-1042." Naming the document is what makes this answerable.

3. What you need - "Please confirm which is correct for model XF-25 and whether the delivered items can be used." This tells the supplier what decision you are waiting on.

What to attach

Add the evidence: photographs of the item and of the marking, the order line, and the quantity affected. Say whether it is all of them or some - "three of twenty" points at a different cause than "all twenty" and a supplier will investigate differently.

Say too whether anything has been fitted or modified. It changes what can be returned and it is better said now than discovered later.

Report the observation, not the verdict

What to avoid: writing the conclusion into the report. "You sent the wrong valve" may turn out to be true, and it may turn out that the requirement changed after the order, or that two revisions were in circulation. A report that states observations lets the investigation find that. A report that states a verdict makes the first reply an argument about the verdict.