We Used a Demand Letter to Help a US Client Get Money Back

A week ago, we received a consultant email from a US client who had just had a trade dispute with a Chinese manufacturer. He has an individual agent in China who helps him deal with some business issues. However, after several months of negotiation with the manufacturer, the dispute has not been resolved as the manufacturer refused to reply to their emails or answer their calls.

So he asked for help from us and wanted us to file a lawsuit in China court against the manufacturer. After we reviewed all of the evidence he provided, we suggested to him that he does not need to file a lawsuit against the manufacturer immediately and that it is better to try a demand letter and conduct a formal legal negotiation with the manufacturer. He accepted our suggestions finally.

Firstly, we sent a lawyer’s letter to the manufacturer by post and email. Secondly, we made a call to the manufacturer to negotiate with it and tried to settle disputes in a Mediation approach. Through a demand letter and negotiation, finally, the manufacturer refunded all of the fees that the US client claimed before.

This is one of the successful examples in which we use a demand letter to help clients resolve international trade disputes with Chinese factories. However, it is worth noting that not all of the lawyer’s letters can have a positive effect on a dispute settlement. Sometimes it does not work. If in that circumstance, filing a lawsuit to the courts should be conducted. That is to say, sending a demand letter can increase success rates in settling disputes but cannot guarantee the results 100%.

Compared to litigation, which means resolving disputes, a Lawyer’s Letter has its advantages. One of the most prominent features is that it is far more cost-effective. Hence, we would suggest that you should try a lawyer’s letter first when business disputes with Chinese manufacturers happen at first. If it does not work or the factories do not intend to negotiate, then we can start to file a lawsuit against the suppliers.

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Contact us:

Jack Meng, is a Chinese lawyer practicing in Shanghai.

finlandlove@outlook.com