Goods damaged on delivery: the claim file to build within three days

A pallet arrives with a crushed corner. The driver has three more drops, the forklift operator signs the note to let him go, and the damaged box goes off to the aisle. The dispute starts a week later, when someone opens the box.

The short answer: for road transport within France, you have three days, public holidays excluded, to notify the carrier of a reasoned protest. The useful answer lies in what happens on the dock, in the ten minutes before the signature.

What the law says#

Two articles of the French Commercial Code govern the subject, and the Court of Cassation regularly restates them.

• The three-day deadline (article L. 133-3). Accepting the goods extinguishes any claim against the carrier for damage or partial loss unless, within three days of receipt, public holidays excluded, the consignee has notified a reasoned protest by registered letter or bailiff's writ.
• How serious the damage is changes nothing. The deadline still applies to damage, even heavy damage. It does not apply to total loss, meaning goods that are never presented.
• The claim itself is time-barred after one year (article L. 133-6).

The standard contract that applies when nothing has been signed with the carrier adds two dock rules: the consignee may make precise, reasoned reservations about condition and quantity, and their signature is proof of handover. It comes with the signer's name, the date, the time and the company stamp.

For international transport, the rules are different: check them with your freight forwarder.

What to write on the delivery note, and what is useless#

« Subject to unpacking » is the most common wording, and the weakest: it describes no damage. A useful reservation says what you see.

Three habits for the forklift operator or the goods-in clerk:

1. Count the packages before signing, not after.
2. Walk around the pallet and photograph the damage while the driver is there.
3. Write the reservation in plain words, with your name and the time.

The file to build that same day#

The three-day deadline is rarely missed out of carelessness. It is missed because the note sits in a tray, the photos stay on the operator's phone, and the buyer hears about the problem the following Monday. So the file is built on delivery day, in one go:

• the signed delivery note, with a legible reservation;
• the photos, dated and attached to the right delivery;
• the order reference and the carrier's name;
• the reasoned protest letter, sent by registered mail before the deadline;
• the list of affected packages and, once known, the amount of the damage.

Leave yourself room: if the delivery arrives on a Thursday, the letter goes out that day or the next. Waiting for the last day is a bet on the calendar.

This file ties back to the problem described in double-keying delivery notes: a reservation that exists on paper but not in the file is useless on the day of the claim.

The calculation on an example#

Take a building materials distributor receiving 30 deliveries a day, 220 days a year. Assume one delivery in a hundred arrives damaged, at €400 on average, and that half of those claims are lost for lack of a reservation or a letter in time. These are assumptions.

The figure leaves out the time spent hunting for documents and the discounts given on damaged goods. Redo the calculation with your own numbers: the damage rate can be read from last year's credit notes and disputes. The same log also helps you measure your suppliers' service level.

What changes with an application built for your company#

When goods-in is done on the clerk's phone, the file builds itself while they work.

• They scan the note, count the packages and record the discrepancy on the delivery screen.
• They take the photos from the same record: they are dated and attached to the order.
• The reservation is written from simple choices (dented, wet, missing), with the number of packages.
• The protest letter is drafted automatically from these details. The buyer reviews it and sends it the same day.
• A list shows open disputes and the number of days left before the deadline.

The detail is on the disputes and proof page.

Transport disputes: the key takeaways#

The deadline is short: three days after receipt, public holidays excluded, for a reasoned protest by registered letter. A reservation on the note only counts if it describes the damage.

The claim is won on the dock: count, photograph, write a precise reservation, then send the letter the same day. What gets put together the next day rarely gets put together at all.