Serious Delays in Delivery of Pods and Poor Quality of Vanity Marbles

Our Ref: xxx

Date: xxx

To                    :           xxx Middle East,

                                    P.O.Box xxx,

            Dubai – UAE.

Attention          :           Mr. xxx

                        :           Project Manager

Project             :           xxx Towers Project, Dubai

Subject:                 Serious Delays in Delivery of Pods and Poor Quality of Vanity Marbles

Dear Mr. Yang,

We refer to your letter Ref: xxx dated 19^th November xxx received on 20^th November xxx evening. Please see below our comments in response to the points raised.

1. Deliveries
2. We refute your statement that there are serious delays from our side.
3. As per the table mentioned in your above referred letter, the delay you are referring to is only for three days, for reasons well known to all parties, and will be discussed below.

• The Marble issue; History
• The whole problem of the quality of marble was portrayed in your letter as a QA/QC issue, but in reality, it’s far from being the actual problem.
• Most of the slabs reported under your above mentioned letter and shown in your photographs were already rejected by Xxxx QA/QC.  Please refer to our previous emails in this regard (copies attached).
• This is what happened.
  • Your Mr. Mohammed Arif, AAID Mrs. Shawna and Archgroup Mr. Samir Sapate visited our factory on Sunday, 17^th Nov-19.
  • This visit was to inspect and discuss the issue of marble and the difficulties Xxxx is facing to secure the required quality.
  • A large quantity (54 sets) was displayed, out of which about 60% was already rejected by Xxxx (this includes all broken and rectified pieces).
  • The purpose of Xxxx showing all these rejected slabs was (a) to demonstrate the difficulties we are facing in sourcing this type of marble – particularly in terms of fragility, the fact raised by Xxxx from early Sep-19 (please refer to the attached Minutes of Meeting dated 7^th Oct-19 highlighted in yellow and also by asking AAID and IG to help us in the selection) and (b) agreeing on the color, pattern and variance, the fact that was raised by Xxxx as early as Sep-19 (please refer to our letter dated 4^th Sep-19 attached) inviting all parties involved to participate in the selection of the marble to avoid the trouble we are facing today).
  • The rejection rate of our QA/QC caused a clash with the supplier who is arguing that this is a natural stone and this is the best outcome achievable within the wastage rates he accounted for (about 40%).

• Accordingly, having our QA/QC just rejecting these slabs without an alternative solution or supplier, will only lead to this supplier quitting the job and leaving us without a solution (already the Tundra grey marble supplier has stopped production until we ease the quality control standards).
• As demonstrated above, the issue is not an issue of quality control, it’s a matter of (a) clear guidelines for acceptance, (b) ability and motivation of the supplier and (c) the cost.

• The Marble issue; Potential solution
• Xxxx is working with the selected supplier on a PC rate given by XXXX.
• Xxxx invited four other suppliers to work on the job.  All these suppliers apologized for not being able to achieve the required quality at the offered price.  Attached you will find a sample quotation from one of these suppliers showing a price more than double the PC rate given by XXXX.
• Therefore, we will follow the quality control process advised by Mace and described under our email of 21^st Nov-19, however, a Plan B should be considered as fast as possible, and the only Plan B we can see at this stage is to engage other suppliers at a higher cost, if necessary.

The issue is not Xxxx sole problem and cannot be resolved by Xxxx alone.  This issue has to be resolved by all parties by deciding on what is acceptable in terms of color, variance and what kind of cost this selection may involve.

• The Paint issue
• The issue of the paint was raised by Xxxx long time back and Xxxx proposed two options.
• Either we achieve the finish required by the ID consultants using products and brands available in the market
• Or use the specified product from Jotun and then Xxxx cannot be responsible for the outcome.
• Xxxx took the initiative and prepared four different samples matching the requirement of the Consultant and submitted all the necessary documents to approve the paint on Tuesday, 19^th Nov-19.
• We urge you to approve the alternative solution proposed by Xxxx as fast as possible so we can resolve this matter once and for all.

In conclusion and as demonstrated above, these problems are not Xxxx problems.  Xxxx is working within the limitations, specifications and PC rate given by XXXX.  Accordingly, the solution has to be found and agreed by all parties involved.

Yours faithfully,

On behalf of  xxx LLC

xxx

Project Manager