The most common complaint is that later lots do not perform like the approved sample. Close behind are wrong active content, damage in transit, poor labels and safety data sheets, leaking packs and old stock.
Most of these can be prevented with a tight specification, checks before loading and a clear contract. For quality problems across all chemical types, see common quality problems with Indian chemicals.
Product complaints
- Performance drift happens when a later batch passes the certificate but works differently on the line, often after a raw material change.
- Low active content happens when a product is diluted to meet a price, or when the certificate reports solids instead of actives.
- Viscosity, colour or odour may differ from the sample, which customers notice even if performance is fine.
- Separation, gelling or lumps may appear in emulsions that froze or overheated in transit.
- Contamination may come from poorly cleaned reactors, tanks or reused drums.
- A product sold as "equivalent" to a known product may only be equivalent on paper.
Paperwork and packing complaints
- Safety data sheets may be generic, out of date or not in your market's format and language.
- Hazard labels may be missing or wrong, which can stop goods at customs or in your warehouse.
- Certificates may not match the batch numbers on the packs.
- Drums and IBCs may leak from loose closures, damaged seams or poor-quality reconditioned packs.
- Stock may arrive with much of its shelf life already used.
How to prevent them
Write a specification that includes performance tests and change notification, not only chemical figures. Keep a reference sample from the approved batch. Agree pack type, closures, labels and minimum remaining shelf life in the contract.
Have each lot sampled and tested before it leaves the plant. Check packs, labels and certificates at loading, and photograph the container before sealing. Retest on arrival for the figures that matter most.
Check the paperwork early too. Ask for draft labels and safety data sheets in your market's format before the first order, and have them reviewed. Fixing a label at the plant takes days. Fixing it in your warehouse, after customs has queried it, takes far longer.
Finally, choose the plant with care. Many complaints trace back to a trader who switched factories between orders. Confirm who actually makes your product, as set out in trader or manufacturer.
When a complaint happens
Stop using the affected lot and keep it separate. Take samples correctly, photograph packs and labels, and test your sample beside the retained reference. Then notify the supplier in writing within the period your contract sets.
The process for making and settling a claim is in handling a quality claim on a chemical shipment.
Next step
We check samples, documents and packs before loading, so problems are caught in India, not at your door. Book a free sourcing review.