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3PL billing dispute email template

When charges don't match your contract, the first email decides how fast it gets fixed. This is the one we'd send: specific, evidenced, and asking a question rather than making an accusation.

Subject: Billing reconciliation for invoices [numbers]

Hi [3PL] billing team,

We've reconciled our recent invoices against our agreement, and some charges don't match the contracted terms. I've listed them below, with the contract terms we compared them with, and attached the invoice lines behind each one.

In total, [$ amount] across [number] items:

- [What the charge is] ([months]): [$ amount]. Billed at [rate], contract says [rate] ([where it says so]).
- [What the charge is] ([months]): [$ amount]. [One line on what doesn't match.]

Could you review these and issue a credit memo for the corrected amounts? If any item is covered by an amendment or an approval we don't have on file, please send it over and we'll update our records.

[Our agreement gives us until [date] to raise billing questions on the earliest of these invoices, so a reply before then would help.]

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Your company]

Nothing here is sent anywhere: the button copies the text to your clipboard.

How to fill it in

• One line per cause, not per invoice line. "Additional picks billed at the wrong rate across three invoices" is one item. Four hundred rows is a spreadsheet nobody reads.
• Name the document. For each item, say where the contracted price comes from: the agreement, a rate card, an amendment, an email confirming a price.
• Attach the proof. A spreadsheet of the invoice lines involved, with the invoice number and date on each. A credit someone can verify in five minutes gets paid.
• Keep the deadline line only if your contract has one. It's a reason to reply, not a threat. Drop the brackets.
• Send it to billing, and copy your account manager. The people who can issue a credit memo are usually not the people you talk to every week.

If the first answer is no

Ask for the calculation rather than repeating the claim: "Could you show how the storage charge for August was worked out?" Most disagreements turn out to be a different reading of the same clause, a rate card that was updated late, or a surcharge someone passed through without checking the contract. If an item really is covered by something you haven't seen, ask for that document and update your records: you'll want it the next time you check an invoice.

Keep everything in writing, keep it friendly, and keep the relationship. You'll be sending them orders next month.

How long you have to raise it · How to audit a 3PL invoice, step by step