Correspondence

Writing 4
Letters of complaint
Complaints may be made by:
The wrong goods have been sent
Poor service has been received
The quality of the goods unsatisfactory
The goods have been delivered damaged or late
The prices charged are not as agreed

Order in a formal letter:
Address
The date
Subject line or reference
A formal greeting
A formal expression to close the letter
Signature

1 – b
2 – c
3 – a
4 – f
5 – e
6- d
Stages of making complaints:

Background
Problem – cause & effect
Solution
Warning (optional)
Closing
1. Background: describe the situation
I am writing to inform you that…………..
I am writing to complain because………….
I write to you as…………………
I write to you to tell about…………………….
I am writing to complain about………………


Examples:
I am writing to inform you that the gods we ordered from your company have not been supplied correctly.
I am writing to inform you of my dissatisfaction with the food and drinks at the `European Restaurant` on 18 January this year.
I attended your exhibition Sound Systems 2002 at the Fortune Hotel (22-25 January) and found it informative and interesting. Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the event was spoiled by a number of organizational problems.
I am writing to complain about the quality of the goods you delivered to me yesterday.


2. Problem: explain the cause & effect
You sent us an invoice for $10,532, but did not deduct our usual 10% discount.
We have found 16 spelling errors and 2 mislabeled diagrams in the sample book. 
On 21 February 2008 we placed an order with your firm for 12,000 ultra super long-life batteries. The consignment arrived yesterday but contained only 1,200 batteries
Firstly, I had difficulty in registering to attend the event. You set up an on-line registration facility, but I found the facility totally unworkable.
Effect:
I am therefore returning the invoice to you for correction.
This large number of errors is unacceptable to our customers, and we are therefore unable to sell these books.
This error put our firm in a difficult position, as we had to make some emergency purchases to fulfill our commitments to all our customers. This caused us considerable inconvenience.
Even after spending several wasted hours trying to register in this way, the computer would not accept my application



3. Solutions: suggested by the writer
Please send us a corrected invoice for $9,479
I enclose a copy of the book with the errors highlighted. Please re-print the book and send it to us by next Friday
I am writing to ask you to please make up the shortfall immediately and to ensure that such errors do not happen again
Could I please ask you to look into these matters.

Warning: to emphasize the matter
Otherwise, we may have to look elsewhere for our supplies.
I`m afraid that if these conditions are not met, we may be forced to take legal action.
If the outstanding fees are not paid by Tuesday, 8 January 2002, you will incur a 10% late payment fee



Closing:


I look forward to receiving your explanation of these matters

I look forward to receiving your payment.

I look forward to hearing from you shortly.
Sample letter sample.doc
Content
The content should contain enough details so that the receiver does not have to write back requesting more.
Legal action is not normally threatened in the first letter of complaint, unless the situation is very serious.
Politeness:
The tone of complaint letters should not be aggressive or insulting
In addition, questions such as `Why can`t you get this right?` should not be included.
How to reply complaints
Accepting a Complaint :
Apology for the error or fault
Accepting the complaint
A short explanation of the fault / Investigation to be made
Proposal to settle the difficulty
An offer to take goods back, make a replacement, give a discount etc.
A concluding paragraph aiming at retaining the goodwill of the customer

Rejecting a complaint:
Regret at dissatisfaction
Rejecting responsibility for the problem leading to the complaint
Reasons for the rejection
Proposal to settle the difficulty
If a third party (another person or organisation) is to blame, direct the complainer to that party
A concluding paragraph aiming at retaining the goodwill of the customer
Useful Expressions:
Acknowledging receipt of a complaint letter
Thank you for your letter of … regarding / concerning / in connection with …
I refer to your letter of … about / relating to……

Apology for the error or fault
We must apologise for …
We sincerely apologise for …
Please accept our apologies for …
I would like to apologise for the error made by our company in (verb+ing)

Accepting the Complaint

We agree that the usual high standards of our products / services were not met in this instance.

A short explanation of the fault
Introductory phrase
As a result of our investigation, we found that... (Not: After our investigation...)
Causes
The error was caused by … / was due to …
Apparently, the problem was the result of … / resulted from …
The cause of / reason for the mistake was …
Effects
We have modified / changed our ...
We have implemented a system to...
To prevent re-occurrences we have set up a verification procedure
Solutions
We have modified / changed our ...
We have implemented a system to...
To prevent re-occurrences we have set up a verification procedure
Assurances
We assure you that this will not happen again.
Investigation to be made
We are currently investigating the cause of ...
We will investigate the cause of...

Proposal to settle the difficulty
As a gesture of our regret, we are prepared to …/ we are willing to …/ we would like to …
To show goodwill, we will …

An offer to take goods back, make a replacement, give a discount etc.
We have dispatched the new items by express courier. They should arrive by Friday, 4 January 2002.
To show our goodwill, we would like to offer you a 5% discount on your next order with us.

Regret at dissatisfaction
I regret to inform you that …
I am afraid that …
Unfortunately, I must point out that …

Reasons for the rejection
This is because the guarantee period has expired.
This is due to the fact that the guarantee period has expired.

If a third party (another person or organisation) is to blame, direct the complainer to that party


We therefore suggest that you contact...
A concluding paragraph aiming at retaining the goodwill of the customer


We look forward to receiving your further orders, and assure you that they will be filled correctly / promptly.
letter sample.doc