Reply to a letter of complaint

Opening

Acknowledge that you have received the complaint, and thank your customer for informing you.

Thank you for your letter of 6 August informing us that…

We would like to thank you for informing us of our accounting error in your letter of the 7 June.

We are replying to your letter of 10 March in which you told us that...

  Dear Mr Richardson, Thank you for your letter. I checked the problem you referred to, which is in fact in the Scandinavian Accommodation catalogue No. 14 with our price-list. The price has been increased to ₤70.00 not by ₤70.00, and I think you will agree that for an accommodation in a 4-star hotel this is not an unreasonable increase considering that in the past few months the hotel was completely renovated.

Getting time to investigate the complaint

Sometimes you cannot deal with a complaint immediately, as the matter needs to be booked into. Do not leave your customer waiting, but tell him what you are doing straight away.

· While we cannot give you an explanation at present, we can promise you that we are looking into the matter and will write to you again shortly.

· You deserve an explanation for what went wrong in our
accounting department, and I hope that this letter will
serve to resolve our recent difficulties.

Explaining the mistake

If the complaint is justified, explain how the mistake occurred but do not blame your staff; you employed them, so you are responsible for their actions.

The mistake was due to a fault in one our machines, which has now been corrected.

There appears to have been some confusion in our addressing system, but this has been adjusted.

It is unusual for this type of error to arise, but the problem has now been dealt with.

Solving the problem

Having acknowledgement your responsibility and explained what went wrong, you must, of course, put matters right as soon as possible and tell your customer that you are doing so.

The reason for the weakness in the service you complained about was due to… This is being corrected at the moment and we are sure you will be completely satisfied with the service we are providing now.

Rejecting a complaint

If you think the complaint is unjustified you can be firm but polite in your answer. But even if you deny responsibility, you should always try to give an explanation of the problem.

Closing

It is useful when closing your letter to mention that this mistake, error, or fault is an exception, and it either rarely or never happens, and of course you should apologize for the inconvenience your customer experienced.

· Finally, may we say that this was an exceptional mistake and is unlikely to occur again. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience.

· You have been a valued customer of ours for a long time
and we appreciate your affording us the opportunity to serve
you. You may rest assured that this problem will not
surface again.

Body of an Adjustment Letter

An adjustment letter generally has four parts.  

Examples

    1. OPENING

 

Acknowledge correspondence.

Thank you for your letter of March 23. We received your letter of May 25.  

    2. PURPOSE

 

Apologize.

  We apologize for the error. We regret any inconvenience.  

3. ACTION

Correct the problem

We will refund your money.

    4. POLITE EXPRESSIONS

 

Apologize again.

Be positive.

  Again, we regret the error. Please accept our apologies.   We, again, apologize for the inconvenience. We look forward to serving you in the future.   We hope you will continue to do business with us.  

Adjustment letter

Language for handling complaints

Letters of apology: useful expressions

Introducing your complaint * I’m not one to make a fuss, but… * I don’t want to complain but… * I’m sorry, but I really feel I have to make a complaint about... * I am concerned about … * It does not appear to be consistent with … * We have enjoyed a long-standing relationship, but … * This type of misunderstanding makes it difficult for us… Handling a complaint I'm sorry to hear that. Let me take the full particulars. I fully understand.

was sorry to hear that... Please accept my sincere apologies for... I have thoroughly investigated your complaint... I apologise for the inconvenience. ... due to circumstances beyond ourcontrol. I will personally make sure... I can assure you this will not happen again.

UNIT 4

Electronic correspondence

Part 1

Telex

The telex has all the advantages of sending a cable and in addition it is available in the office and offers a direct line, with immediate reply.

There are more than 70,000 UK and 900,000 worldwide lines. All telex numbers are published in the Telex Directory.. Company telex numbers is (are) given on printed company-forms (company letter-paper) in the letterhead or at the bottom of the page: e.g. TLX No. 783290, Telex 86286 Altaian G, Telex: 667844 Simcar G.

The word telex can be used as a verb, noun or adjective.

The telex system provides a 24 - hour service, and messages may be sent to a subscriber even when his teleprinter is unattended, if it has not been switched off. So it is possible to send messages at night ready to be dealt with first thing next morning. All calls are charged on a time-and-distance basis; moreover, the message can be corrected immediately if there is an error.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14