Commercial correspondence Vũ Thị Diễm Phúc Khoa Tiếng Anh Thương Mại COMPLAINTS AND ADJUSTMENTS When things go wrong COMPLAINING General tips – – – – – – – Make sure your letter is sent to the right person or department Be polite as sarcasm or rudeness will not help your cause! Do not be rude or personal Keep your letter short, clearly present your problem Say what you want for your complaint to be resolved Give a reasonable timetable for action to be taken before you consider other options Keep a copy of letters you write Clearly print or type your name, address and phone number Keep a copy of all letters you send and receive If the first letter does not bring a response, send a second Opening Complain as soon as you realize a mistake Do not apologize ▶ We would like to inform you… ▶ I am writing to complain about… Explaining the problem Politely point out a mistake if you know it Never blame ▶Could you tell your despatch department to take special care when addressing consignments? ▶Could you ask your accounts department to check my code carefully in future? My account number is 246-642, but they have been sending me statements coded 642-246 ▶I think the reason that wrong sizes have been sent to me is because I am ordering in metric sizes, and you are sending me sizes measured in feet and Suggesting a solution Suggest how the matter should be put right ▶If I send you a debit note for $984 and deduct it from my next statement, that should put the matter right The best solution would be for me to return the wrong articles, charging your P&P ▶Rather than send a credit note you could send six replacements, which would probably be easier than adjusting our Suggesting a solution ▶Debit note is a document used by a buyer to inform a vendor of the quantity and dollar amount of goods being returned, and requesting that the dollar amount be returned to the purchaser A debit note is often used to return goods on credit The vendor then issues a credit note to the purchaser indicating that the goods have been received, and that the purchaser will not have to pay for them ▶Credit note is a letter sent by a seller to a buyer, stating that a certain amount has been credited to the buyer's account A credit note is issued in various situations to correct a mistake, such as when (1) an invoice amount is overstated, (2) correct discount rate is not applied, (3) goods spoil within guaranty period, or (4) they not meet the buyer's specifications and are returned Also called credit memo Replying to LETTERS OF COMPLAINT Opening Acknowledge complaint your receipt of the Thank the customer for informing you ▶Thank you for your letter of 26 November informing us that… ▶We would like to thank you for informing us of our accounting error in your letter of 26 November ▶We are replying to your letter of 24 Body Asking for time to deal with the complaint, but tell your customer you are doing something about it ▶While we cannot give you an explanation at present, we are looking into the problem and will contact you again shortly ▶As we are sending out orders promptly, I think these delays may be occurring during transit I shall get in touch with the haulage contractors ▶Would you please return samples of the items you are dissatisfied with, and I will send them to our Body Explaining the mistake, blame your staff but don’t ▶The mistake was due to a fault in one of our machines, which has now been corrected ▶There appears to have been some confusion in our addressing system, but this has been sorted out ▶It is unusual for this type of error to arise, but the problem has now been dealt with Body Tell your customer that you are going to put things right as soon as possible ▶We have now checked our accounts and find that we have been sending you the wrong statement due to a confusion in names and addresses The database has been adjusted and there should be no more difficulties Please contact us again if a similar situation arises, and thank you again for pointing out the error ▶The fabric you complained about has now been withdrawn The fault was in the weave of the cloth, which was due to a programming error in the weaving machines This has now been Body Be firm when denying your responsibility, but be polite and try to give an explanation ▶We have closely compared the articles you returned with our samples and can see no difference between them Therefore, in this case we are not willing either to substitute the articles or to offer a credit ▶Our factory has now inspected the unit you returned last week, and they inform us that the circuits were overloaded We can repair the machine, but it will be necessary to charge you as incorrect use of the unit is not covered by our Closing Mention that the mistake, error, or fault is an exception Apologize for the inconvenience ▶Finally, may we say that this was an exceptional mistake and is unlikely to occur again Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience ▶Replacement for the faulty articles are on their way to you, and you should receive them tomorrow We are sure that you will be satisfied with them and there will be no repetition of the faults Thank you for your patience in this matter, and we look Example Attn Sig Daniele Causio Dear Sig Causio Our Order No 14478 I am writing to you to complain about the shipment of sweaters we received yesterday against the above order The boxes in which the sweaters were packed were damaged, and looked as if they had been broken open in transit From your invoice No.18871 we estimate that thirty garments have been stolen, to the value of £550.00 Because of the rummaging in the boxes, quite a few other garments were crushed or stained and cannot be sold as new articles in our shops As the sale was on a CIF basis and the forwarding company were your agents, we suggest you contact them with regard to compensation You will find a list of the damaged and missing articles enclosed, and the consignment will be put to one side until we receive your instructions Yours sincerely Peter Crane Peter Crane Chief Buyer Dear Mr Crane Thank you for informing us about the damage to our consignment (Inv No 18871) From our previous transactions you will realize that this sort of problem is quite unusual Nevertheless, we are sorry about the inconvenience it has caused you Please would you return the whole consignment to us, postage and packing forward, and we will ask the shipping company to inspect the damage so that they can arrange compensation It is unlikely that our insurance company needs to be troubled with this case If you want us to send you another shipment as per your order No 14478, please let us know We have the garments in stock and it would be no trouble to send them within the next fortnight Yours sincerely Daniele Causio Sales Director Thưa oong Green, Chúng xin cám ơn thư ngài đề ngày 26 tháng hỏi loại thảm điều kiện cho đơn đặt hàng mua số lượng lớn Chúng gửi bưu kiện hàng loạt mẫu thảm thuộc đề tài nguyên liệu khác kể sợi tổng hợp Chúng xin gửi kèm theo bảng giá, với chi tiết điều kiện cho đơn mua hàng với số lượng lớn Chúng mong tin ý kiến ngài loại thảm chúng tơi Kính chào, 21 Thưa q ngài, Chúng xin cám ơn thư quý ngài đề ngày 26 tháng quý ngài hỏi mua xi măng nhãn hiệu Rồng đỏ Chúng tiếc báo cho ngài rõ mặt hàng hết bán cho quý ngài loại xi măng nhãn hiệu Rồng xanh chất lượng tương tự loại quý ngài hỏi mua Loại xi măng nhiều khách hàng ưa chuộng nên bán chạy Chúng xin gửi kèm thư bảng giá theo điều kiện FOB Hải Phòng hy vọng ngài đặt hàng sớm Kính chào, 22 • Thank you for your letter dated/of Inquiring/enquiring about/ concerning (our range of carpets and the terms for an order for large quantity/ a large/ substantial order; our Red Dragon brand cement) • We regret to inform you/ We very much regret / It is our great regret that Is unavailable from stock As a substitute we can supply/offer you with Blue Dragon brand one of similar quality and at the same price This brand is of great demand at the moment and it sells well in the market/enjoys a ready sale/can find a good market in • We have sent you by parcel post our full collection ò patterns/designs of different materials including synthetic fibre • Please find enclosed our price list/ our FOB Hai Phong price list, with full details of our terms and conditions for a substantial order • We look forward to hearing from you/ your reply and comments on our products/ receiving your early/prompt order 23 ... substitute we can supply/offer you with Blue Dragon brand one of similar quality and at the same price This brand is of great demand at the moment and it sells well in the market/enjoys a ready sale/can... ordering in metric sizes, and you are sending me sizes measured in feet and Suggesting a solution Suggest how the matter should be put right ▶If I send you a debit note for $984 and deduct it from... have now checked our accounts and find that we have been sending you the wrong statement due to a confusion in names and addresses The database has been adjusted and there should be no more difficulties