Complaint

421 Michigan Avenue Chicago, Il. 60602 USA The Manager 23 July, 200… Hotel International 17 Fen Road London EC3 5AP Dear Sir, I must complain in writing about the service at the Hotel International. Last month I stayed at the hotel for a fortnight, and this was my fifth visit. There were a number of things wrong. First, The new self-service arrangement at lunch was not what I expected. Second, the service at dinner was very slow. Third, the general standard of service in the hotel was very poor. The receptionists always seemed extremely busy; the hotel porter was never available; and I thought that the floor waiter was rather rude. I do not usually complain but, as an old customer, I’m sure you will be interested in my comments. Yours faithfully, John Grewe

Adjustment Letters

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.