Checklist

Making a complaint

• Act promptly

• Show restraint in your wording - the supplier may have a good defence

• State the facts briefly, exactly and clearly

• Avoid rudeness

• Suggest desired results/action

Dealing with a complaint

• Investigate the complaint promptly

• If unreasonable: be firm but polite and try not to offend

• If you are at fault: express regret and admit it

• Explain how the matter will be put right

• Never blame staff

• Reassure the customer of future good service

Useful expressions

Letters of complaint

Openings

1. The goods we ordered from you on ... have not yet been delivered.

2. Delivery of the goods ordered on ... is now considerably overdue.

3. We regret having to report that we have not yet received the goods ordered on ...

4. We regret to report that one of the cases of your consignment was badly damaged when delivered on ...

5. When we examined the goods despatched by you on ... we found that...

6. We have received a number of complaints from several customers regarding the ... supplied by you on ...

Closes

1. Please look into this matter at once and let us know the reason for this delay.

2. We hope to hear from you soon that the goods will be sent immediately.

3. We feel there must be some explanation for this delay and await your prompt reply.

4. We hope to learn that you are prepared to make some allowance in these circumstances.

Replies to complaints

Openings

1. We are concerned to learn from your letter of ... that the goods sent under your order number ... did not reach you until ...

2. We are sorry that you have experienced delays in the delivery of...

3. We note with regret that you are not satisfied with the goods supplied to your order of...

4. Thank you for your letter of ... which has given us the opportunity to rectify a most unfortunate mistake.

5. We wish to apologise for the unfortunate mistake pointed out in your letter of...

Closes

1. We assure you that we are doing all we can to speed delivery and offer our apologies for the inconvenience this delay is causing you

2. We hope you will be satisfied with the arrangement we have made.

3. We trust these arrangements will be satisfactory and look forward to receiving your future orders.

4. We regret the inconvenience which has been caused in this matter.

5. We apologise once again for the unfortunate mistake and can assure you that a similar incident will not occur again

Complaints and adjustments

Read this letter of complaint, and fill in the blanks with the correct verb taken from the list below

have not arrived found was torn

have contacted received were damaged

have not had showed

have informed unpacked

C.R.Mendez S.A.

Avda. del Ejercito 83 E-48013 Bilbao

The Sales Manager 15 October 19 —

Seymore Furniture Ltd.

Tib Street

Maidenhead

Berks. SL6 SDS

Dear Mr Harrison.

I am writing to complain about a shipment of tubular steel garden furniture we (1) ______________________yesterday against our invoice no. G 3190/1.

The crates (2) ________________on the outside, and looked as if they had been roughly handled. When we (3) _____________them, we (4) _____________that some of the chair legs were bent and rusty, and the fabric on the seating (5) __________, or (6) ____________signs of wear.

Two further crates from the consignment (7) ____________ yet, so we (8) _____________the opportunity of inspecting them. I (9) _______________the shipping company that we cannot accept this consignment from you, and they (10) ______________your insurers.

As we will be unable to retail this consignment in our stores, we are returning the shipment to you carriage forward, and we shall expect a full refund

Yours sincerely

C R. Mendez

Managing Director

Read the following extracts from letters of complaint. Write out the verbs in either the simple past, (e.g. he worked) or the present perfect, (e.g. he has worked)

1 Last year we (not/have) _____________________ any serious complaints from our

clients, but this year we (already/received)________________over twenty.

2 This is not the first time that we (have) ____________________problem with the shipping company. Three months ago they (lose) _______________________a consignment completely and they still (not/find) ___________________out happened to it.

3. I (look) ________________________ into the problem, and it appears that the catalogue (be) __________________out of date.

4. I (receive) __________________a consignment of furniture from you last week which we (order) __________________ on May 12.

5. The error (be) __________________ due to a fault in the computer system which we now (put) _______________________right.

6. Our engineers (recently/find) _____________________a fault with the batch of hard disk drives that we (manufacture) _____________________in June and July last year.

7 I am writing to apologize for the defective items you (receive) __________________

last month, and to inform you that we (credit)____________________ the sum of £342.67 to your account

8. Our accounts department (inform) ____________________me that we (not / yet / receive) ________________payment for the items we (send) ________________________

9. We (not have) _____________________ any business from Winford & Co. since we (make) ______________________ an error with an invoice.

We (lose) _______________a number of orders since we (start) ____________having problems with the switchboard

Which words in each pair, if any, are not spelled correctly

1. a faithfully 4 a clerk

b faithfuly b clark

2. a address 5 a check

b adtess b cheque

3. a bussiness 6. a catalog

b business b catalogue

Compare the two lists of expressions commonly used in complaints. Match the informal phrases in the first list with their formal equivalents in the second.

1. it's not our fault

2. you should make it right

3. we want our money back

4. you have to pay when the goods are returned to you

5. we will sue you

6. you made a mistake

7. we won't buy anything from you again

8. the goods are rubbish

9. we're complaining about

10 why don't you pay attention?

a we are sending the consignment to you carriage forward

b we are not responsible for the error

c we would like to complain about —

d we will have to take legal action

e you seem to have made an error

f the products are not satisfactory

g we will not re-order

h you have not followed our instructions

i please correct the error

j we would like a refund

Write a reply from Mr Harrison to Mr Mendez.

• Thank him for his letter, and apologize for the damage.

• Explain that the goods were not old stock, but the damage appears to have happened while the goods were being transported. Assure him that you will deal with the transport company.

• Say that you will accept the goods carriage forward, and that you will send the refund by banker's draft as soon as you receive them.

• Close the letter in an appropriate manner.