7.6.2 Credit note

Seymore Furniture Ltd. have made a mistake on another invoice and must now send a credit note. Note that the form for a credit note is the same as that for a debit note, except for the heading. Credit notes, however, are often printed in red.

CREDIT NOTE No. C517

SEYMORE FURNITURE Ltd.

Tib Street, Maidenhead, Berks. SL6 5D2 Telephone 0628 26755

Registered No. 18514391 London

VAT No. 236618831

C.R. MendezSA

Avda del Ejercito 83

E-48015 Bilbao

19— 20 May Invoice No. L8995, OVERCHARGE. The invoice should have read: 15% off gross price of £800.00 = £120.00 NOT 10% off gross price of £800.00 = £80.00 Refund = £40,00. Please accept our apologies. £40.oo

M. LANCELOT SARL

703 rue Metairie de Saysset, F-34000 Montpelier

Tel: (33) 843 10312

Fax: (33)1291037

Telex: 59612503

Mr K. Winford 5 August 20—

K. Winford & Co. Ltd.

Preston New Road

Blackpool

Lancashire FY4 4UL

Dear Mr Wmford,

I have received your July statement for £3,280.64 but noticed that a number of errors have been made.

Invoice Y 1146 for £256.00 has been debited twice,

No credit has been listed for the wallpaper (Cat. No. WR 114) which I returned in July. Your credit note No. CN 118 for £19.00 refers to this.

You have charged me for a delivery of paint brushes, Invoice No. Y 1162 for £62.00 but I never ordered or received them. Could you check your delivery book?

I have deducted a total of £337.00 from your statement and will send you a draft for £2,943.64, once I have your confirmation of this amount.

Yours sincerely,

M. Lancelot

Director

7.6.3

Complaint of accounting errors

M. Lancelot of M. Lancelot SARL (Builders' Suppliers) has received a statement in which several accounting errors have occurred.

7.6.4

Reply to complaint of accounting Errors

K. Winford & Co. Ltd.

Preston New Road, Blackpool, Lancashire FY4 4UL

Telephone: 025361290/1/2 Reg. No. 31162531

VAT 8314003 36

7 August 20—

The Director

M. Lancelot SARL

703 rue Metairie de Saysset

F-34000 Montpelier

Dear Mr Lancelot,

Thank you for your letter of 5 August in which you pointed out that three mistakes totalling £337,00 had been made on your statement.

I apologize for the errors which were due to a fault in our computer which has now been fixed. I have enclosed another statement for July which shows the correct balance of £2,943.64.

K. Winford

Encl. Statement

7.

Complaints and adjustments

7.7

Points to remember

1. Before writing a letter of complaint, make sure you have got your facts right.

2. Complaints are not accusations; they are requests to correct mistakes or faults, and should be written remembering that the supplier will want to put things right.

3. Therefore, write calmly, clearly presenting all the relevant information and making any suggestions that might help put the matter right.

4. Never make the complaint personal (your mistake, your fault, you are to blame). Use an impersonal tone (the mistake, it must have happened because, the error).

5. When answering a complaint, apologize for the mistake, thank the writer for pointing it out to you, explain how it occurred (but don't blame your staff) and how you intend to deal with it.

6. If you need more time to investigate the complaint, tell your customer so.

7. If the complaint is unjustified, politely explain why, but sympathize about the inconvenience it has caused.

8. Remember that, whether your customer's complaint is right or wrong, he/she is your customer and his/her comments about you to other people in your trade or profession can either improve or damage your reputation.

7.8

Words to remember

a mistake

an error

a fault

a misunderstanding

a complaint

a delay

an inconvenience

a deadline

a guarantee

a dispute

a backlog

a commitment

a contract

a miscalculation

an overcharge

an undercharge

a debit/credit note

a refund

damage

deterioration

out-of-date

wear and tear

bad workmanship

compensation

repair

legal action

to be satisfied/dissatisfied

to investigate a complaint

to look into a matter

to deny/accept responsibility

to give an explanation

to solve a problem

to put matters right

to apologize

to cancel an order