What may complaints arise from?

Complaints may be of several kinds, and may arise from delivery of damaged goods, wrong goods, or too few or too many goods. Even if the right articles are supplied in the right quantities, they may arrive later than expected, which will cause problems to the buyer and, correspondingly, to his customers.

Then the quality of goods may be unsatisfactory: they may be not according to the sample or description on the basis of which they were ordered, or they may simply be second-rate products.

What are the parts of complaints? Characterize them.

1) Introduction: you should identify the reason you are writing for.

2) Background (explaining the problem): This paragraph provides the first part of the narration of the problem. It essentially tells a story with specific details and dates specifying the nature of the complaint.

3) Suggesting a solution: This part contains the request for compensation, which is preceded by some justification for that compensation.

4) Closing: move to a conciliatory tone here in this final paragraph. Suggest why it is in the recipient's best interest to grant your request: appeal to the recipient's sense of fairness, desire for continued business, but don't threaten.

5) Enclosures: any documents which you consider necessary to be enclosed (e.g. receipt).

Adjustments

The objective of an adjustment

Replies to complaint letters, often called letters of “adjustment” or “compensation letter”.

The objective is to inform a customer of a corrective measure that will resolve an unsatisfactory situation. It also serves as a legal document notifying the recipient that the complaint has been received and is being properly handled.

The rules for writing adjustments

· First the correspondent must find out whether the complaint is justified or not. If that cannot be as­certained within a few days, he should write the customer immediately that he is investigating and will send a full reply soon.

· Replies must always be courteous;

· If the complaint is justified, the sellers should at once apologize to the buyers and offer a suitable compensation or indemnification or suggest a solution.

· If on making a claim the buyers have offered to keep the goods, the sellers will probably agree to this and to a price reduction.