ELC3203

Adjustments Letters – Structure and Language

Essential parts of letters of complaint and adjustment

Making Complaints Dealing with Complaints

Accepting a Complaint Rejecting a Complaint

Nature of complaint: date, Apology for the error or fault Regret at dissatisfaction
location, invoice,
model, personnel

Accepting the complaint Rejecting

responsibility for the
Explanation of complaint: problem leading to the
description of problem complaint
extent of damage or A short
defect Investigation
explanation
of the fault to be made
Reasons for the rejection

Description of
inconvenience caused:
time lost, customers lost, Proposal to settle the difficulty
production delayed

If a third party is to
Request for corrective An offer to take goods back, blame, direct the plaintiff
action: refund, make a replacement, give a to seek redress in that
replacement, time-limit discount direction

Warning (if necessary): A concluding paragraph aiming

legal action, terminate at retaining the goodwill of the
contract customer
 ELC3203
Adjustments Letters – Structure and Language
The language of adjustment letters

Acknowledging receipt of a complaint letter

 Thank you for your letter of … regarding / concerning / in connection with …

 I refer to your letter of … about / relating to …

 Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

 We appreciate your bringing this matter to our attention.

Talking about action

 I have checked / looked into / investigated … (present perfect)

 Having checked …, it is clear that ... / it seems that … / it would appear that …

Talking about causes and effects

 This was caused by … / was due to …

 Apparently, the issue was the result of … / resulted from …
 The cause of / reason for the matter was …

 As a result …
 This led to …
 Consequently …

Apologising / reasoning

 We must apologise for …

 We sincerely apologise for …
 Please accept our apologies for …
 We assure you that …
 In future, we shall endeavour to …

Denying responsibility

 I regret to inform you that …

 I am afraid that …
 Unfortunately, I must point out that …
 While we can understand (your frustration, etc.), we are unable to …/ we must point out
that …

Offering compensation

 As a gesture of our regret, we are prepared to …/ we are willing to …/ we would like to …

 To show goodwill, we will …