如何回复客户的投诉信件？下面的方法教你轻松搞定。
Difficult Letter #3: Responding To an Unjustified
Complaint
THE SITUATION
An HSBC customer in Hong
Kong has written to complain about
charges for returned cheques.
The customer's cheque was returned twice.
l
The
customer's cheque, #012345 for HKD5,000, was
returned when presented for payment on 3 April because the customer's account
was already overdrawn by HKD750.
l
The
customer's wife deposited a cheque for HKD5,000 from her account into her
husband's account on 4 April.
l
The
customer's cheque, #012345 for HKD5,000, was
returned a second time when presented for payment on 5 April because the account
had insufficient funds, ie only HKD4,250.
l
The Bank
charges HKD100 for each returned cheque.
In his letter, the customer asked HSBC to refund the
charges for returned cheques.
One of your colleagues drafted a response and has asked
for your comments.
THE FIRST DRAFT
Evaluate the tone of the first draft
below.
|
12 April 200X
Mr John Lee
Flat 25B Tower
1
333 Kwun Tong
Road
Kowloon
Dear Mr Lee
Thank you for your letter of 10 April requesting a
refund of overdraft charges on your current account. Let me explain the situation.
Cheques presented for payment are cleared after
banking hours by the Clearing House. The drawer's account is automatically
debited at that time. If this results in an overdraft, the Bank decides
the next day if we will honour the cheque.
Unfortunately, this happened twice when cheque
number 012345 was presented on 3 and 5
April.
I am sorry, therefore, that we are unable to refund
the overdraft charges of $200.
I hope that I have helped to clarify the situation.
You are a valued customer, and we appreciate you taking the time to write
to us.
Yours
sincerely |
What do you think of this draft?
Write your comments on a piece of paper. Then, compare
your comments with the evaluation below.
THE FIRST DRAFT - EVALUATION
The letter is quite courteous. The writer has used
"magic words" to be polite and pronouns to be
personal. The writer has also apologised for being unable to grant the
customer's request.
Unfortunately, the writer hasn't fully explained the situation. If the customer is unaware of the
situation, he won't be able to understand why you think his complaint is unjustified.
In addition, the writer did not suggest how to avoid this
problem in the future. In other words, the writer doesn't offer any help to the
customer. As a result, the reader may not think that you value him as a
customer.
What, then, is the best way to respond to unjustified
complaints?
IMPROVING THE DRAFT
How could you improve the draft?
Write your ideas on a piece of paper. Then compare your
ideas with some suggestions.
|
You should begin as the writer did, ie with a
neutral sentence (eg "Thank you for..."). You should then add a sentence
to express empathy if the customer has been embarrassed or inconvenienced
(eg "I regret the inconvenience this may have caused you."). However, you
should not apologise, if the Bank did nothing wrong.
Next, you should explain the situation in detail. However, you must not
blame the customer, even if he has made a mistake. Using a passive verb
form (cf Chapter 6) helps you do this. "Your account was overdrawn"
sounds more polite than "You overdrew your
account".
If you need to refuse a customer's request, you
should do it only after you explain the
situation.
Before closing, you should suggest a way for the
customer to avoid this problem in future. Such an offer will show that you
value the customer. |
IMPROVING THE DRAFT - APPROPRIATE PATTERN
How do you structure the contents when you need to
respond to a customer's unjustified complaint?
In the table below, the pattern for responding to an
unjustified complaint is incomplete. You need to
complete it.
Pattern for responding to an unjustified complaint
1) Pleasant introduction,
empathising with the customer
2)
3)
4)
5) Polite close, with offer of help
Keys:
2) Complete explanation of the
situation
3) Refusal of request or compensation
4) Advice or suggestion
REVISING THE DRAFT
Now try revising the draft prepared by a member of your
staff.
To do this, you will need
l
the draft
prepared by your staff member
l
the
appropriate pattern for responding to a customer's unjustified complaint
l
information
about the complaint
l
a pen and a
piece of paper.
REVISING THE DRAFT – EXAMPLE
|
12 April 200X
Mr John Lee
Flat 25 B Tower 1
333 Kwun Tong
Road
Kowloon
Dear Mr Lee
Thank you for your letter of 10 April requesting a
refund of charges made for returned cheques. I regret any inconvenience
these returned cheques may have caused you. Please let me explain the situation.
I have examined your records carefully. When your
cheque #012345 for HKD5,000 was presented for
payment on 3 April, your account was already overdrawn by HKD750. As a
result, we could not accept the cheque. After your wife deposited a cheque
for HKD5,000 into your account on 4 April, the balance was HKD4,250. When
cheque #012345 for HKD5,000 was presented
again on 5 April, your account still had insufficient funds. As a result,
we could not accept the cheque. In both cases, we only debited the minimum
charge for a returned cheque, HKD100.
I would like to suggest that you consider using
either our internet or telephone banking services. You can use these
services to check the balances in your accounts and transfer funds between
accounts. As a result, you can ensure sufficient balances in your accounts
at all times. I have enclosed brochures which describe both the internet
and telephone services.
Mr Lee, please call me on 2398-2398. I would be
delighted to arrange these services for you.
I hope this information is helpful and I look
forward to hearing from you.
Yours
sincerely |
（来源：中国物流论坛 实习生江巍 英语点津 Annabel 编辑）
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