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

Flat25B Tower1

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