Business Letter Types: Collection, Claim & Adjustment Letters Explained

hello welcome back to n p t e l online lectures on soft skills presently we are dealing with the types of business letters in the previous lecture we talked about varieties of business letters and our focus mainly was on sales letters and then letters of enquiry letters

of credit of course in a business world of today giving things on credit have become a fashion but then organizations also see to it that the money that is involved in terms of credit especially for goods they have to come back there have been times when only

because of these credit sometimes because of these credits not standing true the relationships have become short the relationships have become painful but then its a question of money and money has to be brought back and for that we need to know how to get back the money

and how to have a sort of communication through which we can or the organizations can get back the money for that we write a collection letter now what is a collection letter and how different is it from other letters though we say that all business letters should have

a very cordial tone should have a sort of style which is you friendly which is customer friendly but then it is slightly different a collection letter because it has its aim of collecting

the money and you write a collection letter but there has been times when one letter goes unnoticed the other letter also passes unnoticed and when you feel that the money is not to come back but money has to come back you know so you have to write so many letters it is

not a question of one collection letter in order to get back your money the organization has to write a series of letters of course the first letter will be very gentle it will also maintain the sort of gentility but when money doesnt come it hurts

and as it hurts the tone also changes so the first letter will start with a gentle tone it will become a bit harsh in the second letter and then the third letter it will rather become harsher it will become indirect the tone will not be direct here it will become indirect

because it is painful it is indifferent you know the other organization is showing a lot of [hindra/indifferences] indifferences or in terms of paying money and hence your approach as a writer will also change and the final letter because you need to have money the

final letter will have a very strong message at times it may become very intimidating and the tone will be harsher stronger even to say it may be bitter at times so i hope you with the sort of knowledge that i have tried to explain to you in my previous

lectures we will be in a position to draft a collection letter but then the third letter where you actually want to have your money but at the same time you want that your customer should not be lost because there may be different reasons for the payment being held up so here

i am trying to give an example through a sample collection letter but this is a letter which is of the last category where look at the tone where you can find the language the language is not as it used to be in the first letter

see it is you know it is starts with no formalities all the formalities have already been discharged in the past what is of utmost importance now is to be a bit bitter despite three reminders we have not received an outstanding amount of such and such for the purchase of twenty

photo copiers you are not only trying to state what went wrong but then you straightway come to talk about the payment because it is the payment that matters and then you are explaining also because you felt that the other party failed in your teams to provide you with the

payment you have ignored our previous requests and failed to explain the circumstances which have blocked our payment you look at the use of the words blocked our payment i mean this anyway shows the anger this in a way shows

the sort of outburst which an organization may have once its money is held up and the last line even before the last line you are writing a paragraph which is very intimidating which is threatening and which is also trying to make the other party aware that if the

payment is not paid ah even after this perhaps there may be some legal scruples and you write you are morally obliged and bound to pay what we owe to you what you owe to us sorry your further delay may force

us to hand the matter over to legal agencies now the moment you talk about the world legal agencies the party will get more into action and perhaps will feel helpless enough then to pay the payment and finally again you are going to be cordial though this cordiality

is the cost of a sort of cruelty which you have already mentioned in the past please do your best to avoid any embarrassing situation kindly sends the cheque at the earliest and inform us telephonically by five p m tomorrow now you are also setting a deadline a time

line and this is a fourth letter and the final letter i mean at times we have to be like this because it is a question of money money matters more than relations but remember once you get the money you perhaps

feel yourself successful as a writer of collection letters credit and collection go hand in hand but sometimes it actually affects not only our hands but also our hearts and i think you will be quite careful while providing somebody a sort of credit but then you will

be more intelligent when you write a collection letter and try to see that the money comes back of course you are in a position to get the money back but then sometimes when you are having along the relationship or an association with an organization

though the past transactions have been very good but one transaction whether you felt that the things ordered did not come in the right way there were certain lapses certain damages and for that what you need to do is you need to write claim letters with a customer

writes to correct wrong you do not want to stop the ties but all you want is that there have been some wrong in it some lapses in it but then that has to be corrected and for that you write a claim letter the letter written for the purpose of getting things back or

getting further compensation is called a claim letter or sometimes it is also called a complaint letter now while writing a complaint letter what are the cares what are the cautions that one

need to be in position off now let us have an observation here you are most likely to hear from customers when they have to complaint sorry you will find that some people think that when a complaint letter comes it is actually going to harm our reputation it is going to

affect our reputation but remember even through complaint letter and complaints they are actually the sort of opportunities where you can go step further and where you you can build relationships so they are most you are most likely to hear from customers

when they have a complaint and that is a good thing you know this observation says receiving complaint is not a bad thing it is a good thing how they are not only giving you a chance to help them but they are initiating a dialogue a dialogue that discourses very important

i mean if you feel that you do not need to lodge a complaint and you forget forgive naturally from your point of view it is ok but from the point of view of the organization it is actually a loss and then organizations also want that its customers should write because

organizations see in these complaints is sort of opportunity not only to create relationships but also to improve the qualities of some of their products moreover they also get a chance to receive the feedback of a particular product they are initiating a dialogue which

is exactly what you want to have with your best customers you are not going to lose your customers but the ties are going to be stronger now you also need to know how to start how to write claim letters if you feel that you have some grievances against a particular

product or particular organization against a particular item say to it that you know how to write a claim letter open with the statement of the problem there are times when you write them a complaint and because you know when when you have a

complaint you become very angry and in anger you lose all your consigns you lose your control over your language also the language not only becomes harsh but the language becomes very alleging the language also becomes very insulting but then this is not the remedy all you need

is you need actually a sort of re compensation or you need a sort of substitution or you need a sort of replacement but unless and until the organization comes to know about the sort of problem you came across

how can the organization replace so the need of the our is to write or to open your letter by explaining the problem or with the action that you want at times we want a sort of replacement but on another occasions we also want that we should get back our money now see let us

see the language of a complaint letter the way it should begin please send your service engineer to rectify the technical problems in twenty geysers bought from you against our order of march third this this this i mean when you have started writing you are

cordial because you begin with the please and then straightaway you come to the problem i mean there may be another way also where you can say we are thankful to you for sending us this and this and then you can explain but remember you have to be brief sometimes

or the other you can also adopt a language where you can say suppose some of your employees went ah for a trip or went for a conference where they were not given ah the rooms know though the rooms are booked now whats do the language be like since two of our employees

with confirmed reservations were refused rooms on february such and such would you clarify now here look at this line would you clarify your room reservation policy for late arrivals here you are a bit angry you are showing your anger and the moment you say would we like

to get a clarification about your room reservation policies you will find the organization feels that there has been some people who have been wronged and they will see to it that the wrong is righted now while doing so when when you are writing the claim letters as i said first

explain what went wrong i mean after the beginning explain what ah went wrong but remember you are not going to allege them for example if you use for language like i do not understand the carelessness

that your employees have shown towards the behavior with some of our employees by not providing them ah the rooms they had already booked for i mean this is going to be very harshening insulting language rather you need to talk about you need to appeal to the companys

fair reputation for example you can always say we have always enjoyed your prompt service since so many years or for so many years the way you are going to talk about you are going to make a sort of appeal about the companys policy

but at the same time later on you are going to talk about the problem and then what was the inconvenience what was the problem state the problem that you came across and if you feel that you need your money back or you want the sort of replacement please state

the adjustment that you want there is no point my dear friend in blaming and becoming angry as i have said in the previous lecture also you are right to be angry and you know if you if you show your anger even then the response that will come from the organization will

be because the organization does want to lose you so they will say you are right in pointing out the difficulties you faced i mean they are polite so why should we not be polite because the people who are doing these transactions or

business they are not at fault it may be somebody elses fault also so there is no need to shout at or to fulminate your fire on people rather it is always better to include the copies of all documents if you find that something ah there has been wrong i mean say if you

if you have a receipt if you have a bill if you have some other materials that you got while you are make you are making the purchase i mean include all the documents and then suggest the alternate remedy whatever remedy you want you are free to suggest the sort

of remedy and while you are closing as once again i will repeat please close on a very cordial note say for example as the person here has said we realize that mistakes in ordering

and shipping sometimes occurred now see this is also a letter by a customer fine so the customer is not showing his anger but what the customer is saying is presented in a very polite [m/manner] manner we realize that mistakes in ordering and shipping sometimes occur because

we have enjoyed your prompt service in the past we hope that you will be able to send us the a cs by such and such date i mean here also you have explained the problem but the way you have explained the problem it does not appear to upset anyone it does

not appear to make anyone think ill of you but then when you write a claim letter you are also actually waiting for an adjustment letters organizations see to it that claims are adjusted claims are responded to when these claims are responded we call them adjustment

letter they are also written keeping into consideration the goodwill and the relationship every organization you know as i have said in the beginning they see an opportunity in the complaints and customer complaints are more important than customer service

because when when you write a complaint you are writing personally surveys may be different surveys may at times be exaggerated also but then the complaints which come from persons they are exactly matured and they provide the organizations a fair chance to make adjustments

so when you write an adjustment letter you should have certain goals in mind while you are drafting the adjustment letter your main purpose is that the wrong has been rectified and of course all of you because you have already paid you do not want the money back

unless ah in exceptional circumstances where you find ah the product was totally out of date absolute and it could not be corrected whatsoever but then most of the customers they want a sort of replacement and the organizations

also want to regain the confidence of the customer and they want that further business to be promoted for that while they are going to write the adjustment letter they actually have certain policies of course sometimes they have certain limitations that they cannot

fulfill all your demands but then they can always offer you something which will feel is of course better i do remember that there have been certain situations where in case i had missed a flight and i have become

very angry but then the agencies see to it that i get booked in the next flight and by the time i have to spend before the next flight they make all arrangements ah they actually see to it that as a customer one should not have any problem such as the business policy

and most of the organizations they follow the same business policy so when you are going to draft a bill a business letter which is in the form of an adjustment letter the first thing is the first line that you

are going to write should be the pleasant news give them the pleasant news first i mean convey the adjustment first such as the action that you are going to take and when you write the first sentence let the first sentence ah be in active voice not in passive you cannot

say your refrigerator has been sent you should always begin saying we have sent the new photocopier machine at your address i mean the not only the tone but also the construction of sentence appears ah as very pleasant and very ah fresh having said that you are also going to explain

here why things got wrong because you know as a valued customer everyone would like to know why is such a thing happened so convince them and when you give them explanations you know all of us are human beings we can

understand that there can be ah there can be lapses at times but we want only the wrongs to be corrected so explain why things went wrong and then provide them additional information for either for the same product or if there are some additional products provide them

the information when you are going to close the letter before closing the letter emphasize the action that you want your customers to take close the letter emphasizing the action that you want your customers to take and it is better it has been seen when

you know most of the time we actually address ah people even customers ah by dear sir dear mam but it is always better if you address your customer by name this actually reveals the sort of familiarity at the sort of association you have with your customer so address your

claimant by name and then having drafted that now start the letter open with the good news first give them the good news you will be receiving shortly a new lumia cell phone suppose this was there was a actually a claim about some lumia phone having some problem

so the first news that you are going to tell the customer in the opening of the letter is you will be receiving or we have sent your new lumia cell phone to replace the one here you are also mentioning that you are going to replace you have replaced you have replaced

the one having the touch screen problem now here the problem is that of a touch screen in some other product the problem may be of some other nature now in such a situation what you need to do you actually need to explain why things went wrong

for example you can always write we take utmost care ah while shaping our lumia cell phones and ensuring that the touch screens work properly but in exceptional cases because of some problem such complaints come we see to it that our customers are satisfied and we provide them

the substitute or the replacement remember when a complaint letter comes and you are going to respond to that complaint letter you should always try to avoid the use of certain words which actually have a negative bearing such as trouble fine regret no some

some people saying we regret the inconvenience caused to you i mean dont say like this or there you you can also sometimes you you may also feel ah that some people may write ah there might have been some misunderstanding you know avoid

using such words ah dont say the fault is mine the error is mine the error is ours like that i mean you know there has been problem no doubt but for this problem not an individual is responsible rather there might have been problems of some other nature you are actually

to address the problem and not address or allege other people sometimes it has been seen ah that ah sometimes customers may be blamed avoid blaming the customers sometimes the customers may not be right also you know every now and then

customers may not be right but even then it is not advisable to blame the customers sometimes because of the lapse or because of the mistake or because of the inexperience of some staff also there might have been problem but it is always better not by blaming others in

your department or whosoever because when you are in an organization you are representing that organization my dear friends moreover it is also advisable not to make any unrealistic promises such

as you know that sometimes people say such a sort of difficulty such a [so/sort] sort of trouble will never arise this situation will never occur i mean these are actually wrong cues of language you never know tomorrow may there may be some other problem so dont

go on having such predictions which may also be hurting others now when we talk about the language part of it as we have been doing in the past also while discussing the language of the business

say to it that while writing an adjustment letter the language has to be very sensitive and empathetic i am using the term empathetic keeping yourself in the position of the person who has written the letter so we can say like this we are really sorry for the problem you

are right to be disappointed now you see even if the customer may be wrong but then the organization says you you you are right to be disappointed with the [lolui/lumia] lumia cell phone which had problems of touch i mean referred to what sir ernest gower says if

he convicts you of a mistake admit it so here is the admission my dear friends we are admitting our fault so say you are right to be disappointed the lumia cell phone which had developed some problems in its touch screen

but when having said all that you are going to close the letter close it on a note which is full of appreciation appreciation for whom appreciation for your customer even though the customers have given you the complaint laws the complaint but please appreciate saying

thanks for writing and you know here is an opportunity because you know you are going to ensure and you say your satisfaction is important to us we hope that your new lumia cell phone convinces you that service to our customers is our top

priority our goal is to earn your confidence and continue to justify that confidence with quality product and excellent services now if you close your letter adjustment letter with this i mean even this gruntled customer would like to continue businesses with you

now this is actually the beauty of this style and the language and the way you appreciate but my dear friends sometimes it so happens the wrong assignment has already been replaced and if it has been replaced from your point of view it also becomes mandatory

rather obligatory to send them a note of appreciation or send them a letter when you appreciate you know as all of us are human beings we will do that but remember there is one more letter that i would like to ah talk about here and that many of you when you ah in organization

ah climb the ladder you may be asked to write recommendation letters which is very crucial nowadays it has been seen that many people are not interested to write recommendation letters but it is actually ah in the fashion of things that if somebody needs your recommendation

it is always better to write recommendation letters the purpose of a recommendation letter is to nominate or actually to justify the merits of a person for the next rank for the next promotion sometimes also for awards for recognitions while doing so there has

to be certain cares which actually require our attention we cannot ah recommend each and every one but when you are going to recommend please see that you are honest you are maintaining a sort of [coun/confidentiality] confidentiality but then sometimes when you are writing a

recommendation letter at the suggestion of some of your colleagues or friends and all or some of your employees please do mention that you are writing a recommendation letter ah because somebody has told you to

write this recommendation letter when you are going to write this recommendation letter make a proper evaluation of the candidates merits especially their communication skills organizational skills leadership skills the team skills ah their dynamism behavioral skills

and all you see in it in a technical day of today sometimes you may also receive some queries about a person for whom you have given the recommendation letter it is always advisable that you keep in your own record a copy of the recommendation letter

so that when you are asked because it has been seen that people often give the name of ah referees they know well while it is good but at the same time a person who is writing the recommendation letter should not be biased fine should not actually exaggerate

should not write in a language that is vague ambiguous rather you should try to stick to the truth and in case there is something negative it is always advisable not to ah write anything negative but if you feel that some negative information is there please do not write unless

and until you have sufficient evidences because it may actually mold and it may mark somebodys career with you as a person recommending somebody would not like friends in a global world of today when things have become global when people are switching over jobs it is mandatory

to write recommendation letters it is also mandatory for an employee in an organization to write varieties of letter but remember one thing that is quite important whatever letter it be let the letter be written in a language from the point of view of the receiver

from the point of view of the organization and from the point of view that it actually establishes good will it actually helps in creating a sort of relationship because letter writing whether it is a business or a general purpose letter letter writing

is an art let me conclude my talk today by quoting what a famous poet says about letter the art of art the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters each simplicity i do hope that while writing your letters you will take extra care in being

simple in being straightforward if writing for a business in being specific but at the same time keeping into consideration that you are writing not only for the organization you are writing to another person who may be your friend who may be a person like you

hence please try to ensure cordiality because it is in cordiality that all sorts of business thrive and it is in cordiality that all sort of businesses continue thank you very much