A Bad Business Letter?

I managed to find this email sent to me last year with regards to my broadband service, and I thought it would be interesting to share it. ************************************************************************************
Dear Ms. Toh:

The purpose of this is to convey to you my utmost sincere apologies for any inconvenience you may have experienced last month with respect to the installation of your Internet high speed service.

I just returned from vacation this week and found your file in my in-basket. As soon as I reviewed your case it was clear that your May 20th request for a change in service might have somehow slipped through the cracks. The only possible explanation I can give is that we have recently had a number of key staff changes which might have resulted in your letter being overlooked.

Consequently, I have directed our Installation Group to contact you by the end of this week to set up a time convenient to you when they could go to your house and install your new router and make the necessary adjustments to your software.

Because of this serious oversight, and as a testament to our appreciation of you being our customer, we are going to provide you with your first three months of high speed service free of charge. Therefore, your account will not be billed until October of this year.

Ms. Toh, let me assure you that what happened in your case is definitely not typical of CableNet's level of customer service. We continue to be committed to providing you and all of our valuable customers with the highest standards of service in the industry. Once again, our sincere apologies. We look forward in time to having your problem fixed.

If you have any concerns please don't hesitate to contact me at 6754-9785.


Yours in service,
Paul Cordero
Manager, Customer Service

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The sender corresponded to the letter of complaint I made via post, with regards to a delay in the repair job of my Internet service. There was no clear format in the letter but I could tell that the manager took effort in explaining his stand. This allowed me to understand and sympathise with the manager’s situation.

The letter was overall written in a clear and concise manner, each paragraph dedicated to explain every point the manager wished to make in a coherent sequence. The tone of this letter was also cheerful and positive, which I felt was appropriate since this was an apology letter.

However I was taken aback by how informal the letter was written, especially when this was an official letter intended for a customer. Perhaps the manager just wanted to lighten the mood in his “apology” letter, but it could potentially portray his company in the light of being unprofessional.

One more thing I would like to point out is the grammar of the second last paragraph. Perhaps it would be better if the paragraph was to be rephrased as the following:

Ms. Toh, let me reassure you that what happened in your case is definitely not typical of CableNet's level of customer service. We continue to be committed in providing you and our valuable customers with the highest standard of service in the industry. Once again on behalf of my company, I would like to express my most sincere apology. We look forward in time to having your problem fixed.

Other than these slight glitches, the letter successfully acomplished it's job in pacifying one angry customer.