04/2015 - The Grammar-Us Blog - Grammar-Us

As consumers, all of us have, at one time or another, had a less than stellar experience. It may have been poor customer service, bad food at a restaurant, a product that did not work as advertised, a cable guy who did not show up on the appointed day, or a billing snafu. In cases where we need our problem addressed immediately, we typically place a telephone call or send an email to the “Contact Us” address listed on a company’s website. However, for less urgent matters, or in the case of dissatisfaction with the outcome of other means of communication, it has been my experience that it is worth the price of a postage stamp to take the time to write a good, old-fashioned consumer letter! Sometimes I write these letters in lieu of the telephone call or email (if it is something non-urgent in nature). At other times, my letter serves the purpose of confirming what I was told on the phone, or (most often), to complain that my problem was not resolved by my previous interactions with the company.

I find many good reasons for writing consumer letters, as opposed to telephoning, emailing, texting, or posting on social media. Some of these are listed below:

• Telephone calls are likely to be handled by “customer service representatives” manning phone banks with scripted responses which may not address the specific problem you have. Telephoning often requires slogging through a pre-recorded menu, pressing button after button, just to get to a human being. Even if you do successfully navigate the menu, you are likely to find yourself placed in an indefinite holding pattern, listening to the most awful music ever composed, periodically interrupted by a recorded assurance that “your call is important to us.” Once a live person does finally answer, you are lucky indeed to decipher what they are saying, due to their heavily accented English (usually an indication that the company has outsourced their customer service function overseas). If your specific problem cannot be addressed through the scripts they have at hand, or if you are dissatisfied with the representative in any way, escalating your call to a supervisor can be a nightmare and odds are it will be no more successful than what you have already endured.

• I personally detest those online forms on the “Contact Us” pages of company websites! They always seem to require me to pick a category from a list that does not have anything remotely relevant to my specific problem. Similar to the telephone customer service representative, the email response is also likely to be “canned” (scripted) and not helpful.

• A hard copy letter, mailed to the company, can serve as written documentation, in the event it is needed in the future (for example, as evidence in litigation of your good faith effort to resolve the problem prior to seeking legal recourse), or to confirm or clarify the issue you previously discussed via telephone or email.  It is usually a simple matter to find the company’s headquarters address on their website. Also, key executives typically are named there, thereby helping you determine to whom to direct your letter. By writing directly to the company, your letter has a better chance of reaching someone who has the authority to do whatever it takes to satisfy you as a customer, without running to his/her supervisor for approval.

• Putting your thoughts in writing in a consumer letter can help you sort through the problem. Cooler heads prevail when a bit of time has passed between the incident and sitting down to recount it on paper. The act of writing an accurate and succinct description of what happened may serve as a “sieve” to filter out the emotions of the moment and get to the real meat of the problem and what needs to be done to solve it.

To be absolutely fair, I must mention that there is a downside to writing letters, as opposed to the more “immediate” forms of communication. They don’t call it “snail mail” for nothing. Be prepared to wait for a response! I have adopted the practice of marking my calendar with my “deadline” for receiving a response to my letters. If that date comes and goes without one, then I often write a follow-up letter, just to let the company know that my issue still has not been resolved. Consumer letters require patience, but the rewards can be worth the effort.

Once you have determined that a letter is, indeed, the way you wish to proceed, you then need to determine exactly what to write. Here are a few tips for writing a consumer letter that can get read and get results:

• Get off to a good start. The first paragraph of your letter may be the most important of the entire missive. It should grab your reader’s attention and prompt him or her to continue reading, by clearly and concisely stating the reason you are writing. By setting the tone and communicating your purpose at the outset, you prepare your reader for what will follow. Then stick to the “outline” of your initial paragraph throughout the rest of the letter; in other words, describe your experience or problem and be specific about what you expect the company to do in response to your letter.

Here is an example of an introductory paragraph that I recently used: “I am writing this letter to advise you of a problem I have encountered with the [name of product] I recently purchased, and the appalling lack of customer service I received from one of your representatives when I attempted to seek a resolution. It is my sincere hope that you will be able to assist me in obtaining a replacement product. Also, I felt you should be aware of the poor level of customer service I received, so you would have the opportunity to counsel your employees about the importance of retaining customer satisfaction.”

• Be succinct. You don’t have to write a complete autobiography in your letter. Instead, keep it as short as possible. That is not to say that you should skimp on the relevant facts that fully describe the problem for which you want a resolution. However, unless they are germane to the issue, omit extraneous details.

It is usually helpful to keep the narration of your experience in chronological order, making it easy to follow. For example, if you made three different telephone calls in an attempt to resolve your issue, be sure to give the dates of these calls, the name of the representative to whom you spoke, and why your interaction was unsatisfactory. Similarly, if you are writing to complain about a product, you will want to describe what exactly the product is – or is not – doing, which is the cause of your dissatisfaction, as well as any previous actions (if any) you took to resolve the problem.

Finish your letter with an ending paragraph that clearly states what you expect the company to do. This final paragraph may be a “mirror image” of the introductory paragraph, reiterating why you took the time to write and what you want. You may also include a sentence like the following: “Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. I would very much appreciate the courtesy of a response by [insert date, typically 10 days from the date of the letter].”

• Don’t rant! Emotion can be the killer of a favorable response. Just as no one wants to listen to a screaming, incoherent diatribe on the telephone, no one wants to read one, either! Remaining rational, using logic and keeping a civil pen in your hand will garner far more positive results.  Give yourself a better chance to get what you want by presenting yourself as a sane, reasonable person asserting your right to consumer satisfaction.

It may seem obvious, but avoid profanity at all costs. Offending your reader or adopting a belligerent tone will not get you any brownie points! Instead, you will alienate him or her and damage your credibility. If you want results, keep your tone moderate and rational. I usually have great success when I imply a modicum of empathy with the company. In other words, I take the position that I know the company wants to have happy customers, and I want to assist them in that goal by recounting my experience, giving them the opportunity to correct the problem and, in the process, eliminate its cause for future customers. It’s kind of a “we’re all in this together and are working toward a common goal” type of tone.

Don’t make threats. (During my time as a customer service representative, the single most offensive thing I encountered was empty threats.) You are virtually guaranteed to lose credibility if, for example, you threaten to sue a company for a million dollars due to the fact that your waitress gave you bad service. That is not to say that you cannot state clearly that you may take further steps, in the event that you do not receive a satisfactory response. However, it is possible to couch this intention in terms that do not raise the hackles of your reader. For example, one of my favorite final sentences is: “Your cooperation will avoid the necessity of further action on my part, and I am looking forward to your prompt reply.”

In especially serious situations, you can also use the simple act of showing copies going to the Better Business Bureau or your state’s Attorney General, as an indirect means to get the point across that this is an important matter. I do not usually do this on initial correspondence to a company, but I often do it if I have to follow up due to a lack of response. If you do this, though, be sure to follow through with actually sending a copy of your correspondence, along with a cover letter, to the entity you have copied.

• Document! If you have documentation to back up your claims, don’t forget to include copies in your letter (NEVER send originals!). Examples of documentation may be photos of the broken item, purchase receipts, or copies of emails you have received from company representatives. You need to make sure the reader of your letter has everything he or she needs to address the problem immediately. Leaving out documentation will delay the resolution process; instead of getting a definitive response with the action you seek, you may get an “interim” letter requesting further documentation before the company can proceed. Eliminate this by giving the company all the necessary tools up-front.

• Let it steep. One of the advantages of writing a letter over speaking with someone on the telephone is that you have the opportunity to think through what you want to say. Especially in an instance where you are expressing dissatisfaction about something, it is often helpful to set the finished letter aside for a day or two, and then go back and reread it. This will provide you with a “cooling off” period. When you go back to the letter, you will probably be a bit more objective about the whole situation and able to edit out unnecessary emotion, tighten your writing, and make your letter more concise.

• Proofread, proofread, proofread! I would be remiss if I did not include this tip, since the whole premise of this blog is to help you communicate more effectively. Naturally, your consumer letter will not be as effective if it is rife with grammar and spelling errors. Don’t rely solely on your word processing program to catch the errors; there are many things that these programs will not recognize. Do it the “hard” way: Actually read what you have written, and check it with your own eyes!

• Contact Grammar Girl. I have built a business helping others to communicate more effectively. My services include drafting, editing and proofreading all types of communications – including business letters. I will be more than happy to assist you in a timely manner for a reasonable fee. A complete listing of services and pricing is available elsewhere on this website.

BONUS TIP:

There is no rule that says you can only write a consumer letter when you have a problem! Companies are like people; they love to know when they’re doing something right, too.  If you had a stellar experience, are completely satisfied with a product you purchased, or are grateful for a store clerk’s sincere desire to be helpful, by all means, send the company a letter. Positive feedback is much sought-after and immensely appreciated. It also encourages a company to continue whatever they are doing that made you happy, to strive for excellence and to deliver the best to its customers.