Question

13.15 Addressing a Customer Complaint about a Coupon (LO 13-1 to LO 13-3) As manager of consumer affairs for your company, you received the following e-mail message: After further research, you discovered the coupon was sent as a promotion for the Kelly Green web page. In fact, in the e-mail message and on the coupon, a statement prom- inently indicates it is only good for use at the web page and that some restrictions apply. When customers click on the link to the web page, a statement further explaining restrictions appears, including the coupon being for regu- larly priced items. Therefore, you don’t feel it’s appropriate to give Ms. Hofbauer a 20% credit on her Visa card. However, you are willing to give her a 10% credit for being a loyal customer and for her troubles. Write an e-mail message to Ms. Hofbauer explaining your decision. My name is Jan Hofbauer, and I recently visited one of your Kelly Green apparel stores in Denver. While I am a long-time customer who enjoys the many great styles you have to offer, I was dis- mayed by my experience. I wanted to use a coupon I received via e-mail for 20% off any single item. But when I tried to use the coupon, I was told there were restrictions, including it only being applicable to regularly priced merchandise. I explained to the manager that nowhere on the coupon was a statement to that effect. When she said the statement appears on the Kelly Green web page, I pointed out I wasn’t on the Internet, I was in the store! She would not honor the coupon, but since I had spent 30 minutes of valuable time picking out the sweater, I purchased it anyway. It’s unfair to wait until after a customer has taken time out of her busy schedule to drive to the store to tell her of restrictions. If anything, this all seems like fraud. She should have honored the coupon. What I want to know now is what are you going to do to keep me as a customer? Jan Hofbauer

Answer 1

Dear Ms. Jan Hofbauer,

Hope you are doing well.

With the trailing mails, the inconvenience caused to you is deeply regreted. I can understand that you have faced difficulty on your part to redeem the coupon. It was sent as a promotion for the Kelly Green web page and all the information from our side was already provided in the same mail. Therefore, we are unable to procress a 20% credit on your visa card.

However, you have been a very loyal customer to us. We are very delighted to provide you a 10% credit for loyalty and the inconvenience caused to you. Hope it resolves your problem.

Do let me know if you need any further assistance.

With best wishes,

XYZ