Question

Discussed negative messages and how they are meant to deliver bad news to an audience. Business often send such letters to customers or clients to refuse or deny a request. This task often proves to be especially challenging when the refusal is because the customer was at fault. For this assignment, analyze the letter below, to a customer trying to make a warranty claim for damage to her cellphone which she caused, and follow the instructions.

What is your initial response to the the way the employee wrote the letter to the customer?

What are at least six weaknesses you identify in the letter, based on concepts learned in the lesson, and how can each of the six weaknesses specifically be improved?

If you were the customer who received this letter, how would you specifically respond to this employee and why?

After your initial post, respond to at least one of your classmates.

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7/7/12

Ms. Dianna Heathecliff
987 Ocean Avenue, Apartment 17
San Diego, California 91945

Dear Ms. Heathecliff,

This letter is being sent to you to inform you that warranty repairs or replacements are not available for damage caused by customer fault. The dot inside your phone indicates in bright red that the device suffered prolonged exposure to water. The phone also shows signs of heavy external abuse—quite rightly excluded from coverage under your protection plan.

Your phone retailer, VTech Wireless, at 541 Pleasant Valley Road, forwarded your device to us. Our service technician made an inspection. That's when he discovered that your Zero Plus cellphone had not been treated with proper caution and care. He said he had never seen such a gunky phone interior, and that without a doubt the gadget was subjected to blunt force on top of that! You are lucky that the touch screen did not crack or break and that you didn't lose all your data irretrievably since you apparently didn't bother to arrange for a backup. Today's smartphones are sophisticated high-tech devices. They must be handled with utmost respect. You wouldn't believe how many users accidentally drop their phones into the toilet.

The Peace of Mind Plan that you have purchased gets rave reviews from users. They love the protection their expensive equipment enjoys at a low monthly cost of $9.99. However, this plan plus the manufacturer's warranty on your Zero Plus covers only this one thing: manufacturing defects. Your warranty has expired by now, but it wouldn't cover neglect and abuse anyway. Your Peace of Mind Plan is in effect but only covers you for theft, loss, and malfunction. It explicitly excludes liquid and physical damage. In any case, there is always a deductible of $99. We can't replace the Zero Plus at no charge, as you request. But we could sell you a remanufactured model, at a cost of $149 plus tax. Your other option is to purchase a new device at full retail cost. Furthermore, since you have a two-year contract, you will be eligible for an upgrade as you are nearing month 20. You could go to www.vtechwireless.com to browse new calling plans and see current smartphones and perhaps order a product or service online.

Let us know what you want to do. We pride ourselves on our unparalleled customer service.

Sincerely,

Answer 1

Reading the letter above my initial response would be that the language and attitude shown in the letter is very rude and impolite. It focuses more on blaming the customer for the damage than providing with any materialistic solution. Customer satisfaction might drop after recieving such a response from the dealer for her claim. The negative review about the company can spread adversly by word of mouth and diminish the company's image. Refusal should be done in a polite and positive manner rather than being rude and offensive. In this case though the clauses the employer has put are right but the way they are put is offensive and rude hence it can put a negative impact.

The weaknesses that this letter shows are:

- Being personally offensive- 'the technician states that he has not seen such a gunky phone interior' This statement is not professional and does not specify the fault in the phone that the customer is specifying but talking about how the phone has been handled generally. It is an offensive attitude towards the customer.

- Being rude- 'did not bother to arrange a backup' this is a rude statement and could be put up in a much polite manner.

- negative marketing strategy- suggesting to buy a new phone where the customer wants to replace this one at zero cost is a wrong strategy to sell the product for which the customer will never agree.

- Too much of blaming- the phone is damaged due to some careless mistake of the customer. Instead of blaming the customer all through for their fault and making them feel even worse about the damage, polite ways can be used to pacify the customer and provide alternative ways.

- unprofessional and callous- giving less and unfavourable options employer is directly asking to let them know what the customer wants to do. This may result in negative results only as customer will get an impression of unprofessionalism from the employer.

- sounding only business minded and selfish- the employer has given only options that are favourable for the employer rather than puting up a win win situation for both the parties. The customer will not want to take up any of the options in this way and might even not want to deal with the employer in future seeing their selfish intentions.

I was the customer, even though initially it would be my fault in damaging the phone but with the attitude and rude response of the employer I would be severly offended and livid. I might take the matter up to the higher management of the company putting up my issue and the way it was handled and responded. I might even lose the trust in the company for any further dealing and leave the same impression on my social network for the rudeness and unprofessionalism i recieved from them. Even if buying a new phone was the option i was left with, I would not be buying it from the employer due to their negative attidude towards me.