9.3 Replying to Complaints or Claims

Adjustment Message Organization

An adjustment message is a written response to a claim letter. If the response is positive, the response takes the direct approach by immediately delivering the good news about granting the claimant’s request. Though you would probably start with an apology if this situation arose in person, starting on a purely positive note is more effective in a written message. Tone is also important here; resist the urge to shame the customer- even if they’re partly to blame or if part of you still suspects that the claim is fraudulent- with begrudging, passive-aggressive language.

Though a routine adjustment letter might skip a message body, a more serious one may need to go into more detail about how you are complying with the request or take the time to explain what your company is doing to prevent the error from happening again. Doing this makes the reader feel as though making the effort to write will have made a positive impact, however small because it will benefit not only them but also everyone else who won’t have to go through what they did. Even if you have to explain how the customer can avoid this situation in the future (e.g., by using the product or service as it was intended), putting the responsibility partly on their shoulders, do so in entirely positive terms.

In Activity 9.2, the writer uses the direct approach to deliver the good news immediately.

^{Activity 9.2 | Adjustment Message}

Of course, not all complaints or claims will receive a positive response, but if it is necessary to deny a claim, it must be done politely.

Want to learn more?

In this chapter, we focused on responding to a written complaint. Watch the video below from Skillsoft YouTube on how to handle customer complaints over the phone.