LCCI EfB, level 1, task 1 (2009)

[Torsten]

QUESTION 1

Situation
You work in the Customer Relations Dept of the Musbury Hotel, whose address is 64 Upper Thames Street, London EC4 3JY. Mrs Janet Goldberg, a frequent visitor to the hotel, has written to complain about a number of items which appeared on her last bill. She is certain that the bill is wrong. On checking you find that the items should have been on the bill of a Mrs. Jenny Goldblum, who was staying at the hotel at the same time.

Task Write a letter of between 150 and 200 words apologising to Mrs Goldberg for the error. Mention the items in detail and tell her how the error occurred. Let her know that the hotel will credit her account for the over-charge and leave her in no doubt that the hotel values her as a customer.

TOEIC listening, question-response: What was your former occupation?

[Mario From Saxony]

Musbury hotel
Customer Relations Department
64 Upper Thames Street
London
EC4 3JY

16th January 2012

Mrs. Janet Goldberg
16 HENLEY ROAD
BRIGHTON
BN2 5NA

Dear Mrs Goldberg

You have been a very important customer to us and we appreciate your business.
First of all we have to apologize for the mistake we have made. That should never really happen!

We would like to explain how the mistake is happened. There was another person staying at the hotel at the same time as you. The name of this person sounds similar to your name and we confused your names.

Please rest assured that we will refund you for the over-charge after reading and analysing your complaint.

We hope you accept our apologies and continue doing business with us.
We want to invite you for a free weekend for two person as compensation.

If you have any questions please don´t hesitate to contact us

kindest regards

Mario Rudolph
Customer Relations Manager

[Torsten]

[Gagelle]

Musbury Hotel
64 Upper Thames Street
London
EC4 3JY
Tel: 3434 / 543265
E-mail: info@musburyhotel.com

Mrs Janet Goldberg
22 Forrest Street
Birmingham
BG5 942

16 January 2012

Dear Mrs Goldberg

Re: Your Complaint of 12 January 2012

We received your letter about a misunderstanding. Thank you for your information. We are so sorry about your problem with our bill and we directly checked it.

Unfortunately we had some problems with the computers at this time. We do not understand how it be happened, but we confused you with Mrs. Goldblum, another guest.
Naturally we will credit your account and would like to apologize for this calculation error.
You have been a very important Customer us and we appreciate your business.
We hope you can forgive us and we can recompense this mistake at your next visit.

Further as a compensation we invite you for a free accommodation for two persons to spend a nice weekend.

I look forward to your response.

Your sincerely

Gabriele Gagell
Customer Relations Manager

[Katjakb]

Musbury Hotel
64 Upper Thames Street
London
EC4 3JY

16th November 2012

Mrs Janet Goldberg
120 Penny Lane
Liverpool
L33 7SW

Deas Mrs Goldberg

Thank you for your letter of 16 November. I checked the bill and I am afraid that my colleague made a mistake in name. Another woman with a similar name was staying at the hotel at the same time as you. It is correkt – your bill is wrong. I would like to apologize for the error.

Today I refund the over-charge and I look fast forward to continue doing business with you.

If you have any further questions please don`t hesitate to contact us.

kindest regards

Katja Köhler

account manager
Musbury Hotel

[Linda]

Hello Gabi,
I made some changes to the letter you posted. Please note the changes. Remember to use a period (.) after Mrs, Ms and Mr. Use Ms. when you don't know whether the woman is married or not.

Musbury Hotel
64 Upper Thames Street
London
EC4 3JY
Tel: 3434 / 543265
E-mail: info@musburyhotel.com

Mrs. Janet Goldberg
22 Forrest Street
Birmingham
BG5 942

16 January 2012

Dear Mrs. Goldberg:

Re: Your Complaint Letter on 12 January 2012

We received your letter about a misunderstanding. Thank you for the information. We are so sorry about the problem with your bill and we looked into the matter right away.

Unfortunately, we had some problems with our computer systems at this time. We do not understand how it be happened, but we confused you with, Mrs. Goldblum, another guest.
Naturally, we will credit your account and we would like to sincerely apologize for this error.
You are a very important customer to us and we appreciate your business.
We hope you can forgive this mishap and we want to compensate you on your next visit.
We would like to offer you a one-night, complimentary accommodation for two persons at our hotel.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Gabriele Gagell
Customer Relations Manager
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[Linda]

"Look into" is a good phrasal verb to use when you want to let someone know that you 'checked' the matter out etc. Don't use checked the situation, matter etc. because it doesn't sound natural.
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[Linda]

Hi Torsten and Mario,
I made a few changes to the letter you posted. I tried to track the changes but that didn't work out for me. Please compare this letter to the previous one.

Musbury hotel
Customer Relations Department
64 Upper Thames Street
London
EC4 3JY

16th January 2012

Mrs. Janet Goldberg
16 HENLEY ROAD
BRIGHTON
BN2 5NA

Dear Mrs. Goldberg:

First of all, thank you for your complaint letter and we apologize for the mistake we made. That should never really have happened!

You are a very important customer to us and we appreciate your business. Therefore, we would like to explain how the mistake happened. There was another guest staying at the hotel at the same time as you were. This guest's name sounds similar to yours and we confused the reservations.

Please rest assured that we will refund you for the over-charge. We hope you accept our sincerest apologies and continue doing business with us.

We would also like to offer you a complimentary weekend stay for two persons as compensation for the mishap.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Kindest regards,

Mario Rudolph
Customer Relations Manager
_________________
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[Linda]

Hello Katja,

I made some changes to your letter. Please note the changes.
Remember to put a 'period' after Mrs, Ms and Mr and use Ms. when you don't know whether the woman you are writing to is married or not. Also, try to use words such as 'reservation and guest' when writing hotel-related letters. Often, the proper lingo is important and sounds more professional in letter writing.

Musbury Hotel
64 Upper Thames Street
London
EC4 3JY

16th November 2012

Mrs. Janet Goldberg
120 Penny Lane
Liverpool
L33 7SW

Deas Mrs. Goldberg:

Thank you for your letter of 16 November.

I checked the bill and I am afraid that my colleague made a mistake regarding your reservation. Another guest, with a similar-sounding name, was also staying at the hotel at the same time as you were. We confused the two reservations and I would like to sincerely apologize for the error on our part.

I credited your account for the over-charge today and I look forward to continued business with you.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Kindest regards,

Katja Köhler

Account Manager
Musbury Hotel
_________________
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[Torsten]

Hi Linda,

Thanks a lot for those corrections, we'll check them tomorrow.

In the meantime, please find below a sample answer by LCCI:

2nd April 2009

Mrs J. Goldberg
4 Badbury Court
Ingleby
Yorkshire
LE5 6DB

Dear Mrs Goldberg

As you know, you have been one of our best customers for the past 5 years. That’s we were shocked to receive your letter and offer you our sincere apologies for the mistakes on your last bill. We hope you have not been too upset by it all.

I have looked into the matter and now know what went wrong. At the time you were staying with us, we also had another lady guest, Mrs J. Goldblum. You were in room 212 and she was in room 221. This is how the mix-up came about.

Mrs Goldblum called room service on 2 occasions, and made use of the room’s mini-bar. In addition she used our laundry service. These items were unfortunately charged to your account. As you do not drink, the clerk should have spotted the errors.

You will be pleased to know that your account has been credited for the amounts charged. We hope you will find this acceptable.

In order to assure you that we value you highly as a regular visitor, please accept a bottle of champagne plus a full 5 course dinner in the Grillroom at our expense when you next visit us.

Once again please accept our apologies, and we look forward to seeing you in the near future.

Yours sincerely
A.Candidate
(Customer Relations Assistant)

Here is the second writing assignment: LCCI EfB, level 1, task 2 (canteen memo)

TOEIC listening, question-response: How long is Christmas vacation?

[Mister Micawber]

BrE letter form does not use periods after Mr, Mrs, Dr, etc., or a comma after the greeting ('Dear Mr Smith'), and this is coming into use on the other side of the Atlantic as well.

In addition, 'Ms' is never followed by a period because it is not an abbreviation.
_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Linda]

I was always taught to use a period after Dr, Mr, Mrs, Ms, Prof, Capt. etc.

British English: Ms
American English: Ms.

Various websites illustrate the differences between American and British usages. I come from a North American perspective; therefore, I use a period.
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[Mister Micawber]

I agree; therefore, you should not offer the period as a correction, Linda. Your words:

[Linda]

Why not offer it as a correction? I was asked to edit these letters by Torsten and I edited them from my perspective. Am I to take every country's stance into account before I make any changes? And, are you constantly going to be looking over my shoulder - again?

To the LCCI students: if you are writing letters to Americans, you should use a period after Mrs, Mr and Ms.

If you are writing letters to British-speakers, you shouldn't use a period after Mrs, Mr and Ms.
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[Mister Micawber]

Am I to take every country's stance into account before I make any changes? -- Yes, as much as you can.

And, are you constantly going to be looking over my shoulder - again?-- Yes.
_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's