Claim &

Adjustment
Letters
Arranged by Aswarini Sentana
1. A Claim / Complaint
Letter
 A claim letter is a letter that you write to a company to
point out a problem.

 Some problems that you write about in claim letters

include: receiving the wrong products, receiving
damaged products, or receiving an incorrect invoice.
A Claim / Complaint letter

 Before you write the letter, make sure you have all the
information about the problem

 If necessary, contact other people in your company. Ask

them if they have anything to add.
The Body of a Claim Letter
Notes

 When you send a claim letter, provide documentation

such as receipts, invoices, photos of damaged goods, or
anything that would prove there was a problem.

 Be sure to send photocopies of documentation, not the

originals. You should keep the originals for your records.
Formal vs Informal Style:
Contractions
 In business letters, you should always use a formal
writing style.

 One point to remember is that you should not use

contractions.

 E.g:
Being Concise: Descriptive
Adverbs
 Business correspondence should be concise.

 Being concise means that you should use as few words

as possible.

 One way to be concise is to use modifiers, such as

descriptive adverbs.

 E.g.
Using Dashes

 A dash (—), or a pair of dashes, can sometimes be used

instead of a comma, or parentheses.

 Dashes can add information, show emphasis, or set off

lists.

 E.g.
Notes

 If you are having problems over and over again with the
company, you could mention it in the letter.

 Make sure you are polite, but tell them how you feel.

 For example, you might say:

2. An Adjustment Letter

 An adjustment letter is a letter that corrects a mistake.

 When a company has made a mistake, it is important to

acknowledge it, correct it, and apologize for any
inconvenience.
2. An Adjustment Letter

 Before you write the letter, make sure you have all the
information about the situation.

 If necessary, contact other people in you company. Ask

them if they have anything to add.

 In some cases, you may want to offer something as an

apology; a coupon, a discount, or a small gift.
The Body of an adjustment
Letter
Adjustment Letter Actions

 Most adjustment letters have one of these actions:

 These are the three most common actions, but other

options are possible.
Apologies and Actions

 An adjustment letter begins with acknowledging the

mistake. Then the writer apologizes, suggests an action,
and apologize again.
Notes

 One way that companies apologize for errors is to pay

for shipping and handling costs.

 If the customer already paid their bill, the company can

reimburse them.

 If the company hasn’t sent the bill yet, they can deduct
the costs before they send the bill.
Numbers in Sentences

 A number that starts a sentence should be spelled out.

 You can also rewrite the sentence with the number

coming latter.

 E.g.
Note

 In an adjustment letter, you do not have to explain why

the problem happened.

 In fact, you should not say anything bad about your

company.

 Simply apologize and tell the customer that any

problem has been fixed.
Source

Lougheed, Lin. (2003). Business Correspondence: A Guide

to Everyday Writing Second Edition. New York: Pearson
Education, Inc.