Abhorrence

..sometimes you just wonder how they actually make it thus far as a university-level undergraduate.. it feels almost obscene and unthinkable to be reading this entry which was actually submitted (believe it or not) and yes, it’ll be graded.. it’s a gross indecency and I honestly wonder how they can think that such an entry can actually be appropriate to be submitted..

help.

Task; Comment on the following passage: -
Dear PR manager,
I would like to express my gratitude for the catering services provided for our graduation dinner on March 10th 2009. The overall service was good but there is a minor problem that I would like to voice out.

As we have agreed, the $2000 fees paid includes set-up and clean-up services. However, we received the letter of complaint and a clean-up bill of S$300 from the hall office due to insufficient cleaning. I have conveyed this issue to one of your staff it was not taken seriously.

We have long been a customer of your services and up until now have always regarded you are an excellent caterer. I have every faith that you would like to mitigate this situation and my suggestion for you is to cover for the cost of S$300 required for the extra clean-up. I look forward to hearing from you. Feel free to contact me at 91234567 for further clarifications.

Response from my group member (hold your breath): -
We are stand on the point of view of Ardon Cateres-the cater service company. Firstly, we receive a bad news message. The email is complained about our bad service, did not do a clean-up job. The opening of the message started with a buffer. The buffer is really polite and even too soft that it won’t let me pay attention on it. The word “gratitude” even made me think it is a praise-good message.

Secondly, the email stated the issues too briefly. Nothing wrong with the original contract, i.e $2000 for set-up and clean-up services. It seems that suddenly our company need to pay extra $300 for clean-up payment. And it did not mention about the virtual outcome of negotiation with our staff.

Thirdly, the email mentioned that one of our staff did not take seriously on the case. This causes contention. From real situation, one of our staff treated the chairperson rudely. Of course, it is not right to be rude. But if you put in another’s shoes, it just showed that our staff treated the case very seriously, otherwise why she/he was angry with the chairperson’s. Different point of view will lead a different conclusion. The chairperson might think it was rude to him/her. Most of time in real world, we seldom know the real situation from third party. (In this case, read from the question paper to know the truth)

Fourthly, the intention is very clear. i.e want our company pay the $300 clean-up bill. It is not be the best approach to solve the problem. The purpose of the message is to ask for the payment and everything will be settled afterwards.

Lastly, The message is not provided enough information for our company to take action. The chair person should give the details about the complaint from hall office. It will help us to analysis what the real situation was and what lead to it.

Above all, Our company will not take any action on the fee payment until further information is given/clarify.

Mention in passing, Use a little accounting knowledge, the amount of bill is $300 and the revenue of the service is $2000. $300/$2000=15%. It is not a minor issue at all in this single case. Probably no profit could be made if we just simply pay the bill base on the insufficient information given in the e mail.

What will we do:
Apploigized for the inconvenient first. The customer is god and is always right.
Asked for more details about the complain form hall office and details about the event, for example, was there night party after the dinner and that is the root cause to dirty the place.
We will find out who did the duty/job on that day and had a clarify conversion with him/her. Let the chairperson know the conversion outcome.