I received a different product from what I had ordered. What should I do?
Any feedback and suggestion for improving this letter would be highly appreciated.
You purchased a product from a website and the company sent you a wrong product. Write a letter to the manager explaining about
– What was the product that you ordered?
– What was sent to you and how it caused you problems?
– What do you want the manager to do about it?
****
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to inform you that I received a different product from what I had ordered on your website.
On Tuesday 2nd November, I placed an order on your website for a size-large Giorgio Armani men’s leather coat whose product code is LC528. Not able to find this particular size in any Giorgio Armani outlets in Tehran, I was really happy to have finally found it on your website.
The following day, the coat was delivered to my house. When I opened the parcel, I was surprised to discover that not only was the coat not size large, but also was wholly different from its photos displayed in your online catalog. I purchased this particular coat for a leader-themed party that I was invited on Friday, and because of this mistake I could not attend the party.
As this error was caused by your company, and I have no use for the coat now, I would like to cancel my purchase and request for a full refund. Also, please contact me and provide some guidance on how I should return the coat.
I look forward to receiving a prompt reply.
Yours faithfully,
Adib Yz
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Corrections · 9
2
correction suggestion word order
Dear Sir or Madam,
On Tuesday 2nd November, I placed an order on your website for a size-large Giorgio Armani men’s leather coat with a product code of LC528. I was really happy to have found this product on your website, as I had been unable to find this particular size in any Giorgio Armani outlets in Tehran.
The following day, the coat was delivered to my house. When I opened the parcel, I was surprised to discover that not only was the coat not a size large, but it was also wholly different from the photos of it that were / are displayed in your online catalog. I purchased this particular coat for a leather-themed party that I was invited to on Friday / to which I had been invited on Friday, and due to your error I was unable to attend the party.
Since your company is at fault and I have no use for the coat now, I would like to cancel my purchase and I hereby request for a full refund. Also, please contact me and provide me with details on your returns procedure.
I look forward to receiving a prompt reply.
Yours faithfully,
Adib Yz
1
To my eyes, "parcel" looks strange. I rarely come across this word. This is probably partly explained by that I read relatively little British English compared to American English. "Parcel" is definitely British English. However, the source below says that apparently "package" is now the more popular word in British texts as well.
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/71748/difference-between-packet-parcel-and-package
"Also, please contact me and provide some guidance on how I should return the coat. " ->
"Also, could you please provide some guidance on how I should return the coat?"
I like the "provide some guidance" phrase. I think "contact me" is superfluous, given that you write "provide". It's obvious that providing you with the information will involve contacting you.
I've turned the request into a question, to make it more indirect, in my opinion the true English way of communicating. Being very polite and humble in English doesn't mean you feel you're in a weak position for negotiation. Anything that follows after "Could you please" could be interpreted as a direct command, depending on the context (for example, the existing relationship between the two parties communicating).
I've never been corrected by an English speaker police officier, but I bet they also say "Could you please ... ? ". But this doesn't mean the request is open for negation. Perhaps, if someone does not cooperate enthusiastically, someone in power could switch to more direct "I need you to...." or just say (or yell) a command outright, up to "do what I say or I shoot you".
The message is that you need or want "guidance on how to return the coat". The rest is sugar-coating.
More direct would be: "Also, I'd appreciate some guidance on how I should return the coat." But being used to the standard, indirect English, a recipient could see this as too direct. " I'd very much appreciate ..." would soften it a bit again, but still, I prefer putting it int the question form. For the message (you need or want guidance) it doesn't matter, but keeping the other party as happy as possible (and in no way offending them) could in some cases promote speedy cooperation from them.
I concur with the other corrections by Katelyn.
Note, I'm not a native speaker.
1
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to inform you that I received a different product from what I had ordered on your website.
On Tuesday 2nd November, I placed an order on your website for a size-large Giorgio Armani men’s leather coat whose product code is LC528. Not able to find this particular size in any Giorgio Armani outlets in Tehran, I was really happy to have finally found it on your website.
The following day, the coat was delivered to my house. When I opened the parcel, I was surprised to discover that not only was the coat not size large, but also was wholly different from its photos displayed in your online catalog. I purchased this particular coat for a leader-themed party that I was invited to on Friday, and because of this mistake I could not attend the party.
As this error was caused by your company, and I have no use for the coat now, I would like to cancel my purchase and request for a full refund. Also, please contact me and provide with some guidance information on how I should return the coat.
I look forward to receiving a prompt reply.
Yours faithfully,
Adib Yz
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The letter is written well! The three questions were not grammatically correct. Did I highlight things in the right section? It was a bit hard to tell which part you wanted to have us go over.
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