Notes
Salutation
Make sure to personalize the letter by
addressing the recipient by name and
not writing "Dear Customer"
Apologize and give a detailed
account of the situation.
Acknowledge the hurt and damage
done.
Take full responsibility and make it
very clear that you were at fault.
Recognize your role in the situation
with a detailed account of what
happened without making excuses.
Promise that it won't happen again
and why it's important that it
doesn't.
Include a statement of regret.
Provide some form of restitution and
a way of easing the pain caused.
End by thanking them and showing a
willingness to do whatever is
necessary to retain them as a
customer.
Close
Example: Apology Letter For Bad Service
Dear _______________,
Please accept my sincere apology on behalf of our company. I am very sorry to
learn that your experience with Jane, our Customer Service Representative, was
less than adequate. She should have handled the situation differently and
transferred your call to someone with more authority.
I understand your frustration at having made a simple request to speak with a
supervisor—someone who had the authority to fix the problem at hand. We let
you down in that regard and for that, I am also sorry.
We take full responsibility for the situation and understand why Jane's offer to
remedy the situation did not meet your expectations. Our Customer Service
Representatives are given a set of guidelines for compensation that they are
supposed to adhere to, however in this case, clearly those standards were
insufficient.
In this regard, we failed. We should have trained our staff so that they
understood that under certain circumstances, they should immediately connect
a customer with a supervisor who would can override the standard guidelines
and procedures.
Please be assured that this type of situation will never happen again. We have
put new procedures in place as of today, that will ensure that any customer who
wants to speak with someone more senior, for any reason, will be transferred
immediately.
It's very important to us that our customers have access to anyone within the
company, all the way up to senior management.
I regret that we provided you with bad service and a poor customer experience—
it is the exact opposite of what we pride ourselves on. We value our customers
and understand how important it is to offer exceptional service.
We have issued a full credit on your account and a coupon for 30% OFF of your
next order as a gesture of our gratitude. We very much appreciate your business
and hope that you will remain a valued customer.
I would like to thank you for bringing this to our attention. It will help us improve
our operations and services.
If there are any other issues that need to be addressed, now or in the future,
please don't hesitate to contact me personally by phone, email, or in person.
Sincerely,