18 Station Lane London n8 4he
Telephone 071 996 6431/2/3 Telex 485881
Fax 071 996 6444
Your Ref Our Ref
17 May 19_
Mr G 0 Panting
Operations Manager Princes Marketing Nessonyou___se
Newell Street
Birmingham B3 3EL
Dear Mr Panting
Thank youl your letter 2 14 May regarding problems
3 a consignment that was recently sent 4 you.
The difficulty appears to have arisen 5 a
misunderstanding 6 our ordering department, and the matter has now been put right.
I have asked our Corporate Computing Consultant,
Mr R Marley, to call 7 you 8 Friday 21 May
9 9 a.m. to ensure that the PCs are correctly loaded and
to supply the three cables that were left 10 of the order.
I will telephone you to check that this meeting is convenient, and in the meantime, I would like to apologize 11 the inconvenience that has been caused.
Yours sincerely
Task
3
Rewrite
these sentences using the passive, beginning with the words
indicated.
2 You should have delivered this consignment last week. This consignment
3 Someone broke two of the VDUs during transportation. Two
4 Someone sent the order by sea mail instead of air mail. The order
5 Please let me know when you think you can sort this matter out. Please let me know when you think this matter
6 You should have sent the documents by registered post. The documents
7 A faulty connection could have caused the problems with the hard disk. The problems with the hard disk
8 You omitted the manuals from the order.
The manuals
9 You delivered the printers over three weeks late. The printers
10 We will not pay the invoice until this problem is rectified. The invoice
T ask 4 Match the beginnings and ends of these sentences.
1 I am writing to complain about the late
2 I am writing with reference
3 We are returning the goods to you because
4 Please arrange for the goods to be
5 Please send us a refund for
6 Please accept my apologies
7 The problem arose due to
8 We would like to apologize for the error
a collected from the factory.
b
190
c a fault in the manufacturing process.
we are not satisfied with them.
e delivery of items I ordered last week.
f to order UH-879/94.
the full amount.
for the inconvenience.
Yours
sincerely
191
1 In pairs or small groups, decide:
a how effective the letter is.
b how it could be improved.
2 Rewrite the letter in a more concise and appropriate manner (in about 80 words). Use the spaces provided.
Dear Mr Varenne
When we began this association, I had great hopes that everything would run smoothly, and there was little reason to suppose that your organization was in fact a TOTAL SHAMBLES; and to be quite frank with you, it astonishes me that you have managed to stay in business for as long as you have You've made a complete mess of our order.
We made it clear that we wanted the software protection plugs by the
end of NOVEMBER because we were going to start selling our program. Time and time again, you said that there was no problem, and yet here we
are, two weeks from the launch of the program, and there isn't a plug in sight. I am absolutely furious, and so is everyone else here.
Now listen: this is your very last chance. Get those plugs here within five days or the deal is off, and we'll go to someone else. OK? And if that means that you lose your development costs, that's your problem.
I advise you to contact me immediately because I'm finding this situation an incredible strain, and I= can't take much more of this.
T
192
I Thank her for her letter.
2 Apologize for the difficulties the late delivery is causing. Explain that a small number of the plugs had a technical fault caused by a problem in the manufacturing process. You have now sorted the problem out.
3 Say you have now sent the full consignment of plugs and they will arrive within the next few days.
4 Apologize for the delay and end your letter politely.