Message Strategies: Writing Routine Replies; Completing:

Evaluating Content, Organization, and Tone

[LO-4], Chapter 5 Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of this message and then revise it so that it follows this chapter’s guidelines for responding to requests for adjustments:

We read your letter, requesting your deposit refund. We couldn’t figure out why you hadn’t received it, so we talked to our maintenance engineer, as you suggested. He said you had left one of the doors off the hinges in your apartment in order to get a large sofa through the door. He also confirmed that you had paid him

$5.00 to replace the door since you had to turn in the U-Haul trailer and were in a big hurry.

This entire situation really was caused by a lack of communication between our housekeeping inspector and the maintenance engineer. All we knew was that the door was off the hinges when it was inspected by Sally Tarnley. You know that our policy states that if anything is wrong with the apartment, we keep the deposit. We had no way of knowing that George just hadn’t gotten around to replacing the door.

But we have good news. We approved the deposit refund, which will be mailed to you from our home office in Teaneck, New Jersey. I’m not sure how long that will take, however. If you don’t receive the check by the end of next month, give me a call.

Next time, it’s really a good idea to stay with your apartment until it’s inspected, as stipulated in your lease agreement. That way, you’ll be sure to receive your refund when you expect it.

Hope you have a good summer.