Talia Jackson, head of Human Resources with Blue Diamond Insurance, recently planned an awards lunch for the 50 top-performing insurance agents in the region. In previous years, the insurance company held the event onsite in the lunchroom at the company's headquarters. However, the company was doing extremely well financially this year, so Talia asked her boss if she could spend a little more money and hold the event at a local restaurant. When she received the OK, Talia made planning the lunch a top priority. She took a great amount of pride in finding Red Stone, a nice, affordable restaurant that had a strong reputation for high-quality food and service. That's why Talia was surprisedand upsetwhen she began receiving complaints from agents after the lunch.

The first complaint came from Brad Winthrop, a top agent in the Cleveland area. He emailed Talia the day after the lunch, thanking her for planning the event, but commented: "I'm not sure why you asked us to mark what entre we wanted when we RSVP'd. I ordered the salmon but received the chicken. The guy next to me got steak when he ordered chicken. When I told the server I had ordered the fish, he said they were out and didn't even apologize for the mistake."

Talia was unaware during the event that some attendees did not receive what they had ordered. She had given the manager at Red Stone the total number of steak, chicken, and fish entrees one week prior to the lunch, so in her mind, there was no excuse for the error. Talia replied to Brad's email: "I am so sorry for the mix-up. My goal for this lunch was for the top-performing agents to feel appreciated and cared for, and it sounds like that was not your experience. Rest assured, I will be contacting the restaurant to let them know I was not satisfied with the food and service we received."

A few days later Talia received a phone call from Raj Mehta, the manager of the Cincinnati office. Raj had been with the company for more than 20 years, so Talia knew him well. They exchanged pleasantries about their personal lives before Raj mentioned that he wanted her to know about some complaints he received about the recent luncheon. "I had three agents tell me that the food and service were terrible," Raj explained. "One mentioned that her bread roll was as hard as a brick, and another said that the lettuce in the salad was so wilted, it was inedible." He continued, "Another agent informed me that half the people at her table received the wrong entres."

Talia was so disappointed there had been not just one but three more complaints. She responded, "Unfortunately, this is not the first complaint I have received about the lunch. I'm so disappointed to hear this. Every review I read online about the restaurant said it was a great place to hold a larger event. I'm starting to think I was misled. Please tell your agents I am sorry they had a bad experience, and I will do everything I can to not have this happen again!"

Less than an hour passed before Talia received yet another email about the lunch. This one was from Sonja Petrovic, the top-performing agent in the Toledo office. Talia's complaint was the most concerning of all. She wrote, "I would like to inform you of a troubling incident that occurred while attending this week's awards luncheon. During the dessert course, I was asked by a server if I would like coffee with my cake. I told him I would like coffee but that, due to a medical condition, I could only drink decaffeinated coffee. The server said he would check in the back and returned with what he promised was decaf coffee. Within 10 minutes of drinking the coffee, I could tell it was definitely NOT decaf and, in fact, was one of the strongest cups of coffee I have ever had! I always have my heart medication with me in case of these situations, but this could have easily resulted in a visit to the emergency room."

Talia was horrified to learn of Sonja's frightening experience. She immediately replied to her email: "Sonja, what an incredibly scary experience. I am so sorry to hear this and will do everything I can to ensure this does not happen to another guest of the restaurant. Please accept my sincerest apologies."

Sonja's email was the last straw for Talia. It was clearly time to send a message to the restaurant manager at Red Stone detailing all of the errors that had occurred during the awards luncheon.

Task: Write a Message to the Manager at Red Stone

Assume the role of Talia. In the form of a letter or email, write a claim message to the manager at Red Stone notifying him of the complaints received about the awards luncheon and that you would like an adjustment to the bill due to the poor service received.

Write a Bad News Message