Letter to McMillan

[Duiker]

Originally Posted by JerseyBiker

All consumers are not necessarily experts at writing formal letters. I think it's important for the recipient of the letter to realize that the concerns are coming from ordinary people and not necessarily professionals in the business. I learned that from working with organizations that encourage citizens to write to their Legislators.

~eddie

I can't believe I'm getting involved in this part of the thread but just because someone doesn't write a 'formal' letter or they make a few spelling mistakes doesn't make their money any less valuable. They're still a paying customer and should be heard if they have a complaint. You think when the folks over at MacMillan say to the CEO "we've had thousand of complaints from our customers" the CEO replies "yeah well how many of them had spelling mistakes and weren't formal letters?"

[tnronin]

Originally Posted by Duiker

I can't believe I'm getting involved in this part of the thread but just because someone doesn't write a 'formal' letter or they make a few spelling mistakes doesn't make their money any less valuable. They're still a paying customer and should be heard if they have a complaint. You think when the folks over at MacMillan say to the CEO "we've had thousand of complaints from our customers" the CEO replies "yeah well how many of them had spelling mistakes and weren't formal letters?"

True Dat!!!!! I'll comment that both posters have valid points. I liked Jerybiker's as well and he has a great point. Since the OP stated that MacMillan was not used in the letter, no harm no foul. I'm sure that there MIGHT have been hard feelings from the Scottish end of the business, possibly confusing them with the Irish McMillans.

The OP's letter could have been something like this....

Howdy, ah wish t'express mah profoun' disappointment in yer insissence thet retailers raise th' price on yer eBooks. ah reckon yer decishun is mighty sho't sighted an' particularly offensive t'yer ind cestomers. We is not stoopid hyar. We unnerstan' thet th' digital delivery of a book is a frackshun of whut it costs t'print an' distribute a tradishunal book. Shet mah mouth! $9.99 already seems t'be a premium fo' a small file an' th' intelleckual propuhty it corntains. This hyar smacks of greed an' oppo'tunism, dawgone it. Especially in todays economic climate, it paints yer compenny in a bad light. ah jest recently purchased a Nook, an' it has greatly inhanced mah desuhe t'read, cuss it all t' tarnation. ah have purchased 8 books in 3 weeks an' haf read th' majo'ity of them already. This hyar probably totals th' number of books thet ah read in th' past year. Th' ereader experience is diffrunt than thet of books. On account o' of th' nature of th' device, ah's mo'e app t'pick it up an' take it wif me ennytime ah will haf a few minutes of down time. Th' size, fo'm an' funckshun makes readin' easier in bed o' even at th' dinner table. Whut in tarnation ah's tryin' t'say is thet ereader ownys will read mo'e. ah's sho'nuff of it. An', as they git mo'e mainstream, yer profits will sho'ly rise. ah unnerstan' thet companies offen live an' die by their grost sales dollars. This hyar indestry muss sacrifice thet reckonin' an' look at grost profit dollars an' sh'd pow'ful push th' advantages of ereadin'. Please reconsider yer strategy. ah fo' one will be avoidin' yer titles until yo' see th' light. Bess regards, Greg Shoemaker

"What the world needs now.... Is love sweet love......."

[calvin-c]

I hate to tell (some of) you this (the others already know it) but CEO's rarely read letters of complaint-when they do it's a 'representative' sample selected for them by whoever's been delegated to read the actual letters-and that person is going to select the clearest, most lucid, letter as the sample. Letters with poor spelling & grammar (and, depending on the company, poor hand-writing or formatting) will only be seen in the 'similar letters' count-and that's if you're lucky. Remember that the person counting the letters doesn't have the responsibility for responding to them. It's actually in his/her (selfish) interest to minimize the number of complaints that have been received. The harder it is for the recipient to figure out what you're saying the more likely the letter will be included in 'irrational customer' category.

Did you know that the most common 'strange' complaint listed in a survey of grocery store managers was requests for refund by people who bought something, ate it, and didn't like it? Don't remember where I ran across that (if it's true) but that's the sort of thing that I mean by an 'irrational customer' category. Do you think a grocery store manager is really going to pay any attention to complaints like that?

I know-that's not a direct analogy, but what I'm saying is that you should do your best to keep your complaints out of that category-if you do then you have a better chance of someone listening to them. (Being fixed is another matter.)

[dragonbone]

Originally Posted by JerseyBiker

All consumers are not necessarily experts at writing formal letters. I think it's important for the recipient of the letter to realize that the concerns are coming from ordinary people and not necessarily professionals in the business. I learned that from working with organizations that encourage citizens to write to their Legislators.

~eddie

You are right and I regretted the comment later. Sorry to the original poster.
It's just that the body of the letter tries hard to sound formal, ("I wish to express my profound disappointment in your insistence....." etc. etc.) but starts with 'hello'... and ends with 'best regards'.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by dragonbone

You are right and I regretted the comment later. Sorry to the original poster.