Case Study 6.17
Direct Claim: Righting a Wrong (Obj.3)
Adapted from Page186, so please refer to this assignment sheet as the final word for assignment requirements
Have you ever bought a product that did not work as promised? Have you been disappointed in service at a
bank, restaurant, department store, or discount house or from an online merchant? Have you had ideas about
how a company or organization could improve its image, service, or product? Remember that smart companies
want to know what their customers think, especially if they could improve their product or services.
Your Task
Select a product or service that has disappointed you. Using the positive message approach, write a claim
letter requesting a refund, replacement, explanation, or whatever seems reasonable. For claims about
food products, be sure to include bar code identification from the package if possible. Consider any proof
you would need to include (not really, just for the letter) to prove you purchased an item or a service.
(Use section Objective 3 in Chapter 6 to guide your content.)
GRADING:
Half of your grade comes from your content, organization, and format; half comes from your grammar and
mechanics. See details below. You may simply remove my words in the sample letter and type your own.
Grammatical and Mechanical Correctness
Because your writing skills and command of standard American English affect your credibility, business
writing submissions can and will fail based on this one area, which affects all the other areas, like fluency,
accuracy, clarity, and completeness, so make sure you submit your best work!
Since your instructor may not “pre-grade” or edit your letters, I strongly suggest you see a tutor with
questions about grammatical and mechanical errors. Our college provides free on-campus tutoring. Simply
call the campus you plan to go to for tutoring and request the tutor’s room location and available hours.
You may also refer to the grammar chapters and instructional videos within Blackboard or seek onlinetutoring via Upswing, accessible via the Upswing button in Blackboard.
Content & Organization
This letter requires you to use the positive or direct strategy or organization. Carefully following organization of
the sample letter provided with the assignment sheet and the discussions in your textbook and chapter
PowerPoint understand what to include in each of the three paragraphs. Failure to include required content in
the required paragraphs will result in point deduction, approximately 10 points per instance.
This section also includes application of the you-attitude. Although you must use first person since this letter
references your dissatisfaction with a product or service, use pleasant, non-threatening language, and focus on
your recipient as much as possible. Avoid negative language and flabby, trite, redundant expressions, et cetera
(See Chapters 2 – 4).
Basic Formatting Elements
Use full-block business formatting. You may use the attached sample business letter as a formatting guide
since it is in Word format. Since you are writing as an individual, you will not have a letterhead with your
company name, address, phone, and fax numbers.
Acceptable Fonts for business letters: (11 or 12-point font size)
Arial Gaduji
Georgia Rockwell
Tahoma Times New Roman
Verdana
Basic Paragraph Elements
• Even in business writing, paragraphs require topic sentences with clear major and minor details that support
the topic sentence.
• Apply what you have learned about business writing content: sentence and paragraph length, structure, bullet
points, et cetera in the business chapters thusfar.
NOTE 1: As a college English instructor, I will carefully consider every line of every writing assignment you submit
for a grade, and I will consider how well you followed the directions. Make every submission your best.
NOTE 2: Even though you submit work that you believe reflects your best efforts, those efforts may not result in a
passing grade.
Pre-submission Check:
Before you submit your letter, make sure you
• submit a letter with a professional appearance;
o Avoid letterhead or letter printer paper (if your instructor wants a hard copy of your letter) with
flowers, birds, hearts, stars, babies, recipe note cards, et cetera. In fact, your best option is the avoid a
letterhead altogether since you do not represent a company in this letter.
• applied full-block formatting to your letter;
o See the example I provided.
• use passive voice only when necessary (to avoid an accusatory tone);
• avoid contractions;
• you avoid the use of the words ‘it’ or ‘there’ as filler words.
• address a person, not “To Whom It May Concern” or a company name;
• provide a phone number and email address for future communication;
• “signed” your letter with a dark-blue signature font in a size large enough to replicate a human signature and
create the appearance of quad spacing between your complimentary close and your typed name;
o (See the sample letter provided with this assignment sheet.)
• the font size for the rest of your letter is 11 or 12;
• contact me if you have any questions about formatting, content, or content organization well before the due
date and time.
