Apology Letter For Bad Service

Salutation
Make sure to personalize the letter by addressing the recipient by name and not writing "Dear Customer"

Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms/_______________,

Apologize and give a detailed account of the situation.

Please accept my sincere apology on behalf of our company. I am very sorry to learn... [ provide a detailed account of the poor service received ]

For example... I am very sorry to learn that your experience with Jane, our Customer Service Representative, was less than adequate. She should have handled the situation differently and transferred your call to someone with more authority.

Acknowledge the hurt and damage done.

I understand your frustration at having made a simple request to speak with a supervisor—someone who had the authority to fix the problem at hand. We let you down in that regard and for that, I am also sorry.

Take full responsibility and make it very clear that your side was at fault.

We take full responsibility for the situation and understand why Jane's offer to remedy the situation did not meet your expectations.

Our Customer Service Representatives are given a set of guidelines for compensation that they are supposed to adhere to, however in this case, clearly those standards were insufficient.

Recognize your role in the situation with a detailed account of what happened without making excuses.

In this regard, we failed. We should have trained our staff so that they understood that under certain circumstances, they should immediately connect a customer with a supervisor who has the authority to override the standard guidelines and procedures.

Promise that it won't happen again and tell the customer why it's important to you that it doesn't.

Please be assured that this type of situation will never happen again. We have put new procedures in place as of today, that will ensure that any customer who wants to speak with someone more senior, for any reason, will be transferred immediately.

It's very important to us that our customers have access to anyone within the company, all the way up to senior management.

Include a statement of regret.

I regret that we provided you with bad service and a poor customer experience—it is the exact opposite of what we pride ourselves on. We value our customers and understand how important it is to offer exceptional service.

Provide some form of restitution and a way of easing the pain caused.

We have issued a full credit on your account and a coupon for 30% OFF of your next order as a gesture of our gratitude. We very much appreciate your business and hope that you will remain a valued customer.

End by thanking them and showing a willingness to do whatever is necessary to retain them as a customer.

I would like to thank you for bringing this to our attention. It will help us improve our operations and services.

If there are any other issues that need to be addressed, now or in the future, please don't hesitate to contact me personally by phone, email, or in person.