Case 1: Memo and Business Letter
You work for the Customer Service department at United Tools, a successful manufacturer and marketer of tools in the United States. Recently, United Tools received a letter from a hardware store that carries its products (see Document 1A). You try to speak to your supervisor, Russ Ong, about the situation. Unfortunately, Russ has just learned about a major shipping error. While rushing off to a meeting, Russ tells you, “Anytime a weekend warrior gets hurt using one of our tools, the tool is always assumed to be the problem. People need to learn to use tools for what they’re assigned for. I don’t have time for this.”
You decide to investigate the situation. A colleague in marketing sends you an email message (see Document 1B) providing some background on the pipe wrench in question, the UT904.
You decide to investigate the situation further. One of the company engineers replies to your request for information on the UT904. (Document 1C)
At lunch you explain the situation with Maureen Perez, a colleague in the Customer Service Department: “I think I may have uncovered a problem with our UT9 pipe wrenches. But I don’t think Russ, Marketing, or R&D believes a problem exists.
“Be careful how you handle this,” Maureen cautions. “Remember what happened to Bev when she accused Richard—in a widely circulated email message—of designing an unsafe brake-line faring tool. Switched to the night shift, one negative performance evaluation, and three weeks later Bev was gone.”
[See attachment below for Documents 1A-1C]
Your Assignment
- Write a memo to Operations-Manager Ken Handy alerting him to the situation you have uncovered, presenting appropriate recommendations. The necessary information for writing the memo is in the explanation above and in the attachment below [Doc 1-3].
- Assume that your supervision has authorized you to draft a letter offering an appropriate adjustment to the retailers and the retail customers who wrote claim letters to your company. Draft a good news letter specifically to Chel Thomas. [See Doc 1 below]
- Write an email to Richard Cass, mechanical engineer and designer of the UT904 pipe wrench, informing him of your course of action, while simultaneously trying to smooth things over. Use the appropriate level of formality.