Unit 8 Dealing with problems
8.1 A
1. The agreement was that you'd let us have three sets of documentation,
but we only seem to have been sent one.
Could you do something about this right away, please?
2. We asked you to send us all the necessary documentation,
but we've been invoiced for three sets.
As far as I can tell we only need one set,
and there should be no charge for this, according to your letter.
3. Hello. Listen I'm terribly sorry,
but I thought I'd be able to make it in good time for our meeting this afternoon.
The trouble is that there's been a terrible hold-up on the motorway.
I've been sitting in a queue for two hours
so I don't think I'll be able to get to you till quarter to two.
Will you still be available then?
4. Sorry about this but, there's been a problem with air traffic control and my flight has been re-timed to quarter to two.
This means that it won't arrive in time for our lunch appointment.
I'm terribly sorry about this.
Will you still be in the office later in the afternoon, say about quarter to five?
I know this is very late, but I won't be able to make it till then.
5. The thing is that there are some scratches on the front panel of 15 of the consignment.
Now I realize this won't affect the operation of the units but obviously we can't sell them to our customers unless they're in perfect condition,
so what we want you to do is to include an extra 15 in next month's order and we'll send the faulty ones back to you.
Is that agreeable?
Oh, and if in the meantime we discover any more with the same fault,
we'll let you know and perhaps we can have our money back on those.
6. We examined the packages when they were delivered and they seemed to be in good order,
but when we opened the packages,
we discovered that 15 to 20 packages were water-stained on the inside.
Some of this water seems to have soaked through the inner packaging and the contents are wet inside.
They're obviously been left out in the rain in transit and your inner packaging was...was inadequate.
Anyway, I've been asked to tell you that we'll be withholding payment on the entire consignment
until you arrange to have the faulty items collected and replaced.
7. Look, the blessed thing has broken down again.
And yes, we have switched it off so that it can cool down.
Yes, I sppose it is a quite warm day,
but this machine is supposed to be capable of operating 24 hours a day.
No, I want you to get someone out here today to look at it and put things right.
Assuming is't not a design
so there must be something an engineer can do to stop this happening every time the temperature rises over 25 degrees!
8. Yes, it's happened again.
The feed roller mechanism has jammed again.
I called the service engineer,
but he says we've been using the wrong grade of paper and that we should be using 60 gram.
Well, we can't replace our entire stock of 85 gram just to make it work in one machine.
Now I'd like you to know that we want the complete feed and transport mechanism replaced straight away.
The last time the engineeer serviced it he informed us that the problem was caused by a faulty circuit board,
even though this was obviously not what was wrong with it.
Anyway, he replaced it and we were charged for this,
and by the way, we'd like a refund for this charge, too.
And that is the end 8.1 B.
8.2 We all make mistakes - sometimes!
8.2 B
Lucia Donato: This is Lucia Donato at UNIFLEX in La Spezia.
We've been expecting your order this month and it hasn't arrived yet.
And...um... I must admit that I'm a bit surprised by this but...er...I'm assuming that you want to repeat last month's quantities.
If you want to make any changes, you'd better let me know.
We'll be loading tomorrow afternoon,
so could you contact me first thing tomorrow, please?
And that is the end 8.2 B.
8.3 Complaining and apologizing
8.3 A
1. Customer: Er...good morning. Er...I bought this box of computer paper last week but it's not the right size - it should be A4.
Assistant: Oh, sorry about that. Um...it says A4 on the box.
Customer: Oh, yes I know, but...here...if you look inside you'll see: it's a smaller size.
Assistant: Oh, yeah, so it is. I'm very sorry...er...I'll get you another box.
Customer: Oh, right, thanks.
Assistant: Er...I'm very sorry but we haven't got another box in stock.
Customer: Oh, no!
Assistant: Yeah, I am sorry about that.
Er...if you like, I'll just call our other branch to see if they have any.
Customer: Oh, no...er...don't bother. Um...I'd prefer a refund.
Assistant: Of course. That's 11.95...Here you are. Sorry about that.
Customer: Oh, that's all right, thanks anyway. Bye.
Assistant: Bye.
2. Mr South: I'm...er...I'm sorry to bother you, Mrs West.
Mrs West: Yes, Mr South?
Mr South: Er...it may have slipped your mind,
but you told me last week that...that you'd send in the orders to Compass International.
Mrs West: Yes, that's right, yes, I did send in the order. Er...on Friday afternoon.
Mr South: Well, the...the thing is, did...did you realize there were two separate orders:
o...one for northern region and another for eastern region?
Mrs West: Oh dear! Jeez, I'm sorry. I didn't realize the eastern region had...had to be done too.
Mr South: Oh, it really doesn't matter, there's still just time.
Mrs West: Well, I'll phone Compassa dn explain, shall I?
Mr South: Er...no, no, I think it'd be best to send the order by telex, don't...don't you?
Mrs, West: Yeah, yeah, all right. I'll do that right away. Sorry again!
Mr South: Oh...oh, that's all right.
3. Mr Joiner: Good morning. Carpenter and Sons, can I help you?
Miss Zimmermann: Hello, this is Heidi Zimmermann of Schreiner International.
Mr Joiner: Hello, Miss Zimmermann. This is Ted Joiner. What can I do for you?
Miss Zimmermann: Well, I think there may have been some...a misunderstanding about our last order.
Mr Joiner: Oh dear, what seems to be the problem?
Miss Zimmermann: We've just started unloading the truck
and the quality of the goods doesn't appear to be Class A1, which is what we ordered.
Mr Joiner: Oh dear, I'm very sorry. Let me just check this on the computer...
Er...oh dear, yes, I'm afraid there has been a slip-up in our shipping department.
I'm very sorry, it's certainly our fault.
Wh...what would you like us to do about it?
Miss Zimmermann: Well, we can keep the goods and...and use them for another order of ours,
if you will charge us 20% less for the load and ship us a load of Class A1 right away.
Mr Joiner: That sounds fair enough.
Let me just check the stock position...
Yes, we can ship tomorrow morning, if that's all right?
Oh yes,that will be fine.
Oh good,Er...thank you very much,Miss Zimmermann.I'm very sorry that this happened.
Miss Zimmermann: That's quite all right. Goodbye.
4. Telephonist: Good afternoon. Windsor Products.
Mr Wong: May I speak with Tina Castle in marketing, please?
Telephoonist: Tina Castle, certainly. One moment, please.
Miss Castle: Tina Castle.
Mr Wong: Hello, this is Henry Wong of Arrow Print.
Miss Castle, Hi, Mr Wong. What can I do for you?
Mr Wong: It's about the order for your new packaging.
I think you may have forgotten to send us the colour negatinves.
Miss Castle: I sent the complete set of negatives by airmail on the 14th,
I remember packing them up myself.
They should have arrived by now.
Mr Wong: Yes, well we did get a package from you on the 18th,
but the problem is that the colour negatives were missing.
Miss Castle: Are you sure?
My Wong: Yes, we only got the black and white ones.
Miss Castle:...Oh dear, I've just been through my outtray and I've found them here.
I'm very sorry, it's my fault.
I'll send them by courier at once.
Mr Wong: No, no, no, that's not necessary.
My assistant, Mr Patel is coming to your office tomorrow,
so you can give them to him and he can bring them back.
Miss Castle: Right. I'll make sure he gets them. I'm sorry this happened.
Mr Wong: It's perfectly all right, Miss Gastle. Goodbye.
And that is the end 8.3 A.
8.4 Friday afternoon: Delivery problems
8.4 A
Ted Robinson: This is Ted robison.
Um...it's about these new alloy components.
Now, when the components were unpacked and inspected,
we found that although most of the parts are OK,
the screw adaptors don't meet our specifications.
Now, they...the ones that you sent us are GJ 501s and we need JG 507s.
I'll say that again - JG 507s.
Now I've checked your order and that was correct and so was the proforma the suppliers sent,
so it seems to be the fault of the supplier's export packing department.
Now, the problem is: if the right parts don't arrive by next Wednesday,
part of the production line will have to stop.
And in all 5,000 screw adaptors have to be replaced,
of which 500 are needed for next week's production.
So, can you do something about his let me know what you propose to do?
OK? Goodbye.
And that is the end 8.4 A.
8.5 Only the best is good enough...
8.5 B
Interviewer: Sarah Lockhart is the Quality Director of AP Management Consultants.
Sarah, how is Quality with a capital Q different from what's always been known as 'quality control'?
Ms Lockhart: The idea of Quality is a concept that is coming to be the driving force of many parts of industry today.
The interesting thing is that it can be applied to both the service sector and the manufacturing sector.
We can talk about Quality of manufacturing and quality of service.
Quality is something that affects all the functions of the company
and all the staff from board level down to line managers and employees.
So how would this be applied to manufacturing?
Well,the key idea here is "Zero Dfects'- the company should be aiming to produce goods that are perfect.
So that customers are entirely satisfied and they don't discover any faults at all after delivery has taken place.
Interviewer: Yes, but surely nobody's perfect.
We all make mistakes sometimes.
Ms Lockhart: Well, yes, people make mistakes,
but we believe that everybody wants to be perfect and they want their product to be perfect and to have no dff...defects.
Ms Lockhart: In the past it was considered impossible to mass-produce goods to a very high standard.
There would always be rejects and some faulty goods would inevitably get through to the customer,
because carrying out a quality control of every manufacture item
would be too expensive and therefore unprofitable.
Quality control usually consisted of random checks - operating rather like Customs officers in the green channel at an airport.
Customers came to expect there to be some faults in the goods -
and it was just a fact of life in manufacturing.
Anything that was wrong could always be put right later by complaining to the supplier and getting him to repair or replace the faulty goods.
Well, the Quality revolution, if I can call it that,
turns these views on their head.
There are several reasons for this.
First, putting mistakes right - fixing a faulty machine or collecting it and replacing it
are labour-intensive and costly and it's more cost-effective
to eliminate the need for this by producing a perfect product
with zero defects in the first place.
Second, if your competitors are able to produce goods with zero defects,
then clearly customers will prefer those.
So in order to survive, you have to keep ahead of your competitors.
Obviously this applies to services too - your service has to be so good that
there is no dissatisfaction and hence no complaints from clients.
Complaints usually mean that there are defects in your product or in your service -
and even your accounts department is providing a service to you
and your suppliers and customers.
Interviewer: The big problem about all this is the other links in the chain.
I mean, you're dependent on the quality of materials supplied to you
as a manufacturer that you will then transform in your factory.
How does this fit in?
Ms Lockhart: Yes, I agree, this is one of the problems.
You normally don't have a direct control over your supplier's processes,
but you can change suppliers in order to obtain the materials of the highest quality.
This will normally mean paying more,
but the extra cost can be easily justified if your own production quality improves.
If, however, you're obtaining poor quality materials from a single source,
you may have to start looking for alternative suppliers,
or impose your own quality control on all incoming supplies before you accept them.
Interviewer: All right,
suppose a company wants to introduce Quality as part of its business philosophy,
how easy is it to set about doing this?
Ms Lockhart: First of all you have to sell the concept to everyone in the company:
at board level, to senior management,
to line managers and to the employees.
Everyone has to believe in Quality for it to succeed - it won't work
if you have a group of people somewhere in the company who are working against you -
that may mean production staff who are careless or office staff
who don't provide a good service to customers and to other members of their own company.
New staff can be trained relatively easily,
but established staff tend to be much harder to persuade about new ideas.
The major arguments we use in our seminars are to do with taking a pride in your work -
well, you know, everyone likes to feel they're doing a good job,
and we say 'If your competitors are successfully doing this, can you afford not to?'
If we can't sell our service or product,
we'll lose business and people will lose jobs.
Interviewer: Sarah, thanks very much.
Ms Lockhart: Thank you.
And that is the end 8.5 B.