Monday, October 7, 2013

Technical Writing Portfolio Part 1

Revise the following messages so that they follow the given guidelines. Rewrite them as complete business letters by adding the necessary details.

Message 1
I’m fed up with the mistakes that our current accounting firm makes. I run a small construction company, and I don’t have time to double-check every bookkeeping entry and call the accountants a dozen times when they won’t return my messages. Please explain how your firm would do a better job than my current accountants. You have a good reputation among homebuilders, but before I consider hiring you take over my accounting, I need to know that you care about quality work and good customer service.

Message 2
At a local business-supply store, I recently purchased your Negotiator Pro for my computer. I bought the CD because I saw your ad for it. Macworld magazine, and it looked as if it might be an effective tool for use in my corporate seminar on negotiation.

Unfortunately, when I inserted it in my office computer, it wouldn’t work. I returned it to the store, but because I had already opened it, they refused to exchange it for a CD that would work or give a refund. They told me to contact you and that you might be able to send me a version that would work with my computer.

You can send the information to me at the letterhead address. If you cannot send me the correct disc, please refund my $79.95. Thanks in advance for any help you can give in this matter.

Message 3
We read your letter, requesting your deposit refund. We couldn’t figure out why you hadn’t received it, so we talked to our maintenance engineer, as you suggested. He said you had left one of the doors off the hinges in your apartment in order to get a large sofa through the door. He also confirmed that you had paid him $5.00 to replace the door since you had to turn in the U-Haul trailer and were in a big hurry.

The entire situation really was caused by a lack of communication between our housekeeping inspector and the maintenance engineer. All we knew was that the door was off the hinges when it was inspected by Sally Tarnley. You know that our policy states that if anything is wrong with apartment, we keep the deposit. We had no way of knowing that George just hadn’t gotten around replacing the door.

But, we have good news. We approved the deposit refund, which will be mailed to you form our home office in Teaneck, New Jersey. I’m not sure how long that will take; however, if you don’t receive the check by the end of next month, give me a call.

Next time, it’s really a good idea to stay with your apartment until inspected, as stipulated in your lease agreement. That way, you’ll be sure to receive your refund when you expect it. Hope you have a good summer.

Message 4
Your letter to Kunitake Ando, President of Sony, was forwarded to me because I am the human resources director. In my job as head of HR, I have access to performance reviews for all of the Sony employees in the United States. This means, of course, that I would be the person best qualified to answer your request for information on Nick Oshinski.

In your letter of the 15th, you asked about Nick Oshinki’s employment record with us because he has applied to work for your company. Mr. Oshinki was employed with us from January 5, 1998, until March 1, 2008. During that time, Mr. Oshinki received ratings ranging from 2.5 up to 9.6, with 10 being the top score. 

As you can see, he must have done better than others. In addition, he took all vacation days, which is a bit unusual. Although I did not know Mr. Oshinki personally, I know that our best workers seldom use all the vacation time they earn. I do not know if that applies in this case.

In summary, Nick Oshinki performed his task well depending who managed him.  

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