Cases

Case 1

Situation
Buying abroad involves a lot of communication between sellers and buyers. Every item has to be named, counted and priced. How does that communication look like in real life? Telephone conversations, letters, email messages.

Aim
In this group assignment you will:

• describe the buyer, seller and product
• write a letter and an email message, and make a phone call

You may do this assignment with two other students. Anything you write down and record should be in English. Discussions about the assignment itself can be held in Dutch.

Step 1. Describing the buyer, seller and product
The first step consists of describing the company that wants to buy something from another company abroad.

• Make a description of the buyer (i.e. type of company, department, person responsible for selling).
• Make a description of the seller (i.e. type of company, department, person responsible for buying).
• Write down as much information about the product as you can (i.e. type of product, size, weight, colour, price, amount, etc.).

Step 2. Writing messages and making a phone call
The second step consists of all personal communication between buyer and seller, following your description in Step 1.

• Write a letter from the buyer to the seller. Order a number of goods or services. Make sure you include all the necessary information with respect to terms and conditions.
• Write an email from the seller to the buyer confirming the order. Make sure you include all the necessary information.
• Prepare a phone call. The buyer has a complaint about the goods he or she has ordered.  One of you should take the role of the buyer; the other should take the role of the seller. The third student should write a short report about the phone call. He or she should focus on the quality of the English and the way the other two students conducted the call.
• When you have practised the phone call once, switch roles. Every group member should play each role at least once.

Case 2

In this assignment you are going to order chairs from a Dutch wholesaler. You are also going to deal with a complaint.

Aim
In this assignment you will:

• conduct a few telephone conversations
• order goods by phone and fax
• write an invoice
• write letters of complaint
• write an answer to letters of complaint

Read the whole assignment. Try to find out how much time preparing each step will take.

All the letters and faxes should be written in English. All telephone conversations should be conducted in English.

Assignment
Jonathan Kneale owns a shop selling designer furniture in Warwick (18 Smith Road, Warwick CV34 4JA). The second person is Kashan Ashad, who works for RJM Furniture in Londen (203 Kentish Town Road, London NW5 2JU). The third person is Karin Stuurman, who works for MIF, an importer and distributor of Italian designer furniture in Maarssen in the Netherlands (Industrieweg 4, 3500 BM Maarssen, Tel. 0346 34 56 78, 0346 34 56 79).

The assignment consists of four steps:

1. Ordering goods
• Both Jonathan Kneale and Kashan Ashad want to order a number of Bombo Magis Chairs and Bombo Magis Tables from MIF. Jonathan Kneale orders his chairs and tables by phone. Kashan Ashad sends a fax. The chairs cost € 245 and the tables €143.
• Prepare  the telephone conversation. Find somebody to practice this telephone conversation with. There are two roles: Jonathan Kneale and Karin Stuurman. Prepare notes for the telephone conversation on paper first. Jonathan should order 30 Bombo Magis Chairs (12 green ones, 8 blue ones and 10 white ones) and 12 tables (all in white). He needs the chairs and tables very soon and asks for speedy delivery. Jonathan asks a number of questions and Karin gives all the necessary details.
• Write Kashan Ashad’s fax to MIF in Maarssen. Kashan orders 8 blue Bombo Magis Chairs and 4 green ones. He also orders 6 tables. He needs the furniture by the end of this week (explain why you need them so fast).
2. Complaining
• The chairs and tables have not arrived in time. Jonathan and Kashan phone Karin to complain about the delay. They are both very frustrated. Karin stays calm.
• Prepare the two telephone conversations. Both Jonathan Kneale and Kashan Ashad ask Karin Stuurman what has gone wrong. She checks her computer and tells them the orders are on their way. Make sure you ask the right questions and give the right answers.
3. Complaining again
• After 2 weeks the chairs and tables finally arrive in Warwick and London by special delivery. But there is a problem. Jonathan sees that all chairs are green and that he has received 6 tables instead of 12. The driver of the van knows nothing about the mistake, asks Jonathan to sign a delivery form and drives away. Kashan is also unpleasantly surprised. He has received 12 tables and only 8 blue chairs. Karin has not heard from Jonathan and Kashan yet and writes the invoices.
• Write Jonathan’s letter of complaint to MIF. Explain what has gone wrong. Make clear why you need the right chairs immediately.
• Write Kashan’s letter of complaint to MIF. Explain what has gone wrong. Make clear why you need the right chairs and tables immediately.
• Write Karin’s invoices to Jonathan and RJM Furniture.
4. Dealing with complaints
• Karin receives the letters. She checks the computer again and finds the mistake. She writes to Jonathan and Kashan and makes her apologies.
• Write Karin’s letter to Jonathan and Kashan. Apologize for the mistakes, explain what you will do to put things right and make them a special offer.

Sources
For an example of a return policy, go to amazon and look under ‘returns policy’.

Tips

• If you complain about something, make sure you stay polite. Of course you are angry, but you also want the person you complain to to do something for you.
• If you deal with complaints, think of a proper way to keep your customers satisfied (and your employer happy).
• Keep your letters short and simple.

Taalcompetenties
In deze groepsopdracht komen de volgende taalcompetenties aan bod:

• overleggen met collega’s over een taak
• bij een leverancier melden wat je nodig hebt en vragen naar prijzen
• een klant informeren over een tijdstip, prijs, aantal of hoeveelheid
• iets bestellen of een bestelling opnemen
• een bestelling samenstellen
• een eenvoudige e-mail of faxbericht opstellen voor een collega of zakencontact
• een eenvoudige zakelijke brief, fax of e-mail begrijpen