Are you in a situation in which your employee has committed an error that could lead to dissatisfaction or outpouring of anger by your client? The whole idea of sending an apology via email is to quickly salvage and maintain the relationship you have built with your customer. We have some sample emails below to guide your writing.
Sample 1: Apologizing for an Employee’s Error
Here is a template to guide your writing anytime an employee made a mistake or behaved rudely to your a customer or potential client.
Subject: Sincere apologies for…
Dear Mr Douglas,
I apologise for how one of our employees attended to you last night. Her manner of approach and unnecessary rude actions towards you are not acceptable, and I condemn them in the strongest of terms. You have been a loyal client, and you deserve better from us.
As a result, the employee has been suspended for two days without pay so that she can have time to reflect on her actions and correct her behaviour. We cherish your patronage. We would like to present you with a voucher worth $25 to use at any of our outlets within the state. Please accept this token to show how sorry we are for this situation.
We hired a customer relations specialist to conduct weekly training for all employees to ensure a similar event does not repeat itself. Customers like you are the ones that keep us in business, and we cannot afford to allow such embarrassing situations to be the order of the day in our company.
We believe this incident will not occur, and we hope you are satisfied with the solution provided.
Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely yours,
Cephas Bryant (Sales Manager)
Sample 2 : Apologizing for an Employee’s Error
Suggested Subject: Apologies for inconvenience
Dear Mr Johnson,
The entire management and staff of Peter and Peter Foods apologise for what happened two days ago at our inner city outlet.
One of our employees mistakenly placed the wrong price tag on the birthday cake that you wanted to purchase for your daughter’s fifth birthday. Instead of $100, the label on the cake read $45.
This only came to the notice of the cashier. At the same time, you were about to pay, and it led to an embarrassing moment for you, especially because you eventually were unable to purchase the cake.
Indeed you were right to be angry with the cashier; although she had nothing to do with this error, the machine calculated the actual cost of the cake after it read the barcode.
We greatly value your patronage and appreciate your patience. The company is saddened by this situation. The employee who made the error in tagging the items has already tendered an apology letter, and has been scolded for such negligence.
Also, we have adopted a ‘double-check’ policy in which price lists are rechecked after being tagged to items. This is to ensure that valued clients like you do not go through a similar situation ever again.
We believe that this kind of error will not occur again as we look forward to your continued patronage.
Thank you for understanding.
Yours sincerely,
Maryanne Watson (Regional Manager, Southwest)
Sample 3: Apologizing for an Employee’s Error
This email is a formal apology for an error made by an employee. It aims to take full responsibility for the mistake, reassure the recipient that steps are being taken to rectify the situation and express appreciation for their business.
Suggested Subject: Apology for Error Made by Employee
Dear [Recipient],
I would like to sincerely apologize for the error made by one of our employees. We understand that this error may have caused inconvenience to you, and we take full responsibility for it.
We are currently taking steps to rectify the situation and ensure that it does not happen again in the future. We value your business and hope that you can accept our apology.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Sample 4: Apologizing for an Employee’s Error
This email is a more personal approach to acknowledging an employee error. It aims to express empathy for any inconvenience caused and offers assistance to rectify the situation.
Suggested Subject: Acknowledging Employee Error
Dear [Recipient],
I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to reach out and address an error made by one of our employees. We understand that this may have caused some inconvenience, and we apologize for any frustration or inconvenience this may have caused.
We are taking the necessary steps to ensure that this does not happen again in the future. If there is anything else we can do to make this right, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Sample 5: Apologizing for an Employee’s Error
This email is a friendly and direct approach to apologize for an employee error. It aims to express regret for any inconvenience caused and assure the recipient that steps are being taken to prevent the same mistake from happening again.
Suggested Subject: Our Apologies for the Mistake
Dear [Recipient],
We are writing to apologize for the mistake made by one of our employees. We understand that this may have caused some disruption to your day, and we want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to make things right.
We value our business relationship and hope that you can accept our apologies. We will ensure that this error does not happen again in the future.
Best regards,
[Your name]