Writing business letter - Useful Hints

Useful phrases

Making a request

• We would appreciate it if you would ...


• I would be grateful if you could...


• Could you please send me . . .


• Could you possibly tell us/let us have...


• In addition, I would like to receive ...


• It would be helpful if you could send us ...


• I am interested in (obtaining/receiving...)


• I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter.


• Please let me know what action you propose to take.

Offering help

• We would be happy to ...


• Would you like us to ...


• We are quite willing to ...


• Our company would be pleased to ...

Giving good news

• We are pleased to announce that ...


• I am delighted to inform you that ...


• You will be pleased to learn that ...

Giving bad news

• We regret to inform you that ...


• I'm afraid it would not be possible to ...


• Unfortunately we cannot/we are unable to ...


• After careful consideration we have decided (not) to ...

Complaining

• I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with ...


• I am writing to complain about ...


• Please note that the goods we ordered on (date) have not yet arrived.


• We regret to inform you that our order n°--- is now considerably overdue.


• I would like to query the transport charges which seem unusually high.

Apologizing

• We are sorry for the delay in replying ...


• I regret any inconvenience caused


• I would like to apologize for (the delay/the inconvenience) ...


• Once again, I apologise for any inconvenience.

Orders

• Thank you for your quotation of ...


• We are pleased to place an order with your company for ...


• We would like to cancel our order n°...


• Please confirm receipt of our order.


• I am pleased to acknowledge receipt of your order n°...


• Your order will be processed as quickly as possible.


• It will take about (three) weeks to process your order.


• We can guarantee delivery before ...


• Unfortunately these articles are no longer available/are out of stock.