SAMPLE BAD NEWS MESSAGE TO A CUSTOMER

SmoothCoat AutoPainters
6307 Irving Park Road
Chicago, IL 60632 www.smoothcoat.com May 28, 20xx

Arnold Cutler
Purchasing Director
No Fault Body Shops
9600 Corporate Boulevard
Columbus, OH 43210

Dear Mr. Cutler:

Your continued business over the years has made you one of our most valued customers. We are looking forward to installing our SmoothCoat 5000 model next month at your three new locations.

In your recent email you inquired about the possibility of offsetting the cost of the three new machines by trading in two Smoothcoat 3500 models from shops that are closing. I have given careful thought to this request. As you probably know, all of our machines are custom fitted for each customer, and therefore we don't normally buy or sell used machines. Because you are such an important client, however, I talked with our engineers to see if we could accommodate your request. Their response was not encouraging.

The most recent regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency stipulate that, as of September 1, 20xx, paint machines of the 3500 type must have a double-filter hood Businesses already using these machines are not required to add the hoods, and all new machines of that model will be built with these hoods. But any business purchasing a used 3500 model after September 1 would be required to have the machine retrofitted with the new type of hood. Such retrofitting would be cost-prohibitive, and we don't anticipate that there will be much of a market for used 3500 models. Therefore we cannot accept the two 3500 machines in a trade-in. I would like to make an alternative suggestion, however.

Because you would not be required to retrofit the 3500 machines, even if you move them to another shop, I recommend that you install them in two of your larger shops as back-up machines. Although