Hairyati bt.

Alon

OUMH2203 English Workplace for Communication

A REPORT ON CUSTOMERS COMPLAINT OF FROZEN LAMB

Prepared for Madam Bong Wee Ne, Branch Manager,

By Madam Hairyati Alon, Store Manager

30th October 2011

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OUMH2203 English Workplace for Communication

To

: Madam Bong Wee Nee The Branch Manager, Sterlie Supermarket and Hypermarket (Sri Aman Branch)

From: Madam Hairyati Alon The Store Manager, Sterlie Supermarket and Hypermarket (Regional) Date : 30th October 2011

Subject: A REPORT ON CUSTOMERS COMPLAINT Dear Madam Bong, Enclosed is a copy of a report on customers complaint because of the peculiar taste of the frozen lamb in our hypermarket. The report presents the action that has been taken due to the complaints made by the customers a few weeks ago. This report also presents the suggestion and recommendations to overcome the problem so that it would not happen in future based on the research and investigation that had been done. I hope this report will give you some information on the problem. Should you have any question, feel free to contact me at 083-456765. Thank you.

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OUMH2203 English Workplace for Communication

Yours sincerely,

(Madam Hairyati Alon)

Table of Content Page

Title page.. Letter of Transmittal. Table of content Executive Summary Introduction. Purpose of report... Methodology.. Method and procedure used. Findings... Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... Recommendations....

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References

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Due to the customers complaint on the peculiar taste of the frozen lamb found in Sterlie Supermarket and Hypermarket of Sri Aman Branch, an inspection and investigation was conducted in one week. Besides, a research has been done as to find out the proper way on how to handle frozen meat properly. This report was requested by the Branch Manager as to find out the reasons and the solving problem to this matter on 15th October 2011. The report addressed the following questions 1) What are the major causes of the problem arise? 2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of the problem? 3) How to overcome the problem so that not to occur in future?

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The report concluded that the transportation truck of the product by the supplier Shriman Freeze Company in Kuching was not in a proper temperature. Beside, the handling and the packaging were also contributing to this problem. On the other hand, our staffs were not enough knowledge on how to monitor the product as to identify of any damage product such as the meat, poultry and others. Therefore, these recommendations had been made. First, the supplier must be informed to make sure they had a proper handling of the product. We also should visit the supplier factory more often for quality control checking to identify the origin of the product, the temperature control during the transportation and handling the meat in a proper procedure. On our side, we should give our staffs training program as to give them knowledge and proper working procedure to be followed when they are on duty. This will help us to maintain a good quality of the product. The report concluded that an action had been done to overcome the problem with some recommendations as to improve the business in future.

REPORT ON CUSTOMERS COMPLAINTS OF DEFECTED FROZEN LAMB

INTRODUCTION We had received some complaints from our customers through phone call and in our store recently. It is very sad to receive such complains as this was giving a bad reputation to our company, Sterlie Supermarket and Hypermarket. They complain about the defected frozen lamb which they bought from our hypermarket. For your information, we had been deal with the supplier, Shriman Freeze Company for about two years. All this while, we had never faced any problem as such. In response to the customers complaint on the peculiar taste of the frozen lamb in our hypermarket in Sri Amans branch, a research and investigation was carried out. This report was requested by the Branch Manager on 10th October 2011. This was done as to identify
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the cause of the problem. It is very important in order to improve our products quality and to maintain our customers trust and good reputation of the company business.

Purpose of the report The purposes of this report are to give you the information on identifying the cause of the problems, to presents the research and investigation that had been done on the products and the suppliers, Shriman Freeze Company and to give some recommendations to overcome the problems.

METHODOLOGY Methods and Procedures Used

Secondary research was conducted through electronic searches of books, and other companys documents. Interviews were conducted with selected business supervisors and staffs from the hypermarket. Interviewees were asked on the knowledge and procedure of handling products. Besides, a visit to the supplier factory also had been done as to find out their procedure in handling the frozen meat. During the investigation, we had done an interview with the supervisors and staffs in our store. In the interview, we were asked them about their knowledge about the product being sold in our company. Most of the staffs commit that they do not know much knowledge about the monitoring of the product as they were not given any training on how to check the product. They only check for the expiry date and the packaging of the product should there are any tear or damage on the packaging or expired. The interview with the customers shows a lot of complains on our frozen products. We also interview our customers about the quality of product especially frozen meat, poultry and fish. We also get the proof whether the complaints they were making are true. Some of the customers showed us the receipt as a proof of buying the product in our outlet. Besides, we had done a research through the internet to get more knowledge on how to handle and take care of good quality control of the frozen product.
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FINDINGS

In this section, the result of the investigation and research are presented. In general, the findings indicate that the quality control system from both by the supplier Shriman Freeze Company and our company, Sterlie Supermarket and Hypermarket is very crucial. Upon investigation in our outlet, we found that there is no proper procedure in quality control of the frozen product. For example, the product that had been sent to our outlet were not been checked thoroughly as there is no manual procedure given by the company. The storage is also not in proper state. One of the partitions is out of order. A complains had been made a month before, but there is no action been taken. Therefore, we have to mix up the frozen meat and with other frozen product such as fish and poultry. As a result, the storage has no proper air ventilation. This was support by the article by Linda Stradley of Whats Cooking America. She suggests that the meat should be stored in temperature of 0 F in the freezer all the time to maintain its quality. Below is the correct temperature of meat storage and way of keeping its freshnesss. Fresh Beef, Veal, Lamb and Pork Room temperature (70 F) Steaks 3 to 5 days 6 to 12 months Wrap pieces individually, then over wrap tightly Chops 3 to 5 days 4 to 6 months Wrap pieces individually, then over wrap tightly Roasts 3 to 5 days 4 to 12 months Wrap pieces individually, then over wrap tightly Refrigerator (37F - 40 F) Freezer (0 F) Comments

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In addition, according to Agriculture and Consumer protection, good cold store management has three functions: to get the best possible results in preserving the stored produce, to do this at the lowest operating cost, and to reduce the wear on equipment and plant by maintaining and even improving their working condition and efficiency. Therefore, as to control the products quality during storage a data sheet must be established for the follow-up of each product and calendar with an estimated storage-life limit must be kept. The data sheet used to record storage background will cover daily movement of products, with specification of the loading and/or unloading of each kind of product and information on the stacks. As for our supplier, we found that, they had not given us enough information about the frozen meat history as for any reference. Besides, after checking, they are not using a standard transportation truck with proper temperature for long delivery hours. For your information, the journey from Kuching to Sri Aman takes three hours. So, as for those long hours of journey, a truck with proper temperature should be used. Upon checking and visiting the factory, we found that the workers also are not wearing or using proper entire when handling the products. On the other hand, we found that, the reject product was refridge and being sold again to the customer by the supplier. The knowledge of our staffs also is very low. This was due to no training given before they were allowed to work in any section of the supermarket or the hypermarket. I think training should be given to new staff as to provide them with procedure and their work as whole. Even though the training program will cost in high use of money but in a long term it will give a profit to the company. Their knowledge in detecting any unpleasant or defected product really help us so that we are aware of any loss especially to our customer. In the investigation also, we had look into our policy which we are not going to replace or return our customer money back for any damage of defected product being sold to them. Of course, this policy makes our customer feels not satisfied as they compare Sterlie Supermarket and Hypermarket with other company. For example, in the previous incident where the customer asked for new replacement, we cannot do anything because in the policy, the company will not

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replace for product being sold to the customer. So, they went home with much regret and talk bad about the company.

CONCLUSION As a conclusion, this report has identified three recommendations on how to prevent or improve on our frozen products in the hypermarket. The performance of our staff in handling the products is depending on the training they have and good monitoring from the supervisor. In relation to these, the future of our company depends on how well the staff to control the quality of our product and how much the customer trust and guaranteed that our products are the best for their choice. The need to give back the customers money in case of any loss of our product is very crucial too. In other words, customer is always right. In case of any complain from the customer, we must return their money for what they had paid or replace with a new product. Besides, the quality control is much very important as to ensure the quality products are sold to the customer. The impact of these improvements is expected to increase the sales and confidence of the customer to buy our frozen products. This can be expected to make sure they trust and make their visit for another times for better future of our company.

RECOMMENDATIONS After the investigation and research made to this problem, we suggest that the company should look through these recommendations we had after a few discussion with other staffs. First, give our customer money back. For sure, we do not want to lose our customer to go to another place just because of the low quality of our product. We should win their heart by giving back their money for any damage or defected products they buy. Of course, this will follow by the proof of buying such as showing us the receipt. Another way is to replace the product with a new one. By doing so, we will make the customer feels appreciated and trust us in future. I think there should be any loss to the company as what is important is to make the customer make another visit to our outlet in future. It also shows that we care about them. Second, we must do inspections to our supplier Shriman Freeze Company to make sure they supply the product that is of high quality. Besides, a discussion with the company management
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should be done to discuss on these matters. Firstly, we must revise the agreement between Sterlie Supermarket and Hypermarket with our supplier, Shriman Freeze Company. Shriman Freeze Company must give us the details on the product. Secondly, the transport of meat in a frozen state must be undertaken a controlled temperature to prevent any microbial development so that it will not damage the meat quality. Thirdly, should there any rejected product, it should not be sold again to us. The company should send the fresh meat only and not the one that kept over month in their storage. We also need the report and statements from our supplier, Shriman Freeze Company about the quality control system on the processing of frozen lamb from the raw materials, packaging process, storage of the product and the process of delivering of the product in term of storage and delivering of the product during the delivering. The next suggestion is on the training of the new recruitments of the staff. We agree that, new staffs should be sending for any training program. This is very important because they should have enough knowledge of the products they sold. Even though the company will face a very costly to invest on these training programs, but I am sure that it will benefit the company in a long term. They should know the product they are selling in case the customers need to know the product origin, the slaughtering place whether it is halal or non-halal. As we know, the food is a very sensitive matter when come to who are going to buy them. Another way to make sure the product is in a good quality, we should do a taste checking. This should be done at least once a week in certain day by the supervisor in-charge. There should be a place for them to do the testing or cook the meat in order to know the quality of the food. We also recommend that the management should have proper form to be completed to record any stock that we received and for product control handling. All this while we do not have any specific form for ordering, receiving, storage and rejected product. To reduce operating cost a summary of the sales which show trends of sales should be kept as a reference for ordering and stock so that we are not keeping the frozen lamb for a long period. There are many weaknesses in the management especially in recording and storage of product. In conclusion, by revising and implement the recommendations to improve the company image, action should be taken immediately to gain back our customers trust to buy our frozen lamb. Some of the suggestion or recommendations are in short term especially to overcome the problems. Even though it seems that the company need to make many improvement and cost a highly use of money, but for sure it will benefit the company in a long term business.
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(2595 words)

References

Agriculture and Consumer Protection. Manual on meat cold store operation and management. http://.fao.org/docrep/004/T0098E/T0098E07.htm Retrieved on 18th October 2011.

Haverstock, D. (1987). Fresh vs. Frozen: Is One Superior? Restaurant Management. Cleveland, OH.

Linda Stradley. Food Storage of Whats Cooking America. Retrieved on 18th October 2011. http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/FreezerChart.htm

Jaya Pushani Ponnudurai , Dr Ranjit Sing Gill, Prof Caroline Martin, Dr. Juliana Othman, Dr Woo Tai Kwan. (2010). OUMH2203 English For Workplace Communication. 12th
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Edition.

Paskovich. Quality Meat. Retrieved on 13th October 2011 from http://www.paskovich.co.il/english/Article.aspx?Item=711&Section=710

Sean Clouden. (2001) Training Magazine. Retrieved on 13th October 2011 from
http://www.accelerateyourtraining.com/why-is-employee-trainingimportant.php

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