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10 “We Apologize For The Inconvenience” Email Templates

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If you’re working in customer support, you will encounter many different types of inconveniences that customers will face and it’s important to be prepared for all of them. Sometimes a customer will want a refund or a product replacement, and other times they will have a complaint about a poor customer experience. Each scenario will require a different approach and response to remedy the situation for the customer.

Addressing all the different customer inconveniences can be intimidating, but we’ve made it easier for you by putting together a list of email templates below that you can use for every scenario.

What are Snippets?

If you work on any customer-facing team, then Sapling’s Snippets can help you save time. Think about all the common phrases you send in your emails that you have to type out each time such as “Feel free to reach back out if you have any further questions!” Why not instead type a short macro and have that entire sentence automatically expanded for you?

That’s exactly what snippets does. Snippets allow you to upload your most commonly used phrases or sentences into a response bank. To use the snippet you want, simply press the backslash \ key or type the shortcut and voilà!

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Types of Inconveniences

Shipping delays

Whether it’s the holiday rush or supply chain issues, shipping delays will happen every now and then if you’re shipping a physical product to customers. While it’s out of your control, it’s essential to keep customers updated about their package and offer them a discount on a future order to make up for it.

Lost product

Unfortunately products do get lost in transit or even worse stolen. The best way to make up for this inconvenience is to either offer a refund to the customer or send them the same product again free of charge.

Faulty product

Sometimes a poorly produced product will slip its way past quality control and land in the hands of a customer. If a product is not up to quality standards, a customer will either want a refund or another product for free.

Product doesn’t meet expectations

Customers expect products and services to match how they are described and marketed. When those expectations aren’t met, some unhappy customers will want credits or a refund.

Slow response time

Whether it’s a live chat taking 1 hour to connect with an agent or customer support email taking several days to hear a response, slow response time is extremely frustrating for any customer. That’s why it’s critical to have the right procedures and resources in place to respond to as many customers as quickly as possible. Sapling’s AI messaging tools is a powerful solution to help reduce your support team’s first response time.

Out of stock

Supply chain issues have been a major inconvenience for both customers and companies waiting on products to be produced. The best way to respond to customer complaints about out of stock products is to inform them on the timeline that the product will be made available again.

Poor service

If a customer had a poor customer experience with someone working at your company, it’s crucial to properly address their situation and make them feel valued.

Top Tips To Write A We Apologize For The Inconvenience Email

There a are a lot of different approaches to writing a “we apologize for the inconvenience” email depending on the situation but it’s important to keep the following in mind for almost all of them:

“We Apologize For The Inconvenience” Quick Response Examples

Below are 10 examples of “we apologize for the inconvenience” quick responses, which you can use in the email templates in the next section.

10 We Apologize For The Inconvenience Email Templates

The following 10 "We Apologize For The Inconvenience Email Templates” email templates will help you respond to unhappy customers.

Shipping delay template

Hi {{customer_first_name}},

Unfortunately due to shipping delays, we wanted to inform you that your product will arrive later than expected. According to USPS’ tracking information, your package is estimated to arrive on {{date}} instead of on {{date}}.

We are truly sorry for this inconvenience and understand your frustration. We’d like to make up for this by offering you 20% off your next future order with us. Just apply the code: 20OFF at checkout.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to us.

Best,

{{agent_name}}

Lost product template

Hello {{customer_first_name}},

Thank you for your inquiry and I’m sorry that your order has still not arrived. I’ve gone ahead and taken a look at the UPS tracking link and it does look like the product has been lost in transit.

Rest assured that I will be sending you a replacement free of charge. Is the order address on file still the best address to send the new package to?

We truly apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Thank you,

{{agent_name}}

Faulty product template

Hi {{customer_first_name}},

I’m sorry to hear the {{product_name}} you received from us was faulty. The description you provided is definitely not up to par with our quality standards.

I can send you a new {{product_name}} with overnight shipping to the order address on file or if you’d like instead I can refund the full amount to the card you used to make the purchase. Please let me know which option is best for you and I can assist you with it immediately.

Best,

{{agent_name}}

Doesn’t meet expectation template

Hi {{customer_first_name}},

I apologize for the inconvenience and am happy to assist you today. I understand that the silver plan is not meeting your current hosting needs as your site is experiencing slowness.

Unfortunately the plan you’re on only has 75GB of bandwidth. With your current website traffic, it’s recommended for you to upgrade to our gold plan which offers 150GB of bandwidth. As a courtesy, I would like to offer you 3 free months of our gold plan. If you wish to proceed please let me know and I can help upgrade your account.

Best,

{{agent_name}}

Service outage template

Dear {{customer_first_name}},

We wanted to inform you that our site will be down from 12am-5am PST on March 4th and apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.

Our routine checks and system upgrades allow our platform to be more secure as our customer’s data is a big priority to us. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to let us know.

Best,

{{agent_name}}

Wrong product template

Hi {{customer_first_name}},

Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we apologize for the inconvenience. We would like to ship you the correct product with overnight shipping. Is the order address on file still the best place to ship the package?

You may keep the wrong product you received or if you don’t want to keep it you can ship it back to our fulfillment center:

{{shipping_address}},

We hope we were able to address all your concerns today and are here if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Thanks,

{{agent_name}}

New features template

Hello {{customer_first_name}},

We understand that you would like our product to integrate with Shopify. Unfortunately at this time, that integration is not available and currently under development.

Our development team expects to have the Shopify integration available in the coming months. Once it becomes available, we will notify you about the launch to your current email address on file. We apologize for the inconvenience as we know that this is an important feature for you and many others. Thank you for being a valued customer and please let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with.

Best,

{{agent_name}}

Slow response time template

Hi {{customer_first_name}},

Thank you for your patience and I apologize for the wait. To answer your question, if you order today you should receive your package before Christmas. The cutoff shipping date to receive packages before Christmas is on December 14th, which is a week from now.

If there’s anything else I can assist you with please let me know!

Best,

{{agent_name}}

Out of stock template

Hello {{customer_first_name}},

Thank you for your inquiry, unfortunately our cushioned office chair is currently sold out. We’re expecting it to be back in stock by the end of April. If you would like, we can add your email to our mailing list and as soon as it’s back in stock we can send you an alert!

We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to have your future business. Let us know if we can assist you with anything else.

Best,

{{agent_name}}

Poor customer service template

Dear {{customer_first_name}},

We are sorry to hear about your poor experience with another member of {{company_name}}. We take all customer complaints very seriously and our management is already looking into this situation.

At {{company_name}}, we value all of our customers and look to provide exceptional service each and every time. We understand your frustration and will take appropriate measures to address the situation with the individual at our company. Thank you for being a valued customer and please do not hesitate to reach back out to us with any questions or concerns.

Best,

{{agent_name}}

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Related Snippet Templates

Thank you for the prompt response We apologize for the delay