Is This Letter Offensive or Impolite?

I hope this dopey circular firing squad Darwins itself out of existence at the first possible moment. A pox on both houses.

(I see no problem with being offensive and impolite when the occasion calls for it! )

Too good rate.

I think an apology is in order, Del...

I wouldn't have written to them (consultants) as you have done so (nothing wrong but seem being a little pushy?), especially when they are accepting or identifying the fact of the matter that a 75KVA generator set would be needed and they may reconsider your proposal for the inclusion (which doesn't seem to be rejection totally). It would be the consultant to be wholly solely responsible for the project design and/or supervision. They would be liable to answer in the court of the owner (real client) of the project. They are the sub client, and you, as a contractor, perform duties on the (execute) the project according to their drawings and specification (along with regulations by the local govt.). You may propose changes and shop drawings as per site conditions but still getting consultant approval would be required. Consultants would be your boss, anyway :) I am not sure if I understood your writings correctly and forgot the details that I wish to write here when I saw your post first. Good luck!

P.S You could claim project cost variation, if KVA set not mentioned in contract. Once approved, then proceed. You have to have made inquiry, prepared price list and over head, etc. cost.....

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I wouldn't have written to them (consultants) as you have done so (nothing wrong but seem being a little pushy?), especially when they are accepting or identifying the fact of the matter that a 75KVA generator set would be needed and they may reconsider your proposal for the inclusion (which doesn't seem to be rejection totally). It would be the consultant to be wholly solely responsible for the project design and/or supervision. They would be liable to answer in the court of the owner (real client) of the project. They are the sub client, and you, as a contractor, perform duties on the (execute) the project according to their drawings and specification (along with regulations by the local govt.). You may propose changes and shop drawings as per site conditions but still getting consultant approval would be required. Consultants would be your boss, anyway :) I am not sure if I understood your writings correctly and forgot the details that I wish to write here when I saw your post first. Good luck!

P.S You could claim project cost variation, if KVA set not mentioned in contract. Once approved, then proceed. You have to have made inquiry, prepared price list and over head, etc. cost.....

}

Having written the above in respond to your querry, I must assume that you would know what you're doing. Enough response posts on the thread. However, if I were you, a contractor, I must aslo adhere to the ENGINEERING way of solving matters. Here you failed to present your efforts of putting up engineering way to approach and solve the issue. You must always substantiate your claims or modification or the engineering changes (ECN?). You must have read the original contract between your contracting company and the consultants. You must incorporate the need of KVA in shop drawing as per site requirements, as a engineer justify it to them as the money would come from there, get approval of the shop drawing from the consulatants before hand, make inquiry afterwards regarding the equipment price, and then claim project cost variation as per BOQ (Bill of quantities)? :) I am posting a sample of how a cost variation should look like, for you. i hope you would take me possitive, appreciate and proceed accorfingly as an engineer (per your original letter engineer blah blah...) Heheheheheh...

Could be taken that you were trying to be a smarta$$.

I think it stands OK (and would have been better received) had you just omitted the superscripts and the paragraph beginning "We are in confusion...".

I completely agree with post #5. The first paragraph in your reply is clearly degrading and overly critical. It is also unnecessary as it doesn't add anything to the point of your letter. The sentiment may be correct, but I would think that it is typically unprofessional to express it in a business letter.

I do like the fact that you have included in the second paragraph the reasons why they need to make and communicate the final decision as soon as possible. This definitely adds credence to the request.

Offensive or impolite? No. A little over done, yes.

You could have made your point with one short paragraph consisting of a simple request for information.

Sadly some people take anything less than praise as a personal attack.

How many letters, emails or meetings occurred over this issue before you wrote this passage?

I wouldn't call it "impolite or offensive"; more like "politically incorrect". It sounds to me like "scolding" by someone on a lower company level toward someone at a higher level. No one likes to be scolded and they are just reacting. One must be very careful when sending correspondance to a client, customer or higher-up to never make them feel that they are anywhere near being wrong, although the opposite may very well be true. Diplomacy is not just for heads of state.

I can understand your post but I was not sure of the OPs until I read yours. GA

I don't see anything wrong with what they said. They where just replying that your proposal for the addition of the 75 KVA gen set had been noted and may be taken into further consideration at some point in the future nothing more nothing less.

YOUR counter response however was the impolite and somewhat rude one as I see it.

Yep. Apologize, tell them he was having a bad day due to an unrelated problem and he overreacted, and move on.

Crow doesn't taste that bad, it's not something you want to get used to eating though.

In regard to the thread title,

" Is This Letter Offensive or Impolite? "

The answer is "Yes."

It is always good to use simple language to convey the message. As pointed out by others a simple sentence please clarify whether the project need standalone DG set or not so as enable us as a contractor to plan our schedule accordingly. Besides many problems could be sorted out during the collective meeting with consultant ,client and contractors amicably.

I would not have thought this letter offensive because the letter, to which it was replying, had part of it written in bold and italic. Why would you do that?

It's not unreasonable to reply to this sort of letter in the same vein that it was written.

I don't think it's clear from the OP whether the formatting was applied in the original letter or in the reply.

I doubt that Guest will return to enlighten us.

There is an old Jewish proverb which says:

By all means write the letter but wait 3 days before sending it.

Tony

Clear and concise would have worked.

Such as.

Thank you for your correspondence regarding the inclusion of the 75KVA Alternator in proposal No. such and such.

Given the time constraints and the need to install suitable cabling for the proposed Alternator your earliest decision on the matter would be appreciated.

Thank you for your effort in re-examining the proposal and welcoming our input.

If I can assist with any further information please call xx xx xx .

Yours etc,

XYZ.

I don't know your culture, but the consultant in most cultures would like a little respect. Having said that, I can understand frustration and can be a deadset prick when provoked, but it bites me sometimes.

This sounds like an Engineer talking to the other humanoid species out there, such as accountants, etc. The Company wanting the GenSet might have asked several other Companies to quote for the work/equipment and it takes a long time to put the final package together. Higher management might be getting 'special' treatment, (ie back-handers). In many cases, project managers will cherry-pick parts of a quote from several suppliers to get the best overal cost.

All your letter has achieved is to create a new enemy for your Company who will probably remember your name for a very long time and possibly damage your career prospects with your own firm.

If you want to discuss matters of this kind with a Customer use the phone and get a GOOD relationship going - never put in writing something you will later regret!

I would have replied consultants as under:-

Dear Sir,

We have received you letter Ref:........ Dt............. Our Comments are as under:-

1. Please evaluate yourself need for additional 75KVA generator and kindly justify the need for the same.

2. As consultants we we would like to go as per your expert comments than rather make our own decision.

3.We suggest that a short meeting should arranged to sort out this issue.

Please let us have your reply at the earliest so as to avoid any delays.

Your's Sincerely,

G'Day

The fact that you posted anonymously, suggests you maybe having doubts about your wording.

Take him for a beer, tell you were having PMT, tell him you need a success, your wife's leaving you. Give him five more beers and ask him if he can help you. Uncontrolable sobbing helps, men don't like to see other men cry.

Then learn from the exercise, we are all cogs in the system and if we don't mesh the system grinds painfully.

Good luck

Tony

Actually I disagree with your second paragraph. Engineering is mostly "maybe" and "Perhaps" until the final decision is made. The referenced paragraph is saying, awkwardly, that the new data may lead to a different final decision once the rest of the data is in, and actually could have been taken as a complement in that your data might change a decision.

As an engineer, my job is make decisions based on the current data. as new data and new requirements come in, My decisions are often changing, on important items (a 75 KV generator is not inexpensive) if the data is on the edge of yes and no, I often warn people that the decision might change. This is how I read the letter that came to you. Appropriate responses would have been "When will you Know?" or "What other information do you need to make your decision?".

I can understand someone thinking your response was both Offensive and Impolite. I probably would have.

Yes, the letter is vaguely offensive, too wordy, condescending, and poorly-written. Many readers will recognize condescending tone.

Years ago, I very nearly fired one of my direct reports for an ill-advised letter like this one.

If you are really confused, then better to write "we are confused", instead of "we are into confusion". But doing so makes you sound incompetent. How can you find their statement confusing? They are saying that they "may reconsider your proposal." That is quite clear -- they are not at a point in the process at which they can even say, for sure, that they will reconsider the proposal... there may be many people who need to be involved. They may be so irked by your letter that they are considering going with another vendor. Once they have reconsidered your proposal, they will get back to you. Helping them get back to you sooner, rather than later, requires some finesse, not witless bludgeoning.

It is because as far as known science and engineering is concerned, preference can only be made by "yes" or "no" where there should be no room for "may be" or "perhaps".

There is always room for "maybe" or "perhaps". Any vendor who fails to understand that is a vendor likely to be repaced with another. From having read this letter, I can say with some, but not complete certainty that I would not want to work with your company. Maybe I would work with your company if I could amass enough data that shows that you could be worth working with -- in other words, that there are people in your comapany who have some tact and understanding of business processes, and that your company provides a service that I cannot get elsewhere with less hassle. I would need assurance that letters such as yours do not come from your company often.

In the future, it would be good to have a few people review your letters before sending them. It is a rare company that can afford to simply throw away business in these economic times.

What you done its the best way to slap someone else's face when he is sleeping.

We have the same sentiments really for some inexperienced consultants.

When business and own political interest is added to decisions it will make things more irritating especially for contractors like you.

Even though, you have to be gentleman still, but i wonder how you should make a gentleman posture slap with such reasons of yours.

You hit them, and probably if their bosses has to see that letter, they will be put into shame making such vague decision & response.

It's more like, they are not really doing engineering there but having hidden business agenda or something.

Its sad on their faces, but it is certainly true. Believe me, I have been into that situation.

IT LOOKS LIKE TO ME... You tried to teach Athority... That should be a lesson to you!