R.A.T.W. de Leeuw
Taalstraat 1 A
2888 AN Groningen
Groningen, 12 mei 2011
Ziggo
Afdeling Klantenservice
Postbus 43048
3540 AA Utrecht
Betreft: Lidmaatschapsformulieren
Geachte heer, mevrouw,
Middels dit schrijven wil ik gaarne repliceren op uw schrijven van 11 mei j.l. (correspondentienummer: 553687-A). Hieruit begrijp ik dat Ziggo mij dringend verzoekt bijgevoegde lidmaatschapsformulieren ingevuld te retourneren.
Doch voel ik de behoefte u te verwittigen van het gegeven dat reeds op 28 april identieke formulieren, ingevuld, aan ZIggo zijn retourgezonden. Kopieën van deze heb ik thans nog in bezit en kan ik u doen toekomen indien u dit blieft.
Daar ik mij aan mijn verplichtingen heb gehouden, neem ik de vrijheid uw schrijven als niet verzonden te beschouwen en u aan te sporen nogmaals uw administratie na te gaan.
Vertrouwende u middels dit schrijven voldoende te hebben geïnformeerd.
Hoogachtend,
R.A.T.W. de Leeuw
First you write down your own address, then you write down the place followed by a comma and then the date when you've written the letter. Then you write down the address of the addressee. Between these sections there's an empty line.
After the addresses, there's the section which gives the subject of the letter. Often are used: 'Onderwerp: blahblahblah' or 'Betreft: blahblahblah'.
The beginning of formal letters in Dutch is always: 'Geachte <name of addressee>'. If there's no name available, then you should address your letter to: 'heer, mevrouw' (lord/madam), followed by a comma.
A formal letter in Dutch is ideally seperated in three paragraphs (min. 2 - max. 5).
Never start a letter or a paragraph with the personal pronoun 'ik' (I). It's considered as inappropriate. Even though it's hard sometimes to avoid using 'ik' as the first word, several strange constructions are allowed to achieve this goal.
Keep your writing style short, business like and absolutely formal.
The ending of a formal letter is usually: 'Hoogachtend' which is more or less similar to: Yours Faithfully. But 'Met vriendelijke groet' is also possible and more and more used these days; though not advisable in case of a conflict. Underneath the ending you add a signature.
Under your signature you write your name. I don't write my name out because I have a long name. It's not common to write your name out anyway, although quite some people write their name out because they think it's polite or necessary, also because the use of personal titles is omitted these days.
This is how you write a formal letter. If you have any questions or notes, I'd love to hear them. I'd like to know how other Dutch or Belgian people write their formal letters.