{"id":"acct-customer-credit-memo-note","audience":"accounting","category":"finance-work","track":"finance","technique":"tone","level":"beginner","title":"Explain a credit memo to a customer without internal blame","free":false,"task":"You're writing to a customer about a billing correction. Write a prompt for a plain-text email under 70 words that tells the customer what was wrong, the credit amount with the math, and when they will see it. Start with \"Hi Carla,\" and end with \"Billing Team\". One short apology is fine. Don't mention internal causes or who made the error.","materialLabel":"Internal credit memo note (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"INTERNAL - Credit memo CM-212\nCustomer: Pinewood Dental (contact: Carla Singh)\nOctober invoice INV-6140: billed 50 seats of Insight Reports at $18 per seat per month. Customer's order form shows 38 seats.\nExcess: 12 seats x $18 = $216.00\nCredit memo CM-212 for $216.00 will be applied to the next invoice, which goes out Nov 30.\n\nRoot cause: Sales ops keyed the wrong seat count into the billing system after the contract amendment, and nobody in AR caught it. Jake in sales ops has been told.\n\nCarla emailed on Nov 3 asking why her invoice looked higher than expected.\n\nCustomer's October invoice total was $900.00 (50 x $18). Correct total would have been $684.00 (38 x $18).","rules":[{"type":"plainText"},{"type":"maxWords","max":70}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Names the reader","patterns":["carla","pinewood"]},{"label":"Includes the math","patterns":["12 seats","\\$216","math"]},{"label":"Says when credit appears","patterns":["nov(ember)? 30","next invoice"]},{"label":"Bans internal blame","patterns":["(do not|don'?t).*(internal|cause|team|people)"]},{"label":"Caps length","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words","plain"]}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Revealing the root cause","why":"The AI explains that sales ops keyed the wrong seats.","fix":"Add: \"Do not mention internal causes, teams or people.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"No math or date","why":"The AI says 'a credit will be applied' without amount, seats or date.","fix":"Say: \"Show 12 seats x $18 = $216.00 and the Nov 30 invoice.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Missing the greeting and sign-off","why":"The AI uses 'Dear Customer' and signs with a name.","fix":"Add: 'Start with \"Hi Carla,\" end with \"Billing Team\".'","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Markdown extras","why":"The AI adds bold labels, headings and a closing note.","fix":"Say: \"Plain text, no bold. Output only the lines asked for.\"","checks":["plainText"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting and runs past word limits.","fix":"Ask for fewer words than the real cap and keep each line short.","checks":["maxWords"]}],"hint":"The internal note includes blame the customer shouldn't see. Give the AI the greeting, sign-off, math and what to leave out.","rubricLabels":["Starts with \"Hi Carla,\" and ends with the line \"Billing Team\", and says the October invoice billed 50 seats but the order is for 38","Shows the math 12 seats x $18 = $216.00 and says the credit will appear on the invoice sent Nov 30","Doesn't mention sales ops, Jake, keying a wrong number or AR missing it, and has no more than one short apology"]}