Politeness in answering /replying formal letter

[duiter]

Dear all,

I received a formal letter from ABCDE company
The person who answered/ replied letter is Mr John Peter/ the letter was signed by Mr John Peter.

How polite is it to reply formal letter with " Dear ABCDE Company" instead of "Dear Mr Peter" ?

Thanks

[waflob]

Don't do it !!

As a general rule, if you have the name of the person, always use that. You can make it more formal by addressing him as "Dr. Peter" (if applicable), or less formal by using his first name (be careful here - this might not be universally accepted).

"Dear Mr. Peter" is fine.

[duiter]

Thanks for your reply

Will he ( John Peter ) be seriously offended ?

What if John Peter is only one of the desk clerk who works for this ABCDE Company and deals with all letters, and signed the letter of behalf of his manager/boss/ director ?

Multinational ABCD Company, for example, has 20 desk clerk crew/staff to deal with letter correspondence, other desk clerk might open/ read the reply ( from me ) ?

Many thanks for your explanation

[Barb_D]

Then address the letter to the director.

Dear Ms. Smith,

I recently received a letter from Mr. John Peter, sent on your behalf. [Then go on from there.]