The Internet has made everything more accessible. We can have groceries delivered straight to our doorstep, and we can even move millions of dollars overseas via online banking. However, all this convenience doesn’t always lead to quality – sometimes, we receive products or services that are far below what we’d consider satisfactory.
In these cases, a complaint is in order.
While most businesses have some sort of hotline you can use to voice complaints, these are usually accompanied by lengthy waiting times and dreadful hold music that loops every 15 seconds. Furthermore, there’s no guarantee that your complaint will be recorded or even acted upon. What you need is something in writing: a formal letter of complaint. If you’ve ever wanted to complain like a professional, then you need to write like a professional – let’s learn how!
What does (and doesn’t) go in a complaint?
Before you fly off the hinges and hurl every conceivable insult at a business for not giving you what you paid for, there are a few things you need to know about complaint letters.
First and foremost, your complaint should be valid. If you ordered a bunch of organic bananas online that were advertised as fresh, you’d have every right to be upset if you received ones that looked like they had been sitting out in the sun for a week. But if you wanted to complain about how one banana was more curved than the others, then your case would be much harder to argue (especially as produce comes in all shapes and sizes).
Next, consider how the letter is toned. When we feel upset, it’s normal to want to express our discontent – however, do remember that this is a formal complaint. Unlike an nightmare customer yelling at an employee for a mistake that was out of their control, you need to maintain professionalism with a tone of neutrality. “Since an angry or scolding tone may work against you, attempt to empty yourself of your ugliest feeling before sitting down to write,” explains Maryann V. Piotrowski in her book Effective Business Writing: A Guide for Those Who Write on the Job.
To achieve a neutral tone, keep things factual and to the point. Although you shouludn’t let your emotions seep through, you are still very entitled to share how the problem has inconvenienced you. Just remember to be polite and treat whoever is reading your letter like a human being. While your bruised and sun-roasted bananas are unfortunate, the person reading your complaint was not responsible for your neglected bananas – so unloading frustration on them won’t achieve anything!
According to Piotrowski, a letter of complaint should contain three essential elements:
1. The problem
Explain concisely what happened or didn’t happen. Do give context and relevant background information as necessary – for example, if a delivery was scheduled for yesterday at 10am and the delivery still hasn’t been made a week later, include the purchase confirmation with the time and date of delivery for reference.
“Dates, places, times, names of people involved and pertinent numbers (purchase order, invoice or model) are among the facts you should include,” she describes.
2. The cost
What did the problem cost you? In economics, we use the term opportunity cost to compare basically every decision we make. Let’s say we waited around all day for the delivery that never came – the opportunity cost would therefore be the lost time that could’ve been better spent doing anything else.
3. The solution
What do you propose the business do to remedy the situation and make things right for you? Usually you’d ask to receive whatever item or service you purchased to be delivered as soon as possible, but some people also take this as an opportunity to brazenly negotiate for extra goodies – coupons, discounts, free memberships and so on. Depending on how greatly you felt you’ve been wronged, you might be able to negotiate for extra compensation, but don’t expect businesses to always bend your way!
Now that we know what a complaint entails, let’s try drafting one to a restaurant chain where we were (hypothetically) treated poorly by wait staff.
Remember, this is a formal complaint, so proper letter writing etiquette and formatting is required, such as the date and the address and title of the person you are writing to. If you aren’t sure about someone’s title, do a quick search on Google or LinkedIn. For now, let’s just say we are filing a general complaint to the restaurant chain’s customer service department – since we aren’t sure who will be reading our message, a generalised addressee will do.
April 20, 2022
Customer Service Department
Jim’s Restaurant Chain
357 Kosher Road
Central, Hong Kong
To whom it may concern,
My party of four visited the restaurant on Monday April 18, 2022 at 7:30 pm.
During the evening, we were served by our waitress, Sasha, who seemed to be in a foul mood. She snapped at us while we were ordering to “hurry up”, and when she delivered our food, she tossed the plates onto the table. After paying the bill, she also scowled at us for not giving a more generous tip.
We’ve been to Jim’s Restaurant multiple times and the prior experiences have all been excellent. However, our latest visit was rather disappointing and Sasha’s attitude made the gathering very unenjoyable.
We hope your staff will learn to treat customers more professionally in the future.
Sincerely,
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Jeffrey Larson
Anyone can complain verbally, but it takes class to complain in writing. Even if your complaint isn’t acted upon, you’ll know that you handled the problem with dignity and grace. But what happens when the tables are flipped and you are on the receiving end of a complaint letter? Stay tuned for the follow-up chapter on how to respond to complaints!