How to Write an Effective Complaint Letter

Excerpted from 101+ Complaint Letters that Get Results by Janet Rubel ©2006

Writing an effective complaint letter is a skill that everyone needs to perfect in this fastpaced, impersonal society. Today, most people do not deal with the owners of the businesses that we patronize. Many stores are owned by large corporations headquartered hundreds or thousands of miles away. As big box stores and mergers and acquisitions gobble up local department stores and grocery stores, it becomes much less likely that people know the owners of the stores in their neighborhoods.

The need for an effective complaint letter is not limited to shopping problems. Certain complaints must be sent the old-fashioned way—in writing—in order to protect your legal rights. These problems include credit card disputes, banking mistakes, insurance disputes, landlord/tenant issues, and others. The careful consumer reads the fine print on all documents and sends the appropriate type of complaint letter in the required manner.

The beauty of sending a complaint letter is that you can have legal proof that you have sent the letter. It is difficult for a company to deny receiving your complaint letter when you can produce a certified mail receipt from the United States Postal Service. If a certified letter is not required to present your complaint, it is still often a sound idea to spend the three or four dollars to send the letter.

Writing an effective complaint letter is not complicated. Follow the steps discussed in this chapter and you will be on your way to consumer assertiveness.

Step One—Gather Any Relevant Documents
Relevant documents include receipts, sales contracts, warranties, extended warranties, insurance policies, and bills. Never throw these important documents away. Make photocopies of these documents to send with your complaint letter. You should never send the originals unless it is required. Always keep copies of any originals you have to send. If you have to send an original, send it via certified mail or registered mail.

Step Two—Think
Writing an effective complaint letter requires you to focus on the problem and the result you want to obtain. If you have an appliance that is under warranty, do you want it repaired or replaced? Have the expensive shoes you purchased at a department store with a limited return policy failed to withstand normal wear and tear after the required return date? Is your employer denying you family leave that you are entitled to under the law? Do you want your landlord to fix a problem in your apartment, or permit you to have it repaired and receive a credit on your next month’s rent?

Step Three—Write A Rough Draft
Do not send the first letter that comes to mind. Write a first draft. Read it over to make sure that you have described the problem and are clear about the result you want. Make sure your letter minimally includes your telephone number and address.

Try to engage the recipient of your letter in your problem. Use the model of, “I have a problem. Could you please help me?” Your first complaint letter on any topic should be reasonable and to the point. Be sure to thank the recipient for his or her help, even if you doubt that you will receive it.

Keep the letter brief—no more than one page. Break your letter into separate paragraphs. Double-space your letter if it is written on the computer. If you have to handwrite your letter, make sure your writing is legible.

Absolutely no foul language is allowed. Try not to use slang. Do not use a lot of exclamation points. Do not use emoticons (smiley faces) if you are drafting this on your computer. Check the spelling of your letter—do not rely only on the automatic spell checking software on your computer. Use a dictionary if you need to look up a word. Be sure to use correct grammar.

If you never learned how to write a correct business letter (or have forgotten), then you need to use the letters in this book as a model, or get a good reference book from the library or bookstore. A business letter should contain a heading for you (name, address, and telephone number), the date of the letter, the address of the person or company to whom your complaint is directed, a notation to indicate what the letter is regarding, and the correct salutation. Salutations such as “Dear Sir,” “Dear Madame,” “Dear Ms.,” or “To whom it may concern” are acceptable today.

You should try to determine who the correct person to send the complaint letter to is if it is not provided for you. This can be very difficult sometimes. Other times, it is as easy as picking up the telephone and calling the company. If the company is state regulated, check with the appropriate state licensing authority, such as the Department of Financial Institutions, secretary of state, or Department of Insurance.

Step Four—Write the Final Draft
Read through your letter again. It is acceptable to express your unhappiness or disappointment with the product or service, but do not be emotional or hysterical. Be businesslike in your approach. Check your spelling, grammar, and tone.

Again, the letter should not exceed one page if possible. The reader will not pay attention to a lengthy letter. Remember that most large companies receive hundreds of pieces of correspondence each day. You do not want your letter to be tossed into the circular file.

Step Five—Send the Letter
Do not send your letter through email as your sole method of communication. You may email your complaint letter to the appropriate person or department, as long as you send a hard copy via U.S. mail or an express delivery service. Be sure to use the correct mode of delivery for your complaint (if certified mail is required, then do not send it any other way). Enclose the relevant documents, and never send the originals unless you are required to do so. For more information on how to correctly note any inclusions, see page 8.

Step Six—Follow Up
Mark your calendar to remind yourself to look for a response to your letter in two weeks. It is reasonable to allow ten business days or so to pass before taking the next step.

Note: You should not wait two weeks for a response if this is an urgent matter, such as obtaining approval for medication from your health insurance company or a referral from your HMO for medical care.

If you have not received the satisfaction desired or any response to your letter after two weeks, then you should consider what to do next. Double-check to make sure that you did not forget to mail the letter or send the fax, or that your letter came back for postage due. Determine if there is another department or person to whom you should address your complaint. You should always try to have the name of a person to contact for assistance.

Many big companies have public relations personnel or special response teams accountable to the president or chief executive officer of the corporation. You may have to call the company to obtain this information. Another possibility is to contact the media relations department. There is usually someone in this department who can expedite a resolution to your problem by cutting through company red tape.

If you cannot get a response or satisfaction, consider sending your complaint via certified mail. Sometimes this gets attention, because the mail room is instructed to treat this mail differently from other mail. It may be forwarded to the legal department or an executive instead of sitting on someone’s desk.

You may wish to make a telephone call to the company. This is harder than ever today because of voice mail. The customer is placed on hold for interminable periods of time, and then is sometimes disconnected. You are often lucky to connect with a real human.

Companies treat customers this way as a concerted strategy to discourage complaints. They figure that if the process is difficult, many people will give up. It is also cheaper for the company to do without customer service employees.

Step Seven—Complain to the Appropriate Government Agency
Many professions and businesses are licensed by the state and federal governments. Attorneys, doctors, hospitals, plumbers, contractors, moving companies, banks, and collection agencies are among those that require licenses. Hospitals and nursing homes are regulated by the states in which they are located, and they may also be accredited by national groups. Insurance companies are also regulated by the states in which they operate. Check with your state for a list of professions with licensing requirements.

Federal agencies require businesses affecting interstate commerce, such as moving companies, to have a license. Also, federal agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), regulate debt collection practices and mail order practices (when items must be shipped, what the seller must do if the item is not in stock, and so on). Banks can be regulated by the state or federal government. A bank with State Bank in its title is regulated by the state. A bank with Federal or National in its title is regulated by the United States (federal) government. Filing a complaint will not necessarily resolve your complaint. However, the agency may take action on your behalf and remedy your problem. If nothing else, the company or individual may lose its license to operate. The complaint will be part of the public record, so others can learn of the problems you experienced.

Another possibility is to file a complaint with your local Better Business Bureau (BBB). The Better Business Bureau is a nonprofit group that works to prevent dishonest business practices and conducts a complaint resolution service for various problems, including many discussed in this book. Look in your local telephone book or search the Internet for your local chapter. The BBB has no legal authority to hear your complaint, order a company to return your money, or perform the necessary services for you. However, it will note your problem, even if not necessarily resolving your complaint—which sometimes will make a business act.

The final chapter of this book covers the process of complaining to a government agency and pursuing legal action in greater detail. Check Appendix E for a list of state and federal agencies that oversee common businesses and professions.

Step Eight—Take Legal Action
You may decide that legal action is necessary. This should be your last resort. If you choose to go to court, there are a number of alternatives, which are discussed in more detail in Chapter 12.

Small Claims Court
Every state court system has a small claims court. It may be known by other names locally, but there is a court devoted to cases under a certain dollar amount, where consumers may act as their own attorneys. These courts are designed to allow consumers to resolve complaints on their own. There are user-friendly forms provided, and the judges try to run a more relaxed courtroom in order to enable litigants without lawyers to pursue their cases. When a person acts as his or her own attorney, he or she is said to be acting pro se. (This is pronounced “pro say,” for the Latin “acting for oneself.”)

Deciding where to file your case can be a problem. Does the company have a local store or office? Did you buy on the Internet? Does the fine print of any contract or sales agreement require you to file suit in a certain state? Are you required to submit your complaint to binding arbitration? The answers to these questions can determine where your case should be filed.

Hire a Lawyer
You should consider hiring an attorney to represent you if you cannot navigate the court system on your own. Many small claims courts allow attorneys to represent parties. If there is an attorney on the other side, you should consider hiring one to represent you. If you act without an attorney, you are presumed to know the law. If your case involves enough money, you might be able to interest a lawyer in representing you on a contingency basis. This means that the lawyer will not collect a fee unless you win. However, you will probably be required to pay court costs, such as filing fees. The amount of a contingency fee varies, but is generally 25% to 33% of the amount collected, or one-fourth to one-third. Call your local bar association for a referral or ask a friend for a recommendation.

Even if you can win your case against the other side, you might not know how to collect on the final order or judgment. There are very strict laws governing the collection of a debt. You can land yourself in big trouble trying to collect your debt if you do not follow those rules. Having an attorney in such a situation can be very helpful.

Effective Letters
Writing an effective complaint letter is an art. Anyone can write an expletive-laced, angry letter. The key is to write a brief, simple, and convincing letter stating the facts, the problem, and the result you want to achieve. It is also imperative to include copies of the necessary and relevant documents, such as receipts. Remember to black out any credit card numbers and your Social Security number except for the last four digits, unless absolutely necessary to resolve your problem.

To make your letter more formal, you may wish to indicate that certain things are being included with your letter, or that something more is being done with it. You can indicate this at the bottom of your letter, under your name and signature, by adding certain designations to your letter.

Whenever you include copies of important documents—something you should always do to make your complaint more effective—it is often helpful to indicate on the letter that you have done so. You can do this by adding the word “enclosure” or the abbreviation “enc.” This also tells the reader of the letter that something more was sent with it, and that they should make sure they review that material as well.

Sometimes it takes more than your first letter to get the results you want. Sometimes more action happens when the letter is sent to more than one person, such as multiple people in the organization or a governmental entity. It is proper to indicate everyone the letter is sent to, usually by using the antiquated designation of “carbon copy” or “cc,” and indicating after the “cc” who the other party or parties were that the letter was sent to.

Finally, you should always keep a hard copy of the letter. You can indicate that you have done so by adding “file” at the end of your letter, showing that you are keeping a file of this matter. You do not have to show this, but it tells the reader that you are serious and keeping good records. It is always a good idea to keep a hard copy of your communication, in case something happens to your computer.

If you were to write a letter with a receipt enclosed, copied to the recipient’s manager, and printed a copy for your file, the bottom of your letter might appear as follows:

Your Name
enc: Receipt
cc: Manager’s Name
file

Note: Addressing a letter to the legal department or to the General Counsel’s office at a large company routes the letter directly to the lawyers.