WRITING GUIDE: A COMPLAINT LETTER
Sample letter
Dear Sir/Madam,
My husband and I have just returned from one of your “special city tours” in
Amsterdam (August 31 – September 10) and I am writing to complain about
the holiday we were given.
To begin with, the hotel was not at all what we had been led to expect from
your brochure. You advertise air-conditioned rooms with mini bar and
private bathroom, but what we got was a tiny room with none of the
promised appliances. The room only had a washbasin and we had to share
the sanitary installations with five other parties on our floor. The
temperature was 90° every day, so you can imagine the comforts of a room
with nothing but the cold water tub for cooling. As for the hotel staff,
whenever we called down to the reception there was simply no one around.
There did not even seem to be any cleaning staff since our beds were made
once during the whole of our stay.
Added to all this, the tourist guide included in your offer had fallen ill shortly
before we arrived and there was obviously nobody in charge to organise a
suitable substitute. After five days a courier tuned up who spoke only
fragmentary English and we had difficulties understanding only half of what
he said.
As you will realise, we are highly dissatisfied with the holiday your company
provided and we do not see why we should put up with it. We expect a letter
of explanation as well as a substantial refund of our money. Unless this is
forthcoming, we shall have to take matters a step further.
Yours faithfully,
(Mrs J Smith)
Introduction
Paragraph 1
Introduce the complaint and state the reason for writing.
