How To Write a Complaint Letter

The employees within a company or students in their academic life or a responsible citizen of society needs to write the complaint letter in their life. However, writing any kind of letter for a layman in formal writing may involve complex format for them to follow. The format of the letter and the body is the most important part of the complaint letter.

Whenever an employee writes a complaint letter to its employer, it remains in the records of the employer and the company. The complaint letter written by employees contains reasons for which the letter has been written. The company should understand the importance of the letter and therefore the reason for writing the complaint letter is important. The office must acknowledge the receipt of the complaint letter or the writer may ask for reply too. The complaint letter becomes one of the important way for communication between the employer and employees for any kind of dissatisfaction and complaints.

Similarly, in case of students, they are given assignment of writing complaint letter. The students are allocated a good proportion of marks in complaint letter writing. The students are required to know the format of the letter under which they can write the letter in correct way. The writing of the complaint letter in schools and colleges prepare students for their future professional career where they may be required to write the complaint letter. The complaint letter writing is very important as this is a way where people can show their dissentients with regards to any present situation where rules and regulations are not followed. This is the reason complaint letter has become rampant.

Components of an effective letter

• Address of the company/office
• Date of writing the letter
• Subject or reason for writing the letter
• Greetings to the employer
• Name of the writer along with signature.

Address of the company/office – the address of the office is required when an employee is writing a complaint letter. It is way of formal communication. Thus, it must fully formatted like an official letter. The signatory to which the letter is addressed is particularly shown in the letter.

Date of writing the letter – the complaint letter is dated when the letter is written and delivered. The date of the complaint letter is one of the important element of a formal letter. The address and the date are proofs of the complaint letter that when and to whom the letter was written. The date will help to determine that how much time is taken for implementing the course of action from the date of the complaint letter.

Subject or reason for writing the letter – the inclusion of the subject in the letter make the reader aware of the reason for the complaint. The reader may feel the context of the letter if the matter is really serious. The reader may want to read the letter if subject is already mentioned. The subject is a very important element of the formal letter including complaint letter.

Greetings to the employer – The employee may be angry for some matter. He want to show his dissatisfaction with the help of this letter. The dissatisfaction may lead to anger. The employee must not write the complaint letter to the company showing anger. The complaint letter is always written in a formal and polite manner. The employee anger tone may lead the letter not achieving the target of communication as the employer may get angry to with the tone and may not respond back.

Name of the writer along with signature- the employee must write his name to show that who is writing the letter and showing concern for some specific matter. The signature of the letter is needed for self-attestation and acknowledgement.

Some useful tips to write a perfect complaint letter

Whenever anyone types, ‘how to write a complaint letter’ on the internet, they will get many important information along with tips to write the complaint letter.

Some of the tips for writing an effective letter are:

• One should be clear and concise- the complaint letter must be written in such a way that the contents of the letter are written in simple and understanding language. The conclusion of the letter and the important points that the writer wants to highlight in the letter must be summarized in simple sentences and what the steps required to deal the situation must be suggested.
• The person should write and state what the problems are and one must state, what the solutions are that needed to be implemented for resolving the situation.
• The contents of the complaint letter must not be written in such a way that it shows anger of the writer. The tone of the letter should be polite enough to help the employer understand, what the exact is issue which the writer wants to highlight. Thus, it is recommended to not write an angry toned complaint letter. The sarcastic or threatening letter must be avoided.
• The complaint letter must include copies of relevant documents, like receipts, work orders, and warranties that can support the contents of the letter.
• The letter must contain some of the important information such as name of the candidate who is writing the letter and the address of the company, university, institution to which the letter is addressed to. It must include the name of the dignitary to which the letter is written and must include the contact information of the person who is writing the letter. The contact information will help the addressed institution to take necessary steps and reach out to the person for more clarification for the contents of the letter.

Whenever someone is writing a complaint letter one should describe the problem, difficulties and the steps one want from the authority to whom the letter is written. It must include key dates, such the date on which the goods or services were purchased and describe that when the problem exactly occurred. The identification of the problem and the causes are important for writing an effective complaint letter.