Letter (e-mail) of complaint

In an e-mail or letter of complaint you complain about unsatisfactory goods or bad service and it
is written in a formal style. When writing a letter of complaint keep to the facts, explain clearly
why you are writing, give exact details and say what you are hoping to achieve. In the
introduction you have to state clearly what you want to complain about. In the main body you
justify your complaint and give as much detail as necessary. It usually finishes off with a specific
demand for an action.

Layout: To:_______________
From:_______(include customer number)
Subject:____ (order No/ invoice No)
date, greeting, paragraphs, sign-off;
Structure and Organisation:

 subject line refers to content of e-mail

 state the reason for writing

 a new paragraph for each main point

 appropriate linking words and phrases

 emphasise key information and any action that may be required

 closing and sign-off

WRITING A COMPLAINT LETTER. USEFUL LANGUAGE:
1- GREETINGS

Dear Mr/Mrs, …Dear Sir/Madam, … Dear sirs, …

2- INTRODUCTORY SENTENCES (Include order No and invoice No if necessary)

I am writing regarding… (Les escribo en relación a ..) I am writing to you about … (Les escribo acerca de …)

I am writing to complain about …/ make a claim about …(les escribo para quejarme / hacer una reclamación sobre…)

We are sorry to have to inform you that… (Sentimos tener que informales que …)

We regret to inform you that … (Lamentamos informarles que ..)

We took delivery of our order No... (Recibimos nuestro pedido nº ..con –fecha-)

3- REASONS FOR WRITING

A) PROBLEMS WITH DELIVERY- DELAY

We still have not received our order No which we understood was shipped on (date)

(Aún no hemos recibido nuestro pedido nº..que, según tenemos entendido,fue enviado con fecha )

The goods we ordered on (date) (order No..) have not yet arrived.

(Las mercancías que pedimos el –fecha- nº pedido- todavía no han llegado.

We have been reported that our consigment of ...was stolen in transit.

(Se nos ha comunicado que nuestro cargamento de ...ha sido robado durante el trayecto)

B) LOSS OR DAMAGE

Upon receipt of our order No.. we found that …(al recibir nuestro pedido nº… advertimos que..)

We have received today the goods we ordered on (date) and on checking it we found that…
(Hoy hemos recibido los productos que pedimos el (fecha) y al inspeccionarla hemos visto que …)

We took delivery of our order No…on (date) However, …(Recibimos ntro pedido nº+fecha. Sin embargo)

…the quality of these goods is not the same as the samples (la calidad de estos productos no es la misma
que las muestras)

… your shipment arrived damaged due to inadequate packing/ transport. (su envío llegó dañado debido
a un embalaje/ transporte inadecuado )

… the boxes had been opened and some items removed

(las cajas habían sido abiertas y algunos artículos robados)

… several crates were missing and others had been damaged

(faltaban varias cajas y otras habían sufrido desperfectos)

… the crate only contained …., although … had been entered both the invoice and the Bill of Lading,
(el embalaje contenía … aunque … aparecían tanto en la facture como en el Conocimiento de Embarque)
 C) MISTAKES IN PRICING- WRONG ITEM- WRONG QUANTITY

We found, on checking your invoice No.., that our figures do not agree with yours.

(Advertimos, al comprobar su facture nº …, que nuestras cifras no concuerdan con las suyas)

It appears that you have made a mistake with the quantity of …, which is not what we ordered.

(Al parecer han cometido un error con la cantidad de …, que no es la que pedimos)

We noticed you have send us the wrong item. We ordered ...instead of.., which is what we have received.

(Nos dimos cuenta de que nos han enviado el artículo equivocado. Les pedimos …en vez de .., que es lo que
hemos recibido)

We were surprised to find that you have charged for extra insurance coverage / for packing /

(Nos sorprendió advertir que nos han cobrado un seguro adicional / por embalaje

We noticed that you have overcharged us for the price of item…, which was not the same as in your price-
list. (Advertimos que nos han cobrado de más en el precio del artículo, que no era el mismo de su lista de precios)

D) EXPRESSING CONCERN. SUGGEST A SOLUTION.

Therefore, we hope that you will consider our complaint and suggest some friendly arrangement /
compensation. (Por tanto, esperamos que consideren nuestra reclamación y sugieran algún acuerdo/
compensación amistosa)

Therefore, we must ask you to dispatch the additional items / correct items as soon as possible.

(Por tanto, debemos rogarles que nos envíen los artículos restantes/correctos lo antes posible)

Therefore, we are returning the articles in question and..(Por tanto, les devolvemos los artículos en cuestión y.)

…We should be grateful if you could arrange for replacement of the wrong/ missing/ damaged items.
(les agradeceríamos nos reemplazaran los artículos equivocados/ que faltan / dañados)

…We expect you credit us with the value of the damaged/ returned goods (esperamos que nos abonen el
valor de los artículos dañados/ devueltos)

4- FINAL PARAGRAPH.

We hope you understand , as a result of that, we have lost business.

(Esperamos que entiendan que, como consecuencia de ello, hemos perdido dinero.

Unless the articles are received in a week, we will have to cancel our order.

(Si no recibimos los artículos dentro de una semana, tendremos que cancelar nuestro pedido)

We trust you understand our reasons. (Esperamos que entiendan nuestros motivos)

We beg you to answer as soon as possible. (Rogamos nos contesten cuanto antes)

We look forward to an early reply. (Esperamos una pronta respuesta)

Yours sincerely, (Atentamente)

DEALING WITH CUSTOMERS COMPLAINTS.

1- OPENING

Thank you for your email concerning… (Gracias por su email en relación a …)

Thank you for your letter of (date) informing us about … (Gracias por su carta con fecha ..
informándonos sobre…)

We are very sorry to hear about the problem. (Lamentamos lo que ha sucedido)

2- EXPLAINING THE MISTAKE. SOLVING THE PROBLEM

The mistake was due to a fault in one of our machines/ some confusion in our addressing
file/ an error in our computer system . (El error se ha debido a un fallo en una de nuestras
máquinas/ una confusión en nuestro archivo de direcciones / un error en nuestro sistema informático)

We are looking into the matter. This is being corrected at the moment and …(Estamos
intentando resolver el problema. Está siendo corregido en estos momentos y …)

… the replacement of the damaged items/ faulty articles are on their way to you and you
should receive them within this week. (el cambio de los artículos estropeados / defectuosos está
de camino y los recibirá en esta semana)

…we will collect the damaged items/ faulty part at your address at our expense/ free of
charge. (recogeremos los artículos destropeados / la pieza defectuosa en su domicilio a nuestro cargo /
gratuitamente)

Find enclose our credit note for €…, which is a refund for the overcharge on invoice No..

(Adjunto un abono en su cuenta por un total de ..€, que es la devolución correspondiente al recargo de más
en la factura nº..)

3- APOLOGISING

We would also like to point out that this type of fault rarely occurs in our company.

(Queremos hacer constar que este tipo de fallos raramente ocurre en nuestra empresa)

Finally, we must say this was an exceptional mistake and it is unlikely to occur again.

(Por ultimo, hemos de decir que este ha sido un error insólito y es muy improbable que vuelva a ocurrir)

We would like to apologise for the mistake on invoice No..

(Queremos disculparnos por el error en la facture nº)

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience / mistake ..

(Acepten nuestras disculpas por las molestias/ el error )

We look forward to doing business with you in the future

(Esperamos seguir contando con ustedes como cliente en el futuro)