WRITING: formal letter_ (complaint) For this type of task it is very important to: 1. think about the purpose of writing and the target reader. 2. use astyle , tone and register suitable for the task. 3. use a consistent register. Yo shouldn't mix registers. Any formal letter should follow a similar pattern, no matter what the purpose of the letter is.Each section should have a separate paragraph. This is the order in which the different sections of a letter should appear: 1. reasons for writing 2, clarification of situation 3. further details 4. any requests for further information or actions 5, further action to be taken, details of any enclosures A letter of complaint is uspally written in a formal style, and it clearly states the writer's point of view.The use of formal phrases or set expressions indicates the writer's own view. ‘You have to plan your letter before you start. Decide carefully how many paragraphs it will have Set a consistent tone and register. Useful language Complaining + Lam writing to you about several problems related to my city breakin June. + Ihave been waiting for two weeks fora reply to my letter. + Tomake matters worse, we were informed that there was no record of our cheque being cashed. + Iwould be grateful if you could refund my deposit as soon as possible. Requesting information + Lam writing in response to your advertisement in The Daily Standard on July 20th. + would be grateful if you could send me further details about the position. + Lam writing to enquire whether you could let me have further details about the holiday. + Iwould like to know more about the arrangements for the evening meal. Giving information/Responding to requests for information + With reference to your letter of... enclose deteils of my qualifications. + You asked me to tell you about my travel plans and lenclose further detailsModel answer Cobeginby ying ‘vy you ae wing, DONT ein by sing whoyouse. Oli yeur complains cleat, sing ning words comnect your acual comelaie th he ees When youre wing sletrors tosomeoneyou ont kn use 2 semiformal ye youdortinew thee rare a lemer ss ih Der Sade aedends ove faartly fou know thecrame sleter sly sash Deorantentaynte uname, ancens Youssincerey, youre witngan femal you cone Be shes iS ee Yoo said al rooms had & rver vew, bot my, Youdontneedio putanactressor alenerinere: Pa or Pat Dear Sir, Tam writing to complain abort a short hotday Trad ecemtiy ecganises by your company, There were, several Probieme with the alday, Domai cle Severut snsneraraine tsxrput DONT Fest, your advertisement promised a hotel in a central location, whereas in fact the hotel was a long way from window overlooked a noisy car park. I had 70 pay exira peter for dinner, aithougn yoo stated that it was inckded, To veordsnthe tae make matters worse, I codan't choose which show to inp gp to. I had hoped to go to a new musical, bot T had to go Yo ore I had akeady seen youre arpytoyour Thad been tocking foruatd to my holiday very much, bout fF was completely cured. I therefore feel that letter, 00 fish pt shoud cefund half the cost of the hota in vhs serance oneseearste line Compensation for my clsappointment. T look foward to hearing from yes soon. Sarsntay | Las eta. naletter i On SIS ap th (wane Samer7X company has put up a large advertisement hoarding in your local town centre. The advertisement seems to you likely to provoke unacceptable behaviour. Write a letter of ‘complaint to your local council ,explaining why you object to it and what you would like them to do abot it about 300 words) Dear Sir, {’m writing to complain about the car advertisement currently being displayed on the hoarding outside the main post office in the centre of town, ‘The advertisement shows a car speeding away from a set of traffic lights, with the caption,” (0-100 in under 10 seconds" feel that this claim is misleading and irresponsible For a start there is so much traffie on the roads these days that itis extremely unlikely that anyone could reach a speed of 100 kilometres per hour in a town. The advertisers also seem to have forgotten that there are speed limits on most roads.In my view, this type of advertising only encourages drivers to break the law. Further more , the advert suggests thatthe best cars are the fastest cars and places undue {emphasis on the power of this car in particular, implying that its bast feature is its speed I ‘would argue that this ean only encourage those people who buy the car to drive fast in order to mantain that image. However, we all know that speed kill, and more often than not its, the innocent pedestrian who isthe vietim ofthe speeding driver. Don’t you think car companies should be focusing on safety, and behaving responsibly in trying to reduce fatalities on our roads by giving safety a better image? May Trequest that you have this advertisement taken down as soon as possible? While [have ro objection to cars being advertised , I feel strongly that this type of advertising should not be allowed.{ have already written to the company concerned , requesting that they remove this advertisement from their campaign and giving them my reasons in detail enclose & copy of this leter for your information. ‘Thank you in advance for your help. look forward to hearing from you. ‘Yours faithfully, ‘Sam Smith.47 Oxted Road Hedge Green Dorkir Surrey, RHI2 387 2nd April 199%. Customer Relations Officer VGC Electronics Second Avenue Millstone Keys Bedfordshire MK257@ Dear Siror Madam Re: VGC Stereo Unit 2500 Lam writing to complain about a V&C stereo which I gave my son for Christmas Almost immediately, things started going wrong Fivet ofall, when we pressed the OPEN/CLOSE bution on *he CD player, the drawer opened and closed so quickly that we did not have time to put sa CD in. Fr took us nearly five minutes and my son trapped hia fingers several times. The cassette player was even worse. Whenever we attempted +o record music, t& sounded distorted Because of these problems, T retuned the stereo to the shop where T had purchased it. hey said it would take a week to repair: Three weeks later, ts when T telephoned to inquire what was happening, I was infonmed that they were waiting for spare parts. After nine weeks it was ready. When T tried it at home, I found-that the CD problem had been rectified but the cassette player was no better. I am not satisfied with the stereo Unit itself or with the service we have ws received, and I am now writing to ask for a full refund. T look forwara fo receiving your cheque for £537 50. Yours faithfully plea “Papas PHILIP DEANLetter/email (Forworkeon Pare 1 leeslerais, ee pages 85 and 146) G tax You recently had a short holiday in a large city which you booked through a company called Citibreaks. ‘You were very disapoointad with the holiday, Read the Citbreaks advertisement for the holiday you ‘booked and the notes you have made, Then vite 8 lelter to Citbreaks, explaining what the problems ere and teling them what you want them todo. Gites Enjoy a short holiday in the capita city We offer wo _ night sscomdtion n'a foster MEW bcs eel aa tick ELE Central All rooms have their own port long batons nda view othe way ott ser ee ea The price of 150 Ferpasen Mah Dinnerinlues all meas a5 well asa“ cos exra Geet forashow of UE HOI ys po in one of they leningNo cok - thats o ‘This wil be a real holiday to, romembet! Nr ‘White @ letter/emall of between 120 and 180 words In an appropriate siyle. Oo not write any postal addresses, G Model answer as DO begin Pel oe 1 am rien complain "HY YOU ae ‘are writing ttt «hr haay od SENT rnc wich wan orpted PONT ty Cras. tied tho re vl cl oe DO list your vone Mt, 7a Ra na make promised a hotel in a cent clearly, et pation, wharf ewig inking betwen oor ote a ong ay fom tO 2 letioet Hime one ea ae, eee ea artes ee a paar ce ie DONT ver view bar agrwndonfat wi he repeat the looked over the car park, which details. eens iat po ait fr die; sth ‘ae eit hal mand thet es ced ne prce Breet ese hal to chee of wh tow 1 ouinwaee ss peeee eee Men aeeenen tae aaa 1 had bee king fovant my holiday very mach, bi ‘wa completely rune by these Pron met Uyouegin ProWems 1 erie fo har Oe Jourletar/ Yu shoud mfind hl he cost ler {ial Dear ofthe holy in compensation DOs SitMadam, for my disappointment. wth this Doend Sentence on with You's I look fort to hearing from Separate PIMA you soon fine ‘you begin Dear Ms Yours ty (or tir, EE Mis)ones Wrst. Sore — sig tO end yor with Yours: ‘Ursine Schmidt —————~ ua name, ‘nor.> Analysing a Letter/Email of Complaint Read the two models and choose the one which is appropriate. Have all the points in the rubric been covered? How has the information been rephrased? Dear Sir, I want to tell you how angry and disgusted I am with the holiday apartment I rented from you on 15th August. I think you’ve got a real Ee it as ‘beautiful’ because it was the ugliest apartment I’ve ever seen in my life. For a start, you lied when you said it was spacious. There wasn’t room to Swing & ook inside. The rooms were also very dirty. I spent the first day of my holiday cleaning them. Next, you said the kitchen was well-equipped. Not at all! Lots of essential items were missing. After three days, I'd had enough and went home. I’m sure you can tell I am really angry. You have ruined my summer by spoiling my holiday. I demand you give me some of my money back and you should say sorry, too. If you don’t you'll be in big trouble. Hurry up and reply to this letter. Yours sincerely, Helen Hunt Helen Hunt New Message Dear Sir, Baa Saha ear a aS oer ea ie ER Tg egNew Message Dear Sir, 1 am writing to complain about the holiday apartment I rented from you on 15th August. I believe your advertisement was y misleading in a number of ways. Firstly, the apartment was by no means spacious. The rooms were cramped and there was very little storage space. Also, the distance trom the beach was in fact ten times farther than you claimed. Furthermore, a was broken. This was quite dangerous and could have caused an accident. In addition, it overlooked an unattractive car park in contrast to the ‘great view’ ‘Jo advertised. Finally, the kitchen was poorly equipped and a lot of essential items were missing, such as plates and saucepans. Consequently, I felt I could not stay any longer and returned home after three days. As you can imagine, I am quite disappointed. I feel I am entitled to a partial refund in addition to an apology for the inconvenience caused. I look forward to receiving a prompt reply. Yours faithfully, Sandra Folkestone. Sandra FolkestoneModel 8 is appropriate because it is written in a formal style and uses appropriate language. It covers all the points in the rubric and it rephrases all the information. Model A is not appropriate because it is written in an informal style which is not @ppropriate for this email and it does not include all the information from the rubric ( balcony railing is not mentioned) and it does not rephrase the information at all. excessively strong language ~ ‘how angry and disgusted | am’, ‘the ugliest apartment I've ever seen in my life" aggressive tone — “if you don't you'll be in real trouble’, ‘hurry up and reply to this email’ overly informal/colloquialfidiomatic language - ‘you've got a real cheek, ‘wasn’t room to swing a catinside’, td had enough’ irrelevant information - ‘| spent the first day of my holiday cleaning them’ : phrases taken word for word from the prompts - ‘Not at all! Lots of essential items were missing.’ points not covered in the rubric - dangerous balcony railing, view of car park 1am quite disappointed — iam extremely upset 1 look forward to receiving a prompt reply - | insist that this matter be dealt with promptly to complain about - to express my extreme dissatisfaction with quite dangerous — extremely hazardous ! felt I could not stay -| refused to remain pe eh ene ae