Crafting a Complaint Letter for a Poor Customer Service Experience

Having a poor customer service experience can be frustrating. If you feel you need to be heard after the fact, writing a letter to the company may provide the avenue you need. Just be sure to remain calm and polite, and give the advice below a try.

Your opening paragraph should include a summary of why you are writing. You do not need to cover any details, as those will come later in the letter. Make a clear statement regarding who you are in regards to the company. Are you a long-time customer, or did this incident occur with during your first experience with them? Write a sentence or two that introduces why you are writing. In cases such as these, reference the fact that you had a poor customer service experience. Keep the opening brief.

Next, it is often wise to state some positives about the company. For long-term customers, explain what your previous positive interactions were like. You can even tell an anecdote of a particularly wonderful experience. If a person recommended their services, go into detail regarding the recommendation or referral. While this may seem contrary to your instincts, including positive information gives the company a reason to want to keep you as a customer.

Now is the time to go into the incident. Include details and work in chronological order. Avoid emotionally charged statements. This includes name calling and the use of vulgar language. You want to state only the facts exactly as they occurred without coming off unnecessarily rude.

Once you have explained what occurred, you can go into how this impacted you If you are disappointed, say so now. The same goes for feeling hurt, insulted, or ignored, depending on your situation. Just be careful phrasing the statements. Instead of being accusatory, try using statements with the following structure:

When _______ occurred, it made me feel __________

This give you the chance to cover what made the experience negative in a clear and controlled way.

When it comes to time to close the letter, you may choose to include information on what the business can do for you. Be careful, as you don’t want it to look like you are just trying to score free goods or services. If you want an apology, that may not be unreasonable. Sometimes you don’t want anything but to be heard, ensuring the company is aware of the incident. If that is the case, you may want to allude to that fact.

If you follow these basics, you have a strong likelihood of crafting a respectable complaint letter. Even when done properly and thoroughly, you may not get a response back from the company. It is possible they will contact you, either for more details or to make amends, at which point you may want to use the same advise that is given here to help guide your further conversations. Just remember to stay polite and calm, as this gives you the best chance of truly being heard.