How to write the best complaint letter and get results (2024)

Have you been mistreated by a company and left out of pocket? Don't get mad, get even, by following the advice below on how to write the best letter of complaint.

Have you ever felt the frustration of being on hold at a call centre, waiting to register a complaint, or been enraged by a bland non-apology that comes in response to a written grievance that promises the earth but delivers little that's tangible?

Do you know why? You're not complaining correctly. Jasper Griegson, the 'King of Complainers' and author of three books on the subject, is a man who can bend giant corporations to his will.

Here, he explains how to complain effectively.

First strike

A letter is the best way of complaining. An email seems transient, and making a phone call might leave you on hold for a very long time. People receive fewer letters these days, so it's a less crowded field.

The basic rule is keep the letter short, punchy and clear, and preferably on one side of a sheet of paper. Don't send 18 pages of scrawled ramblings because no one will read it.

In your sights

Never address your letter to an anonymous customer services or complaints department. Get the name of someone reasonably senior - a second in command is a good place to start.

For instance, write to the finance director of the company you are complaining to (his name is probably on the company's website).

Richard Branson might be inundated with complaints, but other executive directors will not be - therefore, your moaning missive will be something of a novelty.

Hitting the target

Make sure your letter gets to the person you intend it to go to, so write, type or draw anything on your envelope you think might help your epistle to stand out. I often mark my letters 'Private and confidential. Addressee only.'

Once, I wrote to an executive at John Lewis using a pink envelope, sprayed with aftershave and 'Sealed With A Loving Kiss' written on it. Sure enough, she read it.

The smoking gun

Give them something to look at and, if you have any evidence, flaunt it. If you are complaining about co*ckroaches in your rented accommodation, send photographs.

Keep any evidence - such as invoices, guarantees or receipts - separate from your principal letter, but attach them by paper-clipping them on the back.

And remember, always send photocopies, not originals, in case your correspondence gets lost in the mail.

Do you feel lucky?

You may feel angry, but don't write an angry letter. If you can engage your recipient in a one-to-one dialogue and exchange banter, you're less likely to get a computer-generated response.

It also makes your letter stand out from all the other banal business communications. Give your recipient something more amusing than the other stuff in their in-tray and you can make their day.

What you get

Make it clear that you're looking for compensation - but don't specify exactly what you want. End the letter asking for 'a meaningful and substantial gesture of goodwill'.

You don't want to underestimate the value of your claim. Leave it up to the company and you might be pleasantly surprised. If you're not impressed by its offer, you can always go back to it.

Wear them down

Don't be fobbed off. The company is likely to attempt to justify itself by implying that your claim has no merit, and sometimes it becomes a war of attrition.

Don't give up and never accept the first offer. It's a good idea to pre-empt this with a line such as: 'Let me assure you that a dismissive two-line apology will not satisfy me.'

Use a scatter-gun approach; write the same letter to every member of the board: by broadening your audience, there's more chance that someone will think the company should settle with you.

If all else fails, take your complaint to the small claims court (I have never lost a claim there). It's simple to do and there aren't huge legal costs.

Be original

There is no magic formula, but your letter should be adventurous. You don't have to write a formal letter like a Victorian correspondence clerk.

I sometimes personalise it, even if I don't know them - 'Dear Paul, how are the kids?' - and have even been known occasionally to complain in the form of a poem.

How I beat British Gas, BT and others

By Simon Lambert

For a supposed service economy, big UK companies deliver some pretty awful service.

It's true that we rarely notice the times things go well, focusing instead on moaning about the times they go bad. But the way our big companies manage to co*ck something up then display a complete inability to rectify it, is often astounding.

Here at This is Money, we get thousands of complaints a year from people whose problems have inexplicably spiralled out of control because the call centre structure just cannot correct a minor problem that lies outside the script.

So what do you do? Well, as someone who believes in fighting back against The Man, I'd recommend going straight to the top and gunning for the closest thing to The Man that you can.

Twitter's all very well and good, but there's nothing like a polite but firm letter to the chief executive.

That's what I have had to do on a number of occasions.

Two examples being British Gas and BT.

A couple of years ago, I had a major problem with British Gas - as did millions of other customers it seems. Essentially, this boiled down to the fact that once they had made a mistake on your bill, they found it impossible to rectify.

Mine occurred when I moved into my flat and British Gas bizarrely charged me an estimated £31 for ten days gas usage in August. They had then taken a meter reading and charged me correctly.

Thus began a long running and painful saga

Despite repeated requests, British Gas's billing department kept failing to send me a correct bill.

Everytime I called up about this I received an apology and was assured a correct bill was on the way. And then the debt collection letters and threats of disconnection started to arrive.

Eventually in desperation I turned to the good old fashioned letter - sent direct and marked private and confidential, addressee-only, to Sam Laidlaw the then boss of Centrica (British Gas' parent firm).

Lo and behold, I got a letter straight back - signed by him - and a member of staff was assigned to sort this problem out properly.

The lesson I've learned from complaining is try the company first and then go for the boss. This is a fairly popular tactic but not enough people do it for the bosses not to respond.

Make sure you mark your letter private and confidential, addressee-only it will only be opened either by that boss, or at least their PA - who is probably the most powerful person in the company anyway.

It's worked many other times.

Another example is that some time ago BT hounded my then 90-year-old grandmother for leaving a contract she had never signed up for. This time, a pleasant but strongly worded letter to boss Ian Livingston got things sorted.

Too often people moan about things, say they are going to complain and never do anything about it, I'm as guilty of this as most.

But if you have been mistreated, do something it.Follow the guide above and stick it back to The Man.