General Training Writing Task 1 · formal · complaint

Formal complaint letter to manager regarding poor service

You are not happy about a service you received a couple of days ago from a company and you have decided to complain about it.

Write a letter to the company to complain about the poor service you received from its employee. In your letter:

why you went to the shop/office?
how the employees behaved to offend you
what you expect the company to do

Write at least 150 words. You do not need to write any addresses. Begin your letter: Dear ...,

Band 8 sample letter

Dear Mr. Henderson,

I am writing to express my profound dissatisfaction with the service I received at your city centre branch on Tuesday afternoon. I visited your office specifically to renew my travel insurance policy, as my current coverage expires at the end of this month.

Upon arrival, I was attended to by a member of your front-desk staff. Unfortunately, the employee’s conduct was entirely unprofessional. When I politely requested assistance with the renewal forms, the representative sighed audibly and rolled their eyes, suggesting that my presence was an inconvenience. Furthermore, when I asked a clarifying question regarding the premium options, the employee retorted in a condescending tone that I should read the brochure myself rather than wasting their time. Such blatant disregard for basic customer courtesy is unacceptable.

I trust you will investigate this matter with the staff member involved. I expect a formal apology for this experience and would appreciate confirmation that appropriate training measures have been implemented to prevent future recurrences. I look forward to your prompt response regarding this incident.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Miller

178 words. Names and details are invented; write your own.

Why this scores well

A Band 8 response fully addresses all three bullet points with a clear, consistent formal tone and sophisticated vocabulary. A common Band 6 error is failing to explain the specific reason for the visit or using overly aggressive, emotive language that undermines the professional tone required for a formal complaint.

Write to an organisation or someone you do not know: open with Dear Sir or Madam, close with Yours faithfully.
If you know the person's surname, use Dear Mr or Ms and close with Yours sincerely.
No contractions, no slang; polite indirect requests such as I would be grateful if you could.

Useful phrases from the letter

profound dissatisfaction: a very strong feeling of being unhappy
audibly: in a way that can be heard clearly
condescending: behaving as if one is superior to others
blatant: completely obvious and lacking any shame
recurrences: incidents of something happening again in future
investigate: to carry out a formal inquiry into something

Write your own and get a band

Answer this prompt in a timed General Training writing test and get a band for task achievement, coherence, vocabulary and grammar, with the sentences to fix.

Practise IELTS General writing

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Frequently asked questions

Is this letter formal or informal?

Formal. Write to an organisation or someone you do not know: open with Dear Sir or Madam, close with Yours faithfully.

How long should an IELTS General Training letter be?

At least 150 words, and 160 to 200 is the comfortable range. Spend about 20 minutes on it and leave 40 for Task 2, which carries twice the marks.