How to Write a Strongly Worded Letter of Complaint

If you’ve been wronged and need some good examples of how to write a strongly worded letter of complaint, read on.

Just about every consumer experiences a let-down by a product or service, easily more than once in his or her lifetime.

Whether it’s terrible airline service (delays, canceled flights, and so on) or finding a dead mouse in your Cheerios. Sh*t happens.

Don’t just sit back and take it on the chin from corporate stooges.

Samples of Complaint Letters That Work!

Complaint Letter Sample #1: Delta Airlines

Over the years I’ve had a handful of incidents that have left me dissatisfied, if not downright angry. Air travel tends to top the list. The first time I took action by writing a well-crafted complaint letter, I was surprised by the quick and effective response.

In March 2013, Mrs. Cubert and I went on a lovely Caribbean cruise. It was one of those professional seminar boondoggles.

She spent a few hours each day with other chiropractors learning about something or other, while I read War and Peace by the pool. Heck, I’d have been happy dealing with troublesome Airbnb guests from my cell phone if I could be on a cruise deck while doing so.

It was on our way home that we ran into problems. Our Delta flight out of Miami had mechanical issues.

The real rub with this is they kept cascading the delays. So every hour, we were told it’d be ANOTHER hour. Finally, at around 9 PM, after five hours of this nonsense, the flight was canceled altogether.

Delta gave us zero options for what to do next, so we all queued up in line for another two hours to re-book a flight the next day, and beg for some help with lodging that evening. We’ve experienced this before in our travels, on a trip over to Switzerland in ’08. Air travel is just a roll of the dice, as with any travel I suppose.

Our Delta helper at the counter hooked us up with a voucher for a nearby hotel and a flight out the next day. The funny part was how, after the taxi dropped us off, we learned that THERE WERE NO VACANCIES.

Our voucher was worthless. Thanks, Delta.

We eventually managed to get to another hotel, order a pizza, and crash. $225.97 for a night at the Miami-Dade Sorority Inn.

Here’s the complaint letter I wrote to Delta, within a week of getting back home. Still glowing from a great trip, and sporting an okay tan:

April 7, 2013

Delta Air Lines, Inc.

P.O. Box 20706

Atlanta, Georgia 30320-6001

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing to request a refund check for $225.97 to reimburse hotel charges paid out of pocket on Sunday, March 24, 2013. We were unable to use the voucher issued by Delta on that day, upon arrival at the hotel, due to the fact the hotel was fully booked as of Saturday, March 23. I have attached documentation to substantiate our claim, including the actual voucher, the occupancy register for the Doubletree Hotel (provided by the on-call manager), and finally, the receipt for our eventual hotel, Spring Hill Suites. The delayed flight behind the voucher request was DL1860 Miami-Atlanta, March 24, 2013.

Please call me at (555) PEE-OWED if you need any additional details or background information. I am saving copies of all documentation for legal, and if necessary, PR purposes. Having been sent to an already fully booked hotel after waiting at the airport for hours on end, with a mid-term wife pregnant with twins, one can imagine the frustration we feel with Delta Airlines’ customer service. Your rapid response is appreciated.

Sincerely,

(Cubert)

Enclosure

CC: (Cubert’s estate lawyer, for added effect)

Within a week I’d received a letter from Delta’s VP of Customer Service. He was extremely gracious and apologized for the inconvenience we’d gone through.

We were compensated for a little north of the hotel cost in the form of a gift card to one of several retail outfits if I remember right. With kids on the way, this was super handy. I think we bought a rug for the baby’s room.

Better than the compensation was how quickly Delta jumped on this problem and made amends. I know they, like most airlines, struggle to balance customer service with profits, but for a brief shining moment, they were okay in my book.

As for the letter, you’ll notice there’s no secret to how I put those few paragraphs together. Maybe it was the reference to “PR” or Cc’ing my estate lawyer? We don’t have an attorney on retainer, so the lawyer who drew up our will (I figured) would stand in nicely.

(I never bothered him by sending an actual copy.)

Bottom-line: Take 30 to 60 minutes of your time to write up your experience in a professional but assertive manner and get that thing in the mail. My hourly rate for writing this particular letter was $225. Next time we’ll find a last-minute Airbnb to stay at instead.

Complaint Letter Sample #2: Hertz Rent-a-Car

The following year, on a trip to Michigan with our now one-year-old twins in tow, we rented a car at the airport. The trip was fun. The car was not. A lot of driving was in store, and it wasn’t until we were well on our way that I noticed there was no cruise control.

Yeah, yeah, I know. First-world problem, right?

Well, I’d drive a stick shift but still expect a cruise, dammit! Funny how having twin infants causes you to melt at the first inconvenience life sends your way. No wonder I’m stressed out and dream of early retirement.

That wasn’t the worst of it though. The car rattled like it had been run off the cliff, ala Thelma and Louise, and put back together again for unsuspecting renters. Well, Hertz, thank you very little for giving us this little gem.

The kids usually slept through anything, but they were no match for this jalopy.

After we got home I figured it worth writing to Hertz, simply to share how disappointed we were being given such a piece of sh*t to drive around half the state in.

Let it be known the rattles didn’t happen until we got on the highway, so there was no simply turning back once we were well out of town.

Here’s the complaint letter I wrote after my wrist stopped shaking:

Mr. Scott (Evil)

Rent A Car Americas

Hertz Corporation

225 Brae Blvd

Park Ridge, NJ 07656

Dear Mr. (Evil):

I am writing to request a partial refund (or credit towards a future rental), as a token of Hertz’s good faith, after a bad experience my family and I had with one of your rental vehicles. In short, our vehicle was the pits.

The Mazda 3 we were given at the Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, MI rattled and vibrated incessantly on the highway. Further, there wasn’t cruise control – a feature we’d come to expect as standard. These two factors made for a very taxing driving experience for me and my family. We had no problem with the missing wheel cover on the front passenger tire, but details like this certainly can make an impression on the customer, particularly when compounded with bigger problems.

I have attached records of our rental forms for your reference. There were few to no occasions for us to swap out the car due to our packed itinerary and open-jaw flight plan. We simply expected a solid car to get us from point A to point B, without the constant jolt of (I’m assuming) misaligned wheels or warped rotors, and, the fatigue from missing cruise control while traveling long distances throughout Michigan.

Please feel free to call me at (555) DUN-HURT if you need any additional details or background information. I hope I can continue to recommend Hertz to my friends and family. Your quick response is appreciated.

Sincerely,

(Cubert)

Enclosure

Who needs a hub cap?

I revealed to Mr. Evil the importance of perception of quality. I’m sure that’s why, within a week of this most effective complaint letter, I received in the mail a very nice phone call from Hertz, offering to cut my rental charges by half.

This was yet another case where spending an hour writing a letter yielded $200 back in my pocket. These are personal finance wins I can write about!

Complaint Letter Sample #3: Sleep Number Mattress

I’ve since written a complaint letter or two (or fifteen) similar to those above. In one instance, I received a complete replacement mattress for a Sleep Number Bed that had been known to have problems with mildew (GROSS!)

Ours had some suspicious spots and I wasn’t taking any chances.

The complaint letter I wrote directly to their CEO was greeted by a return phone call from a senior leader in their customer relations group. I was thrilled we had avoided a potential health issue, and they replaced our ten-year-old air bed for free:

Ms. So-and-So

President and Chief Executive Officer

Select Comfort Corporation

9800 59th Ave N

Plymouth, MN 55442

Dear Ms. So-and-So:

My wife and I recently discovered the presence of what appears to be patches of black mold on the surface of our Select Comfort mattress air-bladders. Our concern is whether this is causing or contributing to chronic allergic reactions that are particularly rough during morning hours.

This is an unfortunate development since my back health has improved markedly since switching to your product, nearly ten years ago. We would prefer to continue using a Sleep Number bed but are concerned about the long-term effects of the apparent mold.

Please let me know if there are any options for us (i.e., are new Sleep Number models less susceptible to this issue?). We would prefer to avoid the high cost of replacing our current bed, but we certainly have to consider our health and well-being first.

Please feel free to call me at (777) 777-7777, if you need any additional details or background information. I can provide a photograph of the suspected mold if you’d like. Your quick response is appreciated.

Sincerely,

(Cubert)

Sometimes Even the Best-Written Complaint Letters Fail

In another instance, my sister and I were stranded at the airport for six hours after United Airlines (terrible) refused to let us on our plane (which was visibly still docked at the jet-way). We were held up by, you guessed it, way too long security lines.

Side-bar: There’s almost nothing worse in air travel than being told you missed your flight when you can see the plane sitting right there, with the walkway still attached to the terminal. Sigh…

The insult here was that our grandfather had just passed away, and we were trying to get home to be with family. That letter to United Airlines was greeted with a “too bad, so sad” response. I’ll never fly with them again, even if we have credit card bonus points about to expire.

6 Tips on Writing a Winning Complaint Letter

1. Be professional. Use professional letterhead and be sure to sign in ink. The more professional you make the letter, the more they know you mean business.
2. Express your dissatisfaction clearly, with facts, dates, and details (including copies of receipts and so on) to help substantiate your claim. Don’t just say “You guys suck!” Those letters get discarded out of hand.
3. Be sincere. Don’t make false claims in the hope of getting compensation. A.) that’d be super unethical, and B.) that’d also be criminal fraud. If you’re going to write a letter, it’s because you’ve received less than the service or experience you expected. The companies you write should be grateful to hear from you, so they can resolve the situation and avoid a hit to their reputation.
4. Be prompt. Don’t wait too long to send your letter. The sooner you get that thing written and in the mail, the more weight it will carry.
5. Don’t expect compensation every time. In most cases, you’ll write because you feel cheated by a company. Either a voucher was useless, or a rental car had fits. Or maybe you lost a full day with family because United Airlines is a sh*tty carrier. Sometimes you will get what you deserve, and sometimes you’ll simply get a “sorry” back.
6. Remember not to waste your time working your way up the corporate ladder with your complaint. In my experience, the smart approach is to start at the top of the org chart. Send the letter to the VP of Customer Affairs. You will (well, you should) get a response in relatively short order, especially if your letter is clear, concise, and can be backed up.

There you have it: 3 samples of complaint letters you can use to draw inspiration from.

Go forth with confidence that you now know how to write a strongly worded letter of complaint. Strong letter-writing skills will ensure that your voice is heard.

You never know how much (or if any!) compensation awaits. But if the complaint is valid, backed up with photos and/or receipts as evidence (and similar complaints have occurred from other customers), you can rest assured a favorable response will come.