Writing Task 1 Sample

Letter Sample #132 – A customer has written a complaint letter to you

GT Writing Task 1 (Letter Writing) Sample # 132

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

You work as a manager at a large shop in a city. Recently a customer has written a complaint letter to you.

Reply to this complaint letter. In your letter,

  • acknowledge receipt of the letter
  • express regret about it
  • mention what actions you are going to take

Write at least 150 words.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam, 


Model Answer:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am Mark Pen, the manager at the city centre branch of the retail shop “Needs Daily 24”, writing to acknowledge that I have received your complaint letter. I deeply regret that such an unfortunate event took place. I also wish to apologise for such a terrible service rendered by our employees when you visited our shop last Monday.

Regrettably, my chief supervisor and I were out of town due to some official matters on that day. From your letter, I learned that a cashier and a salesperson argued with you and behaved unprofessionally when you brought a product for replacement. Unfortunately, the product was not covered by any warranty, but my employees should have been more patient and cordial to explain that to you.

I regret the whole event and assure you that I have already warned the staff members who you talked to that day. They are also apologetic and remorseful for what has happened. Moreover, I will arrange to replace the product in dispute whenever you come to our shop.

So, please feel free to visit our branch soon. I will make sure one of our customer service officers stay alert to assist you anytime you visit our shop.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Pen

This post was last modified on 31st July 2021 1:44 pm

View Comments

  • Dear Sir or Madam,

    I am writing this letter in regards to your complaint letter that I received recently in which you made complaints about our shop, especially our delivery service. You mentioned that you did not receive the order yet that you placed a month ago. I sincerely apologise that you have not received the items as promised. As the manager of the main branch of our business, I will do everything possible to rectify that.

    I deeply regret that you did not receive your delivery yet. In fact, our delivery company, which is a partner company of ours, delivers all our order, had been overloaded by the millions of orders both from local and overseas customers. The unprecedented pandemic and the restrictions on movement and transportation made the situation worse. however, we have managed everything.

    We have already signed several business contracts with other delivery companies in our hometown and I am going to speed up all our pending deliveries, including yours, by putting them in front of the others. I can assure you that at the end of this week your items would be delivered to your doorstep. As an apology gift, we will attach a small gift item with your delivery.

    If you have any suggestions for improving our customer and shipment service, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

    With the apology for our poor service and with the best regards.

    Yours faithfully,

    Farkhad M.