Help with a complaint letter please

keatergreyhound

Sorry but I havent a clue which board this belongs on. Im trying to write a complaint letter to Tescos. Im hoping the part of the letter that I have written so far explains why. I just dont know how to finish the letter to them or if they think in writing im strange!
This is what ive got so far
Dear Sir,
I am writing to you as a loyal Tescos customer to express my dissatisfaction with a piece of your Organic half leg of lamb, with a pack cost of £11.26p that was intended for my families Christmas dinner.
The pack was brought from your Leicester store on 23rd December and was refrigerated as soon as we got home.
At around 10am on Christmas morning I got the lamb out of the fridge intending to cook it only to discover it to smell beyond what you can imagine and its appearance to be a green/brown colour.
Clearly I could not serve this to my child and the adults that we had for dinner.
Thats what ive got so far!
As bad as this sounds I hadbt any more meat to cook as weve just moved house and ran my freezer down for that nor really can I afford to stock it up. I ended up in tears hubby trying to console me and with sausage for Xmas dinner.
I really do feel that I brought the meat in that way from the shop, I cannot tell you how bad the smell was
Can nayone please help me with what else to write
I dont even like sausage at the best of time. Im so mad at Tescos. You can imagine how I felt giving my parents sausages
Thansk in advance for any help

Pink.

Hi keatergreyhound,

You might get more help with this on the Consumer Vent board so if you're thread drops down the Old Style board I'll move it over there for you.

In the meantime this older thread might help: Great Letters That Work Hunt

Good luck with it.

Pink

janb5

This is what ive got so far
Dear Sir,
I am writing to you as a loyal Tescos customer to express my dissatisfaction with a piece of your Organic half leg of lamb, with a pack cost of £11.26p that was intended for my family Christmas dinner.
The pack was brought from your Leicester store on 23rd December and was refrigerated as soon as we got home.
At around 10am on Christmas morning I got the lamb out of the fridge intending to cook it only to discover it to smell beyond what you can imagine and its appearance to be a green/brown colour.
Clearly I could not serve this to my child and the adults that we had for dinner.

As you can imagine this meal had taken months of careful planning and I had intended it to be a family celebration for us all with a `meal to remember` As it was I was forced to offer a poorer alternative which was extremely disappointing to my family and myself.

I have been a loyal customer at Tesco for several years but this event has severely dented my confidence with the store and has compromised my high standards and expectations of quality.

I hope that mamagement will contact me in the next few days to discuss this matter further...............


I hope this helps Jan
Thats what ive got so far!
As bad as this sounds I hadbt any more meat to cook as weve just moved house and ran my freezer down for that nor really can I afford to stock it up. I ended up in tears hubby trying to console me and with sausage for Xmas dinner.
I really do feel that I brought the meat in that way from the shop, I cannot tell you how bad the smell was
Can nayone please help me with what else to write
I dont even like sausage at the best of time. Im so mad at Tescos. You can imagine how I felt giving my parents sausages
Thansk in advance for any help[/QUOTE]

dannahaz

Hi Keatergreyhound

What a terrible shame! I'm really sorry to hear about your experience.

Have you thought about what you want recompense you want from Tesco? It may help with your letter writing, as you can tell them what you want them to do about it. Even if you don't want to include it in your letter, you should have somrthing in mind so tat when you speak to them, you are well prepared.

I'm not sure what would be a realistic and appropriate level of compensation. Clearly, having your money back is not enough.

What do others think would be a sensible expectation?

Mics_chick

Here's the things I can think of...

1) What was the sell by/use by date on the packaging? I would definitely mention this in your letter.

2) What did you do with the meat? Is it possible to take a photo of it (even if you have to fish it out of the bin) it's a valuable bit of 'evidence' to back up your complaint.

3) Mention how bad it was for you - that you were reduced to tears and the fact that you don't normally eat sausages but had no other choice because of moving house.

4) When it comes to compo - I would ask for enough money to pay for everyone who was present to go out for a replacement slap-up meal.

5) Do your parents/other guests shop at Tesco? If they could also write a letter to include with yours - not in as much detail but how it spoilt their day and knocked their confidence in Tesco. If Tesco thinks they are putting off 2 or more households it would have more weight to your case I think.

HTH
Mics_chick

keatergreyhound

Hiya
An update theyve sent me a £15 gift voucher
Not quite what I was expecting but then again I didnt know what to expect.
I dont mean to sound money grabbing here but its not a lot really. Just enough to cover the cost of the meat and recorded post fr the letter and the sausage
Do you think I should write back telling them how I find this a bit insulating. If so how should I put that but sounding nicely in my letter

wanting2save

keatergreyhound wrote:

Hiya
An update theyve sent me a £15 gift voucher
Not quite what I was expecting but then again I didnt know what to expect.
I dont mean to sound money grabbing here but its not a lot really. Just enough to cover the cost of the meat and recorded post fr the letter and the sausage
Do you think I should write back telling them how I find this a bit insulating. If so how should I put that but sounding nicely in my letter

I would always e-mail them rather than write as results can be quicker and you save the cost of a stamp but still have the proof that you have sent it if it needs chasing up. £15 does seem a bit stingy..... perhaps you could write /email again saying that you are very dissapointed that this sum of money purely covers costs and does not in any way compensate you for your 'ruined xmas dinner/day' or improve the faith you have in tescos as a whole?

HTH

Wanting2save
x

P.s There is also a thread on the freebies board all about complaint letter successes..... sorry cant do links!!

PONDSAVER_2

You did better than me I wrote to them complainig about some steak and got a letter back asking for the packaging that I had obviously thrown away!!!

Mics_chick

If you want to complain again then say that you do not accept the voucher and would like something that would actually COMPENSATE you for your ruined Xmas... If you use the voucher then you're implying that you are accepting it as compo...

dannahaz

Although it's slower, I think that writing a letter is more likely to get a good response than an email.

The reason for this is that writing a letter takes more effort. You have to write it, find the address, get an envelope, get a stamp, get to a post box... so it shows that you are more serious than just banging off an email.

Politeness is also key to getting what you want.

Hmm. You probably want to say something along the lines of

Dear xxx

Thank you for your letter and gift voucher in response to my complaint dated xxxx (copy enclosed for your information).

Whilst I appreciate the £15 voucher, it really only covers the cost of the meat and the cost of my returning it to you. It does not compensate me for my family's ruined Christmas lunch, and I had expected better from a Company whose stated core values are 'no-one tries harder for customers' and 'treat people how we like to be treated'

Now, I'm not sure how to finish this...whether to put in a figure and see what happens, or to pass it over to them and see what they come up with.

Option 1 - name a figure
I would like to be able to redo Christmas lunch for my family of X ( insert number here) , and I estimate this will cost me around £x. I suggest this figure would be a more appropriate level of compensation.

I thank you in anticipation, and look forward to hearing from you

(When thinking about the cost of this, don't go mad but do think about your starter, main course, dessert, wine, cheese. And don't forget that whatever they send you in vouchers, it costs them less than the face value, IYKWIM, and so your ogure should be uplifted to reflect this.

Option 2 - over to them
I would like to be able to redo Christmas lunch for my family of X, and I believe that compensation to cover the cost of this would be fair.

I thank you in anticipation, and look forward to hearing from you.


Hope that helps

CFC

Totally agree with Dannhaz - be very polite and clear about what you want from them.