Great Letters That Work Hunt

Claudie

I don't have a template to hand but in my experience, it is best to always address your letter to an individual (in a senior position within the company) and start by stating something positive ie that you are a long standing customer or why you used their firm etc. Then explain what happened, what your solution would be and when you expect this resolution.

I used to work as part of a small team of Executive Administrators (for the Customer Services Director of a large national retailer), we had huge number of complaint letters that were only that - complaints and 9 times out of 10 they received only an apology. When we were presented with expectations and deadlines we had to work to them and those customers usually received an apology too but we also used their request as a starting point towards discussing compensation, replacements etc.

And we did use our own templates too - had hundreds of mix and match standard paragraphs. I can still recognise them now!

WelshConsumer

How about this to remove the penalty fees on your bank account for going overdrawn.

To the Manager XYZ Bank.
Dear Sir, You have recently charged me £XXX pounds for becoming overdrawn. It is my personal belief that such a charge represents a penalty and does not represent a true pre-estimate of loss which any charges levied under a contract should be. I do not believe the penalty charges you have levied represent the cost to yourselves of the overdraft. I would therefore be grateful if you would review the account and remove the unfair penalty charge from it.

I trust you will agree with my analysis and that the charge will be removed. In the event that you disagree, I would however be extremely grateful if you would send me a copy of your complaints procedures so that I may pursue this further.
========================
The bank will instantly cave in as a "goodwill gesture". They will never challenge it in the small claims court.

There is various case law that suggests that charges need to represent a genuine pre-esimate of loss on the part of a party.

loopy_lass

i darent put the one ive seen around as its full of sarcasm & rude wit... funny but not appropriate for here... pm me if anyone wants it

loops

herebegb

Haven't got a draft of my letter, but I sent an email to the bus company operating in Bristol (via their website) yesterday as for the second time in 2 weeks a particular bus didn't turn up (unfortunately this is quite a common occurence...).

I asked what had happened to the bus and had a small rant about being late for work. I also stated that apart from using the buses I have no other means of getting to work (unless I wish to walk 8 miles a day) so they are effectively holding me to ransom.

Had a reply this morning apologising and they are sending me one week's free travel. A result of sorts but unfortunately the bus didn't turn up again this morning...

Gilly

amanda40

I had problems with a large moile phone supplier a few years ago. I had handed my phone back but kept being pursued for rental.. I was also due vouchers for recommending 15 colleagues for phones and was due £150 of vouchers for this. I phoned and phoned, wrote letters and got no where. One day when telling my work friends about it, one of the girls said she was on a business course years back with the guy who owned the company c***s G*****y. Of course the call centre would never put you higher than their boss. I eventually had enough and phoned and asked to speak to C**** G******, when they asked who was calling i said very poshley It is Mrs G******, they put me through to him straight away. He sounded suprised, so I told him I had to kid on I was his wife/mother to get to speak to him, he laughed and vouchers, bill etc was all sorted with in days :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

dccarm

I agree with Claudie, it is good to say something positive first. I like to say something like "I would hate ... blah de blah... to spoil what was otherwise an excellent service". Obviously this is only in appropriate circumstances where one thing another has annoyed you, not for persistent problems.

megsykins

Brief synopsis - I thought I'd lost my phone, a contract phone with a large phone company beginning with T. We reckon I must've dropped it outside my house (between the car and the front door) where it was picked up by a passer-by who then used to to make nearly £500 of international calls :mad: (I know, I should've blocked it straight away, but I thought it was down the sofa or in the car)

Anyway, it was in my mum's name, she sent this letter, and got the bill cancelled, and they also replaced the handset for free even though it wasn't insured (which was going to cost £100)

I am writing to complain about the phone bill I recently received from T (Copy enclosed).
On the 05/XX/04 our daughter Megsykins, who has use of this phone, informed us that the phone had been missing since the previous 29/XX/04, however at the time she thought she had mislaid it.
As a precaution I immediately blocked it, but didn’t disable the phone or handset as we still at the time thought it was probably mislaid.
I asked if the customer service advisor could tell me if the phone had been used since 29/XX/04, he said he couldn’t but to phone the following morning, which I did. (Both phone calls are highlighted on the enclosed printout of our landline calls obtained from XXX). On 06/XX/04 I informed customer service that the phone was believed to be lost and I needed to check usage over the last week. They informed me that it hadn’t been used since 29/XX/04 and that the total amount outstanding was around £40. This seemed to be about the amount I was expecting. I therefore assumed I was correct in thinking the phone was mislaid. I ordered another SIM so that my daughter could make and receive calls, (which she started to use on 17/XX/04) and I reported the loss to XXXXX Police as a loss, not a theft, on around 12/XX/04.
I was dismayed therefore, when on 03/XX/05, our daughter rang us to inform me that her phone had been blocked. I contacted your customer service dept who informed me of the amount on the bill (over £500). I immediately requested a printout of the bill (copy enclosed) and contacted XXXXX Police to report the phone as stolen. They have a copy of the printout to instigate their own investigation.
Calls made from 29/XX/04 through to 05/XX/04 were made by whoever stole the phone. A check of our past call history would show you that international calls are not made from this phone. Looking at the fraudulent calls that were made shows that 23 were made to one S Arabia number, 8 were to 2 Belgian numbers, and one to a taxi firm in XXXXX who keep call records on computer. I do not recognise the other XXXXX number, XXXXXX number or the mobile number used. These should be easily traceable by you and the Police.
The Police investigation has been hindered by the fact that:
-Your staff informed me on 06/XX/04 that no calls had been made since 29/XX/04.
-I was NOT informed on 05/XX/04 or 06/XX/04 that international calls may not show up straight away (as your advisor informed on 03/XX/05). I am amazed that you technology does not show calls made 6 days previously. If I had been informed of this fact I would have checked with you regularly during the following weeks.
-Due to your incorrect information the Police investigation was not commenced until a month after the calls were made. If they had been informed earlier, and had sight of the list of fraudulent phone calls, they would have had a better chance of tracking and apprehending the offender, and of us getting compensation.
-The Police have therefore been unable to deal with this as expediently as they might otherwise been able to.

I therefore dispute my liability to pay for the phone calls made between 29/XX/04 at 12 noon and 05/XX/04 inclusive, a total of £467.38p; excluding VAT.
Also why have 2 replacement SIM-cards been itemised on the phone-bill?, and only 1 received.

Yours sincerely
Megsykins' Mum

The police were very helpful and explained how what we should do to dispute the bill, as were the landline company (begin with N, ends in L) From other problems I've complained about, I've found mentioning that you've consulted a solicitor or the CAB, even if you havn't, often helps. As a Law student, mentioning this usually helps (my sister rang me for advice once and then claimed to a company that she'd 'consulted legal advice' :rotfl: ) Scaring them with Small Claims also works.

Undercovercarrot

Bit of a long one, but the result was a full refund and a grovelling apology!

Reference: Account Number XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dear Sir or Madam

I have been a customer with Sainsbury’s Bank for the last two years. Recently, I have had cause for concern regarding certain actions that have been carried out by you on my account.

In April, you were supposed to debit a sum of £***.12 from my account via Direct Debit. This sum was never taken by you, and as a result I had to contact you directly to inform you of your error. At this time (12th April,) I agreed to make a payment to you of the outstanding amount after I returned from holiday. I was told that this would be no problem, and I would not receive any charges as I had informed you of this matter, despite the fact that it remains an error on your part.

The day I returned from my holiday, I was contacted by your credit services department who demanded payment as my account was in arrears, because the April payment had not been made. I referred the caller to my conversation that I had on the 12th April and I agreed to make a payment of £*** within the next few days to cover both the April and May statements. I was told that this would be fine. I also checked, and was told that I would not incur any charges and that my Direct Debit from May would not be taken, as the payment had already been made. I was therefore surprised and dismayed to find that you have taken £***.61 from my account despite assurances that no such payment would be taken. This has resulted in my account becoming overdrawn (I have no overdraft facility) and that I now have insufficient funds to make further payments to other creditors that I have arrangements with, which I would otherwise have had funds for. I am also now incurring interest charges and bank charges on my overdraft facility which I would otherwise not have incurred. In addition, my credit rating is now being adversely affected. Finally, I have noticed that despite being told that I would not receive any charges, a total of £70.00 in fees have been levied against my account for late payment and overlimit charges.

Despite repeatedly trying to resolve this over the telephone today, I have had no success. I am extremely disappointed with the manner in which your company has acted over this issue. I expect a FULL refund of the Direct Debit funds into my account with immediate effect, preferably by electronic back-transfer. I will also be writing to you later to provide a full invoice for any bank charges and overdraft interest that I have incurred. Finally, I expect a refund of the £70.00 fees that you have levied against my account.

My confidence in your abilities to conduct yourself appropriately as a financial organisation has been severely dented. I expect the above measures to be implemented immediately or I will be making an official complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.

Yours Faithfully,
Undercovercarrot

beaker141

My old boss claimed to have sent this off once and got a few garments in return ! I thought it was pretty funny and can understand a letter like this getting a response in certain circumstances !!!

June 15, 2005

Ben Sherman T-Shirt Underwear : Quality Of ?

Dear Sir/Madam,

Picture the situation, I’ve been buying Ben Sherman shirts (m) for years, along the way I’ve acquired Sherman shoes (9s), trousers (32s), belt and jackets (l). In fact I considered naming my son “Ben Sherman”. But there always seemed to be a void in my life. One fine January sunny day on a trip out to Cheshire Oats Retail Park, I mused into the Ben Sherman retailers. Wow, I found the holy grail to fill the vacuum - Ben Sherman underwear ! On special offer at that. Well I “steamed in” and bought four Medium T-Shirts, 2 black, 1 grey, 1 white.
The white one was the first one on, great, a bit tight to go out in (as I’m heterosexual) but looks cool under an opened neutral coloured short sleeved Sherman. Hey, my girlfriend loved me in it around the house though – kinda tight ‘n’ huggy. Well along comes wash time, I’ll pop inta da black one, equally as cool, reggae-ska style mon.
Meanwhile the washing’s done and out comes a damp white Sherman T-shirt. Imagine my astonishment to see that the lower half of the ‘B’ and the ‘en’ had come off. OK, P Sherman, I thought and wore it for a coupla days. But it’s no longer the genuine article. I’ve never had this problem before with any Sherman gear. I’ve enclosed it for your inspection, please ignore any gladiatorial masculine odour. I didn’t want to return it to the retailers because it’s quite a distance and I’d tossed the receipt anyway.
Let’s wait for da black one to come outta da wash I thought. Mmm looks good, logo virginally intacticus this time. But it looks kinda not as good as new, unlike my regular Sherman shirts out of the wash. I’ve not tried the grey one yet for fear of being totally disillusioned.
Could you please restore my faith in the dearly departed Mr Ben Sherman brand, without advice on how to use washing appliance ‘stroke’ liquid. At least replace the white one.

Yours Sincerely,


PS: I’m not normally a retail “Mr Angry from Tunbridge Wells” type scavenger. This is my first time – be gentle.

Odd_Fellow

I got a BT bill today with a late payment charge of £5.00 on it as I paid my last bill late (doh!).

I have sent a cheque for the total minus the £5.00 in full and final settlement along with the following letter.

Wonder if it will work. I don't see why I should pay a charge that I was not properly informed would be levied....



Dear Sir or Madam,

Please find enclosed a cheque for £35.49 in full and final settlement of your bill dated 12th June 2005.

I am not paying the additional Late Payment charge of £5.00 that your company has seen fit to levy, nor shall I. I was not informed that this charge would be levied and on that basis you have no right to levy it.

To substantiate this, I site the note on the red reminder of 30th March 2005,

“You may incur a £5 late payment charge and/or a reconnection charge if you fail to pay this bill immediately”.

The ambiguity of this phraseology leaves your customers in considerable doubt about your intentions. If your customers are unclear as to whether BT will make a charge or not, it is grossly unfair to make such a charge as we are unable to make an informed decision on how to proceed.

I shall seek a legal standpoint on this should I need to.