Letter of complaint

If you have purchased goods that have gone wrong, or a service that has not gone to plan, we would advise you to make contact with the trader to talk to them. There are times where a trader may not be aware of the problem and an initial contact is all that is needed in order to sort everything out.

If, however, the trader does not respond to you - or their response is not what you where looking for - we would advise sending a letter, preferably with proof of delivery. You should keep a copy of this letter for your records. The letter should be done in a clear, polite and positive manner.

Background

The aim of this part of the letter is to provide all the background information of the situation, showing the trader why they are being contacted. You will need to provide some relevant information:

• What were the goods purchased?
• When were the goods purchased?
• Where were the goods purchased?
• How were the goods paid for?

If you have been provided with a reference number, this needs to be included too. It would be advisable to enclose copies of any receipts or invoices (never send the originals).

The problem

Now we need to make it clear to the trader what has gone wrong - what the problem is. This needs to be clear and informative - it may be easier to do it in a bullet point style, listing the problems. The following information needs to be included:

• Description of the problem
• When did the goods go wrong?
• How did the goods go wrong?

If you have been provided with proof of the problem, for example an independent report, it would be advisable to enclose a copy in your letter.

What do you want?

This part of the letter allows you to tell the trader what it is you want or need to resolve the problem you have experienced. You need to be reasonable in your request and to be able to justify why you are asking for it. It is important to realise the limits of the situation and the law.

If you are aware of your legal position under a piece of law it would be advisable to include this information to make the trader aware of their legal responsibility.

Time of the essence

To finish the letter off, you need to provide the trader with a deadline to respond to you. This deadline needs to be realistic and reasonable, taking into account where you are sending the letter to, weekends, and bank/public holidays. Often a reasonable time could be 14 days, but it does depend on the situation.

The UK European Consumer Centre has available a free newsletter, “UK ECC – your update”. The aim of the newsletter is to provide you, the consumer, with a flavour of what the UK ECC does, provide examples of cases we have been working on and, more importantly, provide you with the best advice on cross-border shopping.

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