Letter of complaint about a faulty appliance
An IELTS General Training Writing Task 1 complaint letter with a band 9 model answer, covering register, the three bullet points, and the openings and sign-offs that must match.
Write your answer
Do this before you scroll. The model answer below will make sense as a comparison and not much use as a template.
Task 1 General Training · 20 minutes · at least 150 words
You recently bought a household appliance which stopped working within a few weeks. You returned it to the shop but the problem has not been resolved. Write a letter to the manager of the shop.
- explain what you bought and what went wrong
- describe what happened when you returned it
- say what you want the shop to do
Spell check is turned off deliberately, because it is off in the real test. Your essay stays in this browser and is never uploaded.
How to plan this one
- 1Count the bullets and count your paragraphs. Three bullets means at least three body paragraphs, and a bullet you covered in half a sentence has not been covered.
- 2Decide the register first. You do not know the manager, so this is formal: no contractions, no slang, and "Dear Sir or Madam" paired with "Yours faithfully".
- 3Match the opening to the sign-off. "Dear Sir or Madam" takes "Yours faithfully"; a named recipient takes "Yours sincerely". Mismatching them is an easy mark to lose.
- 4Be firm without being rude. A complaint that sounds angry reads as poor register control, which is marked, whereas a complaint that states facts and names a remedy reads as competent.
- 5State exactly what you want. Letters that complain without requesting anything fail the third bullet.
Model answer
Written at the top of the band. Read it for the moves it makes, not the opinions it holds: a memorised essay on this topic will not fit the prompt you actually get.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to raise a complaint regarding a washing machine purchased from your Gulberg branch on 4 August, and to request a resolution after two unsuccessful visits to the shop.
The appliance, a Haier front loading model, functioned normally for around three weeks. It then began to stop mid cycle and display an error code, leaving the drum locked and full of water. This has now happened on every attempt to use it, and the machine has been unusable since 2 September.
I returned to the branch on 5 September with the receipt and the warranty card. The assistant on duty informed me that the matter would be referred to a technician and that I would be contacted within three working days. No contact was made. When I visited again on 11 September, I was told that no record of my first visit existed and that I would need to begin the process once more.
As the fault appeared well within the warranty period, I would ask that the machine be replaced rather than repaired, given that it has already failed once. If a replacement is not possible, I would accept a full refund. I would be grateful for a written response within seven days, after which I would have no option but to refer the matter to the consumer court.
I enclose copies of the receipt and warranty card for your reference.
Yours faithfully,
Imran Sheikh
Why it scores, criterion by criterion
Task Achievement
All three bullets are covered in their own paragraphs and all three are developed with specifics: a named model, dates, an error behaviour, what each staff member said. The third bullet is answered with a clear request and a stated fallback, which is what "say what you want" requires.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter follows the sequence of events, which gives it a natural order the reader can follow without signposting. Each paragraph has one function: purpose, the fault, the two visits, the remedy. The enclosure line is correctly placed on its own before the sign-off.
Lexical Resource
Register is consistently formal with no contractions: "I am writing to raise a complaint", "I would be grateful", "I would have no option but to". Vocabulary is precise and functional rather than showy, which is correct for a letter; "resolution", "warranty period" and "consumer court" all fit their context.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The polite conditional carries the requests ("I would ask that the machine be replaced" uses the subjunctive correctly). Present perfect marks the ongoing situation, past simple the completed visits, and the final conditional applies pressure without discourtesy.
Language worth stealing
Each of these carries a trap as well as a use, so the note matters as much as the phrase.
- I am writing to raise a complaint regarding ...
- States purpose in the first line, which every formal letter should. "I am writing to complain about" is also fine, if slightly blunter.
- I would ask that the machine be replaced
- Subjunctive after "ask that": the verb is bare, not "is replaced". A correct one here is a genuine range marker.
- I would be grateful for a written response within seven days
- Sets a deadline politely. A complaint with no deadline invites another delay.
- Yours faithfully
- Pairs with "Dear Sir or Madam" only. If you name the recipient, it must become "Yours sincerely".
Last updated 13 September 2026.