Friday, July 13, 2007

How to write a complaint letter

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to write an effective complaint letter in your organisation.

1) Direct the letter to the Head/Chief Minister/Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director or equivalent and preferably hundreds more (his assistants, those below him, staff, colleagues, etc) so that everyone can read it and share. It is much better if this complaint is sent via email so that the content can be easily spread through the intranet and internet.

2) Don't forget to start off with a bold subject line and give the appropriate greeting - Sir/Mdm, etc. For example:
Subject: A complaint about the quality control of SAF officers
Dear Sirs and all,
3) Follow up with a brief description of your role in the organisation.

4) Then write an extensive report of your complain, preferably at least 10 paragraphs long. Remember to make it as detailed as possible.

5) After the report, write your editorial or analysis. This is where you make your feelings known if you feel you're being mistreated or an action taken isn't fair, why should the organisation take your complaint seriously, etc. Make sure this is around 10 paragraphs long too. The longer, the more impact ya.

6) And to end it all do provide a summary and sign off with your name and position. For example:
While I may only be a 2nd lieutenant, I am a citizen of this country. And as a citizen I have the right to demand high standards from the leaders of the SAF While it is true that high standards are hard to come by and even harder to enforce, for such events to come to light and yet nothing be done about it is to say the very least, unacceptable and disappointing.

Yours Sincerely,
2LT Li Hongyi
That's it. Oh I forgot to add that it helps if your father happens to be the Prime Minister of your country, your mum runs the country's investment arm and your grandad is the most powerful person to have ever lived in the country.

For a great example of a complaint letter (written by Li Hongyi -yup, he's the PM's son), click here.

Good luck.

Update:
If you are too lazy to write one yourself, here's the automatic complaint letter generator. (Thanks Pete)

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Too bad liao my father only drive taxi.

Anonymous said...

he can do it coz father is pm. all of us small fry.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if I would be happy or scared if he becomes our PM one day.

Anonymous said...

what a classic letter!

Anonymous said...

hahaha!!!

thanks for the tip.

Anonymous said...

I not happy with my lift. I think I go complain to President.

Anonymous said...

Does that make him the most powerful 20 year old in Singapore?

Anonymous said...

funny post

Anonymous said...

So in all, more than 20 paragraphs for a complain letter... die lah. i write two paragraphs already suffer.

Anonymous said...

Go Hongyi!

Go Hongyi!

Go Hongyi!

Go Hongyi!

Go Hongyi!

Go Hongyi!

Go Hongyi!

Go Hongyi!

Anonymous said...

I wonder what his daddy has to say to him.

Ground him?

Spank him?

Cut his allowances?

Anonymous said...

SAF sucks! About time someone show to the rest of Singaporeans how bad our army is.

Anonymous said...

Don't we all wish our father is the PM?

Sigh...

Makes a lot of things easier.

Anonymous said...

the best HOWTO ever!

Anonymous said...

Be bold when writing a complaint letter, as long as you send it to the guy whose boss is your papa.

Anonymous said...

The boy is brave enough to do it because his dad is the prime minister. But he could have done it in a better way instead of mass emailing his complaint.

Anonymous said...

Thanks IZ. I think I need to shoot one to my MD soon. Work's killing me!

Glacier Topaz said...

Brave boy but not very smart aye. His dad is already the boss so just complaint and bitch to him over dinner lah. Now I'm interested in his punishment. Is he gonna create a S'pore version of the Paris Hilton controversy?

Anonymous said...

Haha!

Great post man.

Anonymous said...

spank him

Anonymous said...

He must have had too much time on his hands to write such a fucking long letter.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if he actually told his daddy before sending out the email.

Anonymous said...

Wow Lau! Lee Empire you win again!!Better then any NUS OR NTU Complain letters!!

Anonymous said...

singapore needs more freedom of speech!! All big bossess watch out.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Thank you for your wonderful blog. I found your site as I was looking for complaint letter samples. I have also found an excellent source of consumer complaints and actual complaint letter to companies.

Regards,
Mike P.

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