You recently ordered a small item online but when it arrived, it was damaged. Write a letter to the company that sold you the item. In your letter: - give details about the order you made - explain what was wrong with the item - tell the company what you want them to do about it
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, Five days ago I ordered a pair of headphonesa headphone from your online store. I was excited when it arrived yesterday, butyesterday but very frustrated to find that the product was damaged. I am not sure if it got damaged during the shipment or was a manufacturing flaw. In either case, I am hoping you will replace it with a new pairfresh one. Regarding the orderIn relation to the specifics of the order, I purchased this 'Sony MDR-V6 Over the Ear Headphones - Black' through your website called Computer Gadgets on August 1818th using my PayPal account. The order number is 5487214 and I am attaching a copy of my receipt. The issue with the headphonesheadphone is that one swivel earair cup iswas missing, and the play/pause button does not work. I am unable to use it. I believeI’m sure this is either a manufacturing flaw or the product got damaged during shippingwhile shipment. Therefore,As a solution, and because I really like the model and features of the headphonesmodel and functionality of the headphone, I am hoping that you will agree to send me a replacement pair at no additional costanother one for free. Otherwise, I would like a full refund and I will be contacting PayPal's complaints departmentPayPal complaints if I do not hear back from you regarding this matterin regards to this within a week. Thank you for your attention to this mattergiving the matter your attention and I hope to receivehear your reply soon. Yours faithfully, Jenny Sahara
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter clearly identifies the order, documents two specific defects, supplies useful purchase details, and requests either a replacement or refund in an appropriately formal tone. Its main weakness is presentation and language precision: the complaint repeats the possible cause, remains one dense block, and uses awkward phrases such as "a headphone," "fresh one," and "while shipment"; prioritise concise paragraphing and standard customer-service terminology.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully developed with precise order information, clear defects, supporting documentation, and a definite replacement-or-refund request.
Keep the complete evidence but state the preferred remedy once, then give the refund alternative and response deadline concisely.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter follows a sensible order-details-defects-remedy sequence, but it is presented as one block and repeats speculation about the cause of damage.
Use separate paragraphs for purchase details, faults, and requested action, deleting the repeated manufacturing-or-shipping explanation.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary covers ordering, defects, replacement, and refunds effectively, though several noun choices and collocations are unnatural.
Use standard expressions such as "a pair of headphones," "a replacement," "damaged in transit," and "open a PayPal dispute."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A useful range of structures communicates the complaint clearly, but parallelism, prepositions, articles, and punctuation are not consistently controlled.
Revise forms such as "either damaged in transit or affected by a manufacturing defect" and proofread long request sentences for clean coordination.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently ordered a small item online but when it arrived, it was damaged. Write a letter to the company that sold you the item. In your letter:
- give details about the order you made
- explain what was wrong with the item
- tell the company what you want them to do about it
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.