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, I am James Smith, a resident of Aurora, Illinois, have recently ordered a smartphone - Samsung Galaxy Note Edge, from your online shop. Unfortunately, when I opened the packagewhen I unwrapped the phone, I found that the phone'sphone screen was broken and the stylus was missing. I am writing to notify you of the problem and to request a replacementand to replace my product with a fresh one. I placed the order on 1515th July 2025 onlinefrom my home and my invoice number is SAI-25478ASNE. I used my VisaVISA credit card to pay for the order. I was looking forward to receiving the phone and starting to use itreceiving the phone and start using it but when the phone arrived two days laterwhen the phone finally arrived two days later, it was not in acceptable conditionnot in the condition it should have been. The main screen was smashed, and I could not find the stylus in the box. This is quite unexpected and, as a regular customer,unexpected and as a regular customer, I am disappointed with your service. Please inform me how I can replace the phonehow can I replace the phone, as the warranty covers it, and get a newfresh one as early as possible? Should I visit one of your retail shops? Thank you in advanceThanks in advance for your cooperation and I would like you to take the necessary measuresmeasure so that this does not happen againso that it does not repeat in the future. Yours faithfully, James Smith
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter addresses every requested point with specific order details, a clear account of the damage, and an appropriately formal request for replacement. Its main limitation is recurring grammatical and collocational awkwardness, especially in complex sentences and indirect questions, although meaning remains clear throughout. The highest-priority improvement is to revise sentence structures and request language so the complaint sounds consistently natural and precise.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is immediately clear, all three bullet points are fully covered, and the formal tone is appropriate.
Make the requested remedy even more decisive by stating whether a replacement, refund, or another resolution is preferred.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses logically from the order and damage to the requested action, with generally effective linking.
Separate the order details, problem, and requested resolution into distinct paragraphs to sharpen the letter's structure.
Lexical Resource
A sufficiently varied vocabulary conveys the complaint precisely, including relevant terms such as invoice, smashed, warranty, and retail shops.
Replace awkward collocations such as fresh one and take the necessary measure with more natural customer-service wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses a range of simple and complex structures, but several errors in clause construction, verb forms, and question order reduce control.
Practise accurate complex sentences and indirect-question word order, such as Please inform me how I can replace the phone.
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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.