You bought a TV a week ago but when you got home you discovered it did not work properly. You called customer service to report the problem but you have not yet received any help. Write a letter to the company and in your letter: - introduce yourself - explain the problem - state what action you would like from the company
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writingwriting this letter to report the faulty TV that I purchased from your company on Tuesday last week. My name is John Davidson and I am a regular customerone of your frequent customers. I live in Woodstock and have been using your services and buying your products for the last 11 years. On Tuesday, 12th June, I visited your store to purchase a TV. I bought a Toshiba LED TV with model number 40L675B40which has the code 40L675B40. On purchasing this TV, I was assured that this was the latest model and the best model availablethe best there was to buy. However, when I got home I discovered that not only did the remote controls not work but also the quality of the picture was not as good as promised, in fact it was quite blurry. I called your customer service department immediately on Tuesday and they assured me that my TV would be replaced or fixed within two days. I am disappointed to say that neither has happenedthis has not happened and I have received no communication since then. I am exceedingly displeased with both the quality of the product I purchased from your company as well as the poor service I have received since. I hope this problem will be resolved promptly. I expect to receive a replacement TV or have my current TV repaired but only if it can be repaired within one daybut only if it could be fixed within a day. I look forward to hearing from youhearing back from you immediately. Yours faithfully, Mr J H Davidson
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter is persuasive and thoroughly addresses the complaint, supported by specific purchase details, a clear account of the faults, and an explicit remedy. The main limitation is presentation as one uninterrupted paragraph, alongside a few awkward or redundant constructions; the highest-priority improvement is to divide the content into purposeful paragraphs and tighten sentences around the product fault and requested resolution.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The writer introduces himself, explains the product and service failures in detail, and clearly requests repair or replacement in an appropriately firm tone.
State one preferred remedy and a precise deadline so the company can act without ambiguity.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas follow a clear chronological and functional sequence, but the absence of paragraph breaks weakens the letter's organisation and readability.
Separate the introduction, fault description, customer-service history, and requested action into distinct paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is wide, precise, and suitably forceful for a formal complaint, with effective terms for the product faults and service failure.
Trim redundant emphasis and choose singular wording for the remote control to make the complaint more economical and exact.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response demonstrates varied complex structures with strong overall control, although a comma splice and a few awkward parallel or conditional forms remain.
Revise the sentence contrasting the two faults and use a present conditional form when setting the repair deadline.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You bought a TV a week ago but when you got home you discovered it did not work properly. You called customer service to report the problem but you have not yet received any help. Write a letter to the company and in your letter:
- introduce yourself
- explain the problem
- state what action you would like from the company
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.