You rented a car from a car rental company. The air conditioner has stopped working. You phoned the company a week ago but it still has not been repaired. Write a letter to the company. In your letter: - Introduce yourself. - Explain the situation. - Say what action you would like the company to take.
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam,
My name is Khushbu Mehta, and I rented a car from your company on 24th July. Unfortunately, the vehicle has a significant problem and needs your attention to fix it.
Per the agreement, I rented it for a month and paid fifteen days’ rent upfront, and if there are any problems with the car, your company will take care of them as quickly as possible. But, it looks like your rental company is not following through with the agreement terms. To explain the situation, the car’s cooling system stopped working within two days of renting it. I immediately called your company to fix it and have also written the complaint; however, it has not been sorted out.
Please understand that I travel quite a lot in this scorching heat, and I do not see a chance that I can do it for another day without the AC. I would be grateful if you could repair the car’s air conditioning system within the next 24 hours or replace it with another one. Otherwise, I would have to register a complaint to the consumer rights authority.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours faithfully,
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use a formal transition Original: But Suggested revision: However Why it matters: "However" creates a smoother and more formal contrast with the preceding description of the agreement.
- 2. Use the natural phrase Original: agreement terms Suggested revision: terms of the agreement Why it matters: "Terms of the agreement" is the standard English collocation.
- 3. Clarify the time phrase Original: within two days of renting it Suggested revision: two days after I rented it Why it matters: The revised clause identifies the writer as the renter and expresses the sequence more directly.
- 4. Clarify the requested action Original: called your company to fix it Suggested revision: called your company to request a repair Why it matters: The original wording can imply that the writer called in order to perform the repair personally.
- 5. Use the correct construction Original: written the complaint Suggested revision: submitted a written complaint Why it matters: A complaint is normally "submitted" or "made," while "written" describes its form.
- 6. Correct the complaint phrase Original: register a complaint to Suggested revision: file a complaint with Why it matters: The standard collocation is to "file a complaint with" an authority.
- 7. Add the sender's name Original: Yours faithfully, Suggested revision: Khushbu Mehta Why it matters: A formal letter should include the sender's name after the closing.
- 8. Use formal date style Original: 24th Suggested revision: 24 Why it matters: The day-month format without an ordinal ending is concise and conventional in formal correspondence.
- 9. Avoid unnecessary repetition Original: your rental company Suggested revision: your company Why it matters: The recipient already knows it is a rental company, so the shorter reference is clear.
- 10. Use formal complaint language Original: it has not been sorted out Suggested revision: the issue remains unresolved Why it matters: The revised phrase is more precise and appropriately formal for a written complaint.
- 11. Make the deadline concise Original: within the next 24 hours Suggested revision: within 24 hours Why it matters: Removing "the next" keeps the deadline equally clear and more concise.
- 12. Name the alternative clearly Original: replace it with another one Suggested revision: provide a replacement vehicle Why it matters: The revision avoids vague pronouns and states the requested alternative precisely.
Suggested Rewrites
- But However
- agreement terms terms of the agreement
- within two days of renting it two days after I rented it
- called your company to fix it called your company to request a repair
- written the complaint submitted a written complaint
- register a complaint to file a complaint with
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter handles the complaint confidently, gives a clear account of the fault, and requests practical remedies in a suitably firm yet courteous tone. The main limitation is a small group of awkward collocations and sentence constructions, while the timing of the unresolved complaint could be stated more explicitly. Refine these phrases and confirm that a full week has passed since the call to make the response more precise.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is clear, all required points are developed, and the requested repair or replacement is appropriately specific.
State explicitly that the company was contacted a week ago so the delay in resolving the problem fully matches the prompt.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is arranged in purposeful paragraphs with clear progression from identification and background to complaint and requested action.
Tighten the second paragraph by separating the rental terms from the account of the air-conditioning failure.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and suitably formal, although phrases such as ‘written the complaint’ and ‘register a complaint to’ are imprecise.
Refine collocations by using forms such as ‘submitted a complaint’ and ‘file a complaint with the consumer authority’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex sentences is used with generally good control, but several clauses are awkwardly coordinated or framed.
Revise long sentences for cleaner clause relationships and replace awkward constructions such as ‘I do not see a chance that I can do it’.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You rented a car from a car rental company. The air conditioner has stopped working. You phoned the company a week ago but it still has not been repaired. Write a letter to the company. In your letter:
- Introduce yourself.
- Explain the situation.
- Say what action you would like the company to take.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.