You have bought a new camera but when you got it home you found it had some problems. You returned the camera and spoke to the company representative a week ago but the camera has still 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,Dear Sir / Madam, My name is Mark Roberts and I am writing to you regarding a Nokia camera that I bought at your department store on Sunhill Road, Dewsbury, on 5 Septemberon the 5th September. The camera seemed to function properlywork fine in the shop. However, upon returning home, it became clear that the shutter mechanism was not functioning properly. In addition to this, there was a small scratch on the lens. I therefore returned to the shop the following day, on the 6th September, and spoke to a company representative about the issue. I left the camera with the assistant and they assured me that they would look into the problem with a view to repairing the camera and gettingget back to me a few days later. However, it has now been one week and when I contacted the shop again they said that the camera has still not been fixed and they do not know how long it will be. As I am sure you will understand, it is not acceptable to be waiting for such a long time for it to be repaired. I would therefore like to request that I be given a full refund should I not receive the repaired camera by the end of this week. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully, Mark RobertsYours faithfully Mark Roberts
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter is highly effective in its precise account of the purchase, defects, previous contact, and requested resolution, while maintaining an appropriately firm and courteous tone. Its main limitation is that the whole message forms one dense block despite the clear logical sequence. Dividing the account and requested action into purposeful paragraphs, while correcting the isolated parallel-structure slip, would make an already strong response more polished.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter fully addresses the purpose and all three bullet points with specific, relevant detail and a consistently appropriate formal tone.
Preserve this directness while making the requested deadline and consequence equally prominent in a distinct closing paragraph.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information progresses logically through the purchase, faults, attempted repair, delay, and requested remedy, with cohesive devices used naturally.
Separate the context, complaint history, and requested action into clear paragraphs so the reader can scan the letter more easily.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and precise, with effective formal choices such as "shutter mechanism," "functioning properly," and "full refund."
Continue refining collocations so every phrase is as economical and natural as the strongest wording in the letter.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is handled accurately, and the few slips do not impede meaning.
Correct the isolated parallelism in "with a view to repairing the camera and get back to me" by using matching grammatical forms.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have bought a new camera but when you got it home you found it had some problems. You returned the camera and spoke to the company representative a week ago but the camera has still 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.