You have bought a new mobile phone and in a few days of purchase, it has stopped working. You spoke to the company representative a week ago but it 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,
I am David Fisher, writing to express my concern about a recent purchase I made from your company. Even after contacting your company a week ago, I am yet to receive a solutionget any solution. I hopeI am hoping that you will take the necessary action to resolve the issue.
On 12th November, I purchased a new Samsung Galaxy mobile phone from your Brownshire Road storeyour Brownshire Road. The purchase invoice numberThe invoice number of the purchase is BR#0040124. While I was initially very pleased with the phone, unfortunately, it malfunctioned just a few days later. The phone now refuses to turn on, and even if it does sometimes, the touch screen remains unresponsive. This is particularly inconvenient as I rely heavily on my mobile phone for both personal and professional communication.
Following the initial malfunction, I contacted your customer service department on 20th November and spoke with a representative named Carter. I was informed that the repair process could take up to a week. Unfortunately, a week has now passed since I contacted your customer service team, and I have not received any updates on the status of the repair.repair!
Given the significant inconvenience caused by this malfunction, I would like to request a prompt resolution. Ideally, I would appreciate it if you could issue a replacement phone of the same model or refund the full amount plus compensation for the delay in a week. Otherwise, I will contact the Consumer Rights Protection Service and lodge a formal complaint.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. I look forward to your prompt response and a satisfactory resolution.
Yours faithfully,
David Fisher
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter communicates its purpose immediately, covers every requested point with specific purchase and repair details, and maintains a suitably formal register. Its main weakness is a small number of awkward expressions, especially in the requested remedy, so the highest-priority improvement is to make collocations and time references more natural and precise while retaining the strong detail and organisation.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is clear, all three bullet points are fully covered, and the requested action is developed in an appropriately formal tone.
State the compensation request more precisely so the desired remedy sounds fully reasonable and unambiguous.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses logically through the purchase, malfunction, previous contact, and requested resolution, with effective paragraphing and referencing.
Streamline the opening slightly to avoid repeating the fact that the company was contacted a week earlier.
Lexical Resource
A flexible and generally precise formal vocabulary supports detailed explanation, although a few collocations such as 'get any solution' are awkward.
Use more natural service-related phrases, such as 'receive a resolution' and 'compensation for the week-long delay.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is handled accurately, with only occasional awkward word order or phrasing that does not impede meaning.
Refine clauses such as 'even if it does sometimes' to achieve consistently natural sentence structure.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have bought a new mobile phone and in a few days of purchase, it has stopped working. You spoke to the company representative a week ago but it 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.