Formal complaint and request letters recycle a small set of ideas — a fault, a level of
dissatisfaction, a desired outcome. Vary the words for each and you demonstrate range on exactly the
sentences the examiner is reading most closely.
Concept
Formal synonyms / paraphrases
Example
faulty / broken
defective, substandard, not fit for purpose, has developed a fault
The item is not fit for purpose and has developed a fault since I purchased it.
disappointed / unhappy
dissatisfied, dismayed, disheartened, fell short of my expectations
I was dismayed to discover that the service fell well short of my expectations.
fix / repair
rectify, resolve, address the issue, remedy the situation
I trust you will be able to rectify this matter promptly.
refund / replacement
reimbursement, a full refund, a replacement of the same model, compensation
I would be grateful if you could arrange a full reimbursement.
ask for / request
request, would be grateful if, should be obliged if, wondered whether it might be possible to
I should be obliged if you would confirm a delivery date.
quickly / soon
at your earliest convenience, promptly, without further delay, within a reasonable timeframe
I would appreciate a response at your earliest convenience.
provide / give
supply, furnish (formal), make available
Could you supply a written explanation for the delay?
increase / go up
rise, has been raised, has gone up unexpectedly
I noticed that the monthly fee has risen without prior notice.
Collocation over single words
"Rectify" is not a synonym for "fix" in isolation — it's a synonym in the collocation rectify
the situation / rectify this matter. Learn the whole phrase from the Example column, not just
the headword, or the word will sit awkwardly in your sentence.
0:25 – 0:45
Guided practice — a formal complaint
Use at least four rows from the table above. Underline them in your draft before you submit, so you
can see your own range at a glance.
Task 1 — guided complaint
A parcel you ordered online arrived several weeks late and the packaging was damaged. Write a letter
to the company.
In your letter:
describe what you ordered and when
explain what went wrong with the delivery
say what you would like the company to do
You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter Dear Sir or Madam. Write at least 150 words.
Your complaint letter
Target: 150+ words · 20 min
Words: 0Not saved yet
20:00
Complaint — 20 min
0:45 – 1:05
The revise-and-resubmit routine
This is the core skill of the whole workshop. AI feedback only raises your band if you act on
it — reading a score and moving on teaches you nothing the second time. Do this now, on the
complaint letter you just wrote:
Read all four criterion bands — Task Achievement, Coherence & Cohesion,
Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range & Accuracy — and find the lowest one.
Read only that criterion's comment. Ignore the others for now — fixing four things
at once produces a worse letter, not a better one.
Make exactly two concrete edits that target that comment. If Lexical Resource is
lowest, swap two repeated words for table synonyms. If Coherence is lowest, add or fix two linking
words. If Grammatical Range is lowest, combine two short sentences into one with a relative clause or
a conditional.
Edit the same draft in the box above — do not start a new one. You are testing
whether a small, targeted change moves the band, which only works if everything else stays constant.
Click Get AI Evaluation again. Compare the new bands to the old ones, criterion by
criterion.
What this is not
Not: rewriting the whole letter from scratch. Not: chasing a single high number. Not: trusting the AI
band as an official result — it's an indicative practice estimate. It is: a fast, repeatable
way to find out whether a specific change you made actually helped, which is exactly the information
a single mark, with no resubmission, can never give you.
Log your revision
Fill this in for the complaint letter above.
Lowest criterion first time:
Two edits made:
Band on that criterion, before → after:
1:05 – 1:30
Independent practice — a formal request, then revise
Write, submit, then run the full revise-and-resubmit routine again on this letter without being told
to — that repetition is what turns it into a habit.
Task 1 — independent request
You would like a refund for a course you were unable to attend due to illness. Write a letter to the
institute.
In your letter:
explain which course you had booked
explain why you were unable to attend
say what you would like the institute to do
You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter Dear Sir or Madam. Write at least 150 words.
Your request letter
Target: 150+ words · 20 min
Words: 0Not saved yet
20:00
Request — 20 min
Wrap-up
You now have a working revision loop and eight new formal collocations. Session 3 moves to semi-formal
letters, where the vocabulary work shifts from "which word" to "how direct is too direct."