# Do companies HAVE to reply to complaint letters?



## 0141607 (15 Oct 2008)

Hi guys

Can anybody tell me if there is anything to say that companies HAVE to reply to complaint letters? 

I emailed a cosmetic surgery company recently to complain about the service I received for tattoo removal over a 6 month period. 

I didn't even receive and acknowledgment within 10 days so I decided to write to them and enclose the original email.

 It has been another 10 days since I wrote the letter so it will be 3 weeks tomorrow.


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## Smashbox (15 Oct 2008)

From what I know, you do not have to reply to or even acknowledge a letter of complaint.

I work in the retail industry and I know my employer rarely if ever replies to complaints.


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## mf1 (15 Oct 2008)

No. 

It would be generally accepted that good customer service practice would be to deal promptly with any complaints. 

If a customer is not satisifed with a product or a service and cannot get any satisfaction from the supplier they are of course free to bring a legal action against the supplier. Just because  a customer is not happy with a product or a service, does not mean they have any cause of action in law. 

mf


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## Caveat (15 Oct 2008)

I doubt they are under any legal obligation - but no-one likes bad publicity.  If they claim to operate under any quality guidelines or are members of some relevant body these people might be interested to hear from you.

If your grievance is genuine and the above apply, I would phone the company in question and advise them that you have sent these letters and expected a reply and that your next step will be to contact - whoever - and see what they say.


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## Towger (15 Oct 2008)

It is always worth while setting the receipt flags when sending these emails. It improves your chance of getting a reply, such as this:

*From:* ***** **** [mailto:*******@xxxxxx.IE] 
*Sent:* 29 September 2008 10:10
*To:* **********@eircom.net
*Subject**:* Not read: Faulty lights on ******** Road

Your message was deleted without being read on Monday, September 29, 2008 10:10:28 AM (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time : Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London.

* used to protect the...


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## 0141607 (15 Oct 2008)

Thanks for all your help. I won't hold my breath!!!


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## Smashbox (15 Oct 2008)

OP, what about chasing it up with a phone call? Ask if you can speak to the most senior person, and politly enquire if they had recieved your two correspondences?


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## ubiquitous (15 Oct 2008)

Towger said:


> It is always worth while setting the receipt flags when sending these emails. It improves your chance of getting a reply, such as this:



I detest getting emails with these receipt flags. I feel that the people sending the email have no business controlling me to the extent of monitoring when I check my emails. In general the existence of a receipt flag will lessen the chances of me prioritising a quick response.


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## SlurrySlump (15 Oct 2008)

0141607 said:


> Hi guys
> 
> Can anybody tell me if there is anything to say that companies HAVE to reply to complaint letters?


 
I sent a letter of complaint to Ryanair 3 weeks ago. I received a standard email response thanking me for bringing this matter to their attention and that they are constantly trying to improve customer service...blah...blah..etc.
Except that they completely ignored the point I was making and didn't respond to a specific question I asked.

They might as well not have bothered replying. When I tried to reply back by email it bounced back to me.

It appears that you must write a letter of complaint to Ryanair but they respond by email with no right of reply.


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## Mr Tayto (15 Oct 2008)

> Do companies HAVE to reply to complaint letters?


I sent a complaint letter to a Renault Dealer about 2 years ago - their     Acknowledgement was to send it back to me


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## Smashbox (15 Oct 2008)

At least it was your own letter they sent back I guess!


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## ajapale (15 Oct 2008)

No, companies are not obliged to reply to or even acknoledge letters of complaint.

Many years ago I worked in the complaints department of a medium sized indigenous consumer goods company.

A good proportion of the letters were from genuine people who had recieved bad quality goods or service. 

Often the complaint was not articulated very well and it took several letters over and back to get to the root cause of the complaint. We took such complaints very seriously and our priority always was to first sort the customer and then sort out the problem with the product so that it wouldnt happen again.

A number of complaints were from semi professional spurious "claimers" looking for free product or discount coupons.

Some complaints were just eccentric for instance one person didnt like the accent of the actress who did the voice over on our radio ads!

Some were from lonely people who just wanted some tea and sympathy.

Many were long rants by clearly very distrubed people (the "green ink" brigade).

aj


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## mousey (16 Oct 2008)

In the process of complaining myself. I was advised by a friend that generally the first two letters would be ignored as they would hope the complainent would forget about their complaint. I sent my third letter last week and registered it. As with all the letters sent I enclosed a letter of the previous ones sent. One thing I would point out though is that you should give them a time frame to reply within. If your claim is valid then look at other routes you can go. Mind you People are telling me name and shame is the only way to go.


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## Towger (16 Oct 2008)

ubiquitous said:


> I detest getting emails with these receipt flags.


 
I only set the flags, as I had sent the same email a week before and got no reply, nor were the lights fixed. It was sent to the correct email address, as per the Co. Co's. website. Not ranting or raving, just informing them that five street lights were not working. It would not be beyond the bounds of politeness for them to reply stating that the lights would be added to their maintenance schedule and would be fixed in the next couple of weeks.


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## SlurrySlump (16 Oct 2008)

mousey said:


> In the process of complaining myself. I was advised by a friend that generally the first two letters would be ignored as they would hope the complainent would forget about their complaint. I sent my third letter last week and registered it. As with all the letters sent I enclosed a letter of the previous ones sent. One thing I would point out though is that you should give them a time frame to reply within. If your claim is valid then look at other routes you can go. Mind you People are telling me name and shame is the only way to go.


 
The worst company that I have ever dealt with was Mercer. It seems that if it is an Insurance or pensions related question they must reply within a month. I found that this company uses the full month before replying even to the simplest of questions. Generally they fudge their answer which requires another letter which again takes another month and so on and on.


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## AgathaC (18 Oct 2008)

One thing I would suggest when making a complaint is to be very factual in stating what the complaint is and how you feel the company should address it. I do not think that companies have to reply, however in the interest of good customer service, they absolutely should address complaints.
Best of luck and I hope that you get the matter sorted with the company in question.


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## Brooklyn (19 Oct 2008)

I once sent a letter of complaint to British Airways. I had been on a flight which was a BA/Aer Lingus codeshare but was entirely operated by BA (BA plane, BA flight attendants in BA uniforms). The flight was delayed and I missed my connecting flight and when I sought a meal voucher from BA they refused because they insisted Aer Lingus was responsible. (Aer Lingus said otherwise, but gave me the meal voucher anyway.)

BA's response to my letter of complaint was ... to pass it on to Aer Lingus for reply 

Needless to say they got another, much angrier letter from me after that!


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## ophelia (19 Oct 2008)

One would imagine, (particularly in a health care facility) that they would be obliged to have a Complaints Policy in place. I know the HSE ensure that each Nursing Home has a complaints policy in place, displayed on the wall and a copy of the complaints policy should be given to residents with the Contract of Care.


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