How to complain about retail companies the RIGHT way?

If you’ve ever bought a product, it’s likely that you bought it from a retailer. From makeup kits to fridge freezers, retailers sell an enormous variety of products, with some of the bigger retail organizations offering nearly every product imaginable.

However, some retailers don’t always live up to expectations. Getting items home to find that they’re made of sub-standard materials, or dealing with customer service teams that lack basic manners can leave a sour taste in the mouth. Some customer journeys are so bad that you will have no option but to complain. So how do you go about launching an official complaint?

How to Write Retail Complaint?

  1. Firstly, always look to contact the company directly to seek a resolution to your issue. Many scenarios such as faulty products can be resolved through their in-house customer service representatives.
  2. If you feel that the issue cannot be resolved in this manner, then it’s time to draft and official complaint. Make a start by listing everything that has gone wrong with your purchase and/or experience. It’s important to do this as soon as possible so that you don’t forget any important details.
  3. Throughout your complaint letter, make sure to stay polite and professional. Writing a rude or unprofessional complaint will likely see it disregarded.
  4. Remember to include evidence and documentation with your letter. Invoices, delivery notes, and transcripts of conversations with employees will all help your case.
  5. Always include contact information within your complaint so that the retailer in question can get hold of you should they need more information to launch an internal investigation.

Last but not least, submit your complaint (for fee) on our website in order to get the attention your complaint deserves.

When Do You Have Grounds for a Retail Company Complaint?

There are a number of scenarios that may give you cause for complaint. Sub-standard products, dangerously faulty goods and unacceptable levels of customer service are just a few examples of when it might be appropriate to make a complaint.

Most reputable companies will be able to adequately resolve your issues once you alert them via their customer service departments. However, this isn’t always the case as some companies may choose to ignore you until you take further action.

Here are some examples of when you may have grounds to complain about a retail company:

  • Dangerously faulty goods
  • Products made of extremely poor quality
  • Rude or abusive staff members
  • Refusal to honor warranties or money-back guarantees
  • False advertising
  • Mis-selling
  • Health and safety hazards within a store

Why Should You Bother to Complain?

Complaining is an important weapon in the arsenal of a consumer who has been wronged by a company. It is also the most effective way to let a company know the errors of their ways. Issues raised to customer service representatives are rarely elevated to senior management without more formal action such as a letter of complaint.

Whether your complaint refers to a long list of mistakes and errors, or your received a product so faulty it was dangerous to your health, by making the company aware formally, you can start the process to more serious proceedings if you continued to be ignored.

What’s more, your complaint may raise issues that senior members of staff were unaware about, such as the returns policy of a specific store deviating from the national guidelines outlined on the organization’s website.

What Are the Possible Outcomes of Filing a Retail Company Complaint?

First and foremost, an ideal outcome from filing a complaint is a satisfactory resolution to your grievance. Depending on the nature of your case, this may be through the medium of a full refund, vouchers offering a discount off future purchases, or the free replacement of faulty goods.

In most instances you should receive an apology. Some companies will then go into detail about why the mistakes occurred and what they are going to do to rectify them. It could be that staff are going to be retrained, or in the cases of gross misconduct, fired. Either way, filing a complaint should speed up the resolution process.

Where Can You File a Complaint About a Retail Company?

Sometimes it can feel like your complaint has fallen on deaf ears, with a company becoming increasingly slow to react to your correspondence. We help to both increase the likelihood of a successfully upheld complaint and the speed at which you reach a satisfactory conclusion by gaining traction for your grievance.

By filing a complaint on our website, it is immediately posted to our thousands of users and appears online within search engine results and social media. Better still, we contact the company in question via email or social media to force them into action on your behalf.

So what are you waiting for? File your complaint using the button below and we will immediately get to work!

Current complaint sentiment: Neutral

Our sentiment meter has detected that Retail Company complaints over the past 28 days have remained within our normal fluctuation range, showing a change of -15%.

Updated on April 23, 2024

Retail Company complaints chart

In the graph below you will find a monthly breakdown of the complaints we have received in the category Retail Company over the last 12 months.

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