The Complaint Letter: Deciding What Earns a Reply
You are a 68-year-old savings customer of a public sector bank. On 4 March, ₹18,500 was debited twice from your account for the same UPI transaction; you have the UTR and a screenshot showing both debits on the same date. You emailed the branch on 6 March and telephoned on 12 March, but received only an automated acknowledgement. Today is 20 March and the money is still not restored; a school fee payment is due on 25 March. Your grandson drafts a furious four-paragraph letter calling the staff 'careless and irresponsible' and threatening to 'go to the media'. You are asked to write a letter to the Branch Manager instead.
1. Which facts must appear in the letter, and which parts of the grandson's draft must be removed? Justify each choice by what it does to the reader.
Read the worked answer
Must appear (facts that make the letter verifiable and actionable):
- Account number and registered mobile/email - without them the letter is an anonymous complaint the branch cannot trace.
- The transaction identifiers: date 4 March, amount ₹18,500 debited twice, and the UTR - this is the single strongest element, because it converts an allegation into a record the bank can check.
- The trail of contact: email of 6 March, call of 12 March, no substantive reply - establishes that the grievance is unresolved at the branch, which is what later justifies escalation.
- The consequence and the deadline: ₹18,500 needed by 25 March for a school fee - gives the bank a reason to move and creates a reasonable time line.
Must be removed:
- 'Careless and irresponsible' - personal characterisation invites a defensive reply and shifts the file from 'fix the debit' to 'handle an aggrieved customer'.
- The media threat - a threat with no procedural standing; it reads as pressure rather than a remedy and can push the letter into a different, slower channel. The genuinely credible escalation is the RBI Integrated Ombudsman, and mentioning it once, at the end, as a next step rather than a threat is far more effective.
Principle: in a formal grievance letter, credibility comes from dates, amounts and reference numbers; adjectives add length and subtract weight.
2. Draft the opening paragraph and the closing 'action sought' paragraph of the letter.
Read the worked answer
Opening (states who, what, when, and the proof - no preamble):
'Subject: Duplicate debit of ₹18,500 on 04 March - UTR [insert UTR] - request for reversal
Respected Sir/Madam,
I hold savings account no. [XXXX] at your branch. On 4 March 2024, a UPI payment of ₹18,500 was debited twice from my account for a single transaction (UTR [insert], dated 4 March 2024). I have attached the passbook entry and a screenshot showing both debits on the same date. I wrote to the branch on 6 March and followed up by telephone on 12 March, but the duplicate amount has not yet been reversed.'
Closing (specific, dated, non-threatening, with the escalation named once):
'I therefore request that the duplicate debit of ₹18,500 be verified against the UTR cited above and reversed to my account on or before 25 March 2024, as the amount is required for a school fee payment due that day. I would be grateful for a written confirmation of the action taken. If the matter remains unresolved, I will be constrained to place it before the RBI Integrated Ombudsman, but I would much prefer to have it settled at the branch.'
Why this shape: the opening paragraph contains every fact a clerk needs to locate the entry in one reading; the closing asks for one specific act, by a stated date, confirmed in writing, and keeps the escalation available without spending it.