Complaint About Invalid Train Tickets and Unhelpful Staff

You recently bought some train tickets for a journey a week in advance. When you went to the station to catch the train, you were told you could not use the tickets and the staff were very unhelpful to you. Write a letter to the train company. In your letter: Describe the problem you had with the tickets Say why you were unhappy with the staff Suggest what action the train company should take

Annotated response

8 correction notes

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to formally complain about an issue I faced while attempting to travel with your company a week ago. I hope you will take the necessary actions to address the issue and it does not happen in the future.

5th February, I purchased three train tickets online for a journey from Manchester to London on 11th February. However, upon arriving at the station with my parents, I was informed that our tickets were invalid, despite at the time of purchase. The explanation from your staff was vague and I was not given a clear reason why our tickets were not valid for the

What disappointed me even more was the unhelpful attitude of the staff. Instead of assisting me in resolving the issue, they simply stated that I could not board the train and made no effort to explain the reason . Their dismissive behaviour left me and my parents feeling frustrated and stranded, especially as we had important commitments in London that day.

Given this inconvenience, I kindly request a full refund for our unusable tickets and . Additionally, I urge you to provide better staff training to ensure passengers receive appropriate support in such situations.

I look forward to your prompt response.

Yours faithfully,

Eva Watson

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 7.5

The letter's strongest aspect is its full, well-organized coverage of all three bullet points in an appropriately formal tone with clear detail. The main limitation is language that is sometimes formulaic and slightly overwrought, which keeps it below fully natural, flexible expression.

IELTS criteria

How each score was decided

Task Achievement

8.0

The letter directly and fully addresses all three bullet points with specific invented detail such as dates, route, and number of tickets, and maintains a consistently formal register suited to a company complaint.

Coherence and Cohesion

7.5

Ideas are logically sequenced with clear paragraphing and cohesive devices like 'In relation to' and 'Given this inconvenience', though some linking is slightly mechanical or formulaic.

Lexical Resource

7.0

Vocabulary is flexible and mostly precise for the communicative task, with phrases like 'dismissive behaviour' and 'unusable tickets', but some wording is somewhat overwrought or conventional.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

7.0

A wide range of structures is used with generally good control, including relative and conditional clauses, with only minor errors or awkward phrasings that do not impede meaning.