TemplatesWrite

Reply to a complaint

Turn a customer's complaint and the facts on your file into a calm reply that acknowledges the concern, states only the facts on the record, says what will happen and when, makes no promise or admission beyond them, and waits for a person to approve it.

Sample results: runs and scores on this page are illustrations while testing is set up. How we test

Bring: The complaint, What the record shows, What will happen and when

Use This TemplatePrepare a prompt for your own AI chat.
  • Who it is for: Anyone who answers customer complaints, such as a customer service representative, a team lead, a claims or service coordinator, or an office manager at a small organization.
  • Time: 15 minutes
Open in the Editor
Other Formats and Files

The Step 1 chat prompt under Use This Template is the quick start. Choose a full prompt chain, checklist, Claude skill or n8n file when that destination fits your work. Checked Instructions, below, run the whole job with a hard check after every step.

Choose one format

  • Prompt chain

    Copy each step into ChatGPT or Claude, one after another.

Checked Instructions

The whole job as one set of instructions. Paste it into a new chat in your own AI tool: it works step by step, runs a hard check after each one, shows the evidence, and leaves the final call to you.

Read the Instructions
ROLE
You are a careful customer-service writer who states only what the record shows and promises only what the team has agreed. Work in one pass, show your working, and use only the material I give you. Never invent a fact or a number.

WHEN TO USE
A customer has written a complaint letter or email, I hold the file notes and the next steps my team has agreed, and I want a first draft of the reply that a person will check before it is sent. Not for a reply to a legal claim or a threat of one, or deciding who is at fault.

WHAT I GIVE YOU
COMPLAINT: the complaint as it arrived, with account, claim and card numbers left out.
RECORD: the facts from my file that I can prove, such as dates, call notes and case notes.
NEXT STEPS: the steps my team has agreed to take, with who does each one and by when.
SIGNATURE: the name, job title and way to reach me, as they should appear at the end.

HOW TO RUN
Do steps 1 to 3 in order. After each step, run its checks and print one line per check: Passed or Failed, with the evidence. If a check fails, repair only the failed part, rerun that check, and try at most 2 times; then write "Needs a person" and the reason, and carry on. Where a step says YOU DECIDE, show the evidence and stop; do not choose for me. Each step names the AI size that suits it (small, medium or large). If my tool lets me switch, I will. If not, do your best and tell me which steps I should read myself.

STEP 1: List what the customer says [small]
List each point in COMPLAINT, in order. One row for each. In Point, copy the words word for word, as short as you can. In Kind, write exactly one of: happened, wants, feels. Add no point COMPLAINT does not make. Table: # | Point (quote) | Kind.
Checks:
- Confirm each Point appears in COMPLAINT exactly as written. Show the row count. Fix: Replace any reworded point with the original words.
- Confirm each Kind is happened, wants or feels. Show the row count. Fix: Replace any other word.

STEP 2: Match each point to the record and to the agreed steps [medium]
For each row marked happened, write Result as exactly one of: confirmed, partly confirmed, not on record, and quote the words in RECORD that show it, or write None found. For each row marked wants, quote the step in NEXT STEPS that answers it with who and when, or write None agreed. Add no fact or step that RECORD and NEXT STEPS do not hold. Table: # | Point | Result | What the record shows (quote) | What will happen and when (quote).
Checks:
- Confirm each passage in What the record shows appears in RECORD exactly as written, apart from None found. Show the row count. Fix: Replace any reworded passage with the original words.
- Confirm each step in What will happen and when appears in NEXT STEPS exactly as written, apart from None agreed. Show the row count. Fix: Replace any reworded step with the original words.
- Confirm each Result is confirmed, partly confirmed or not on record. Show the row count. Fix: Replace any other word.

STEP 3: Write the reply [medium]
Write a short reply to the customer. Thank them, acknowledge how they feel in their own words, state the points marked confirmed and, for a point marked partly confirmed, say only what the record shows, say what will happen and when from the agreed steps, and sign off as SIGNATURE. Do not admit fault, give a cause, blame anyone, or promise anything outside the agreed steps. Do not say what a policy or contract covers, and give no legal, medical or financial advice. Keep the reply under 250 words, not counting the last line. Say plainly where a point is not on record. Answer every request, even if the answer is that nothing is agreed yet. End with exactly: Check this reply with your manager or your compliance team before you send it.
Checks:
- Confirm the reply ends with the line: Check this reply with your manager or your compliance team before you send it. Show the line. Fix: Add the line.
- List each number in the reply and the place in COMPLAINT, RECORD, NEXT STEPS or SIGNATURE it came from. Failed if one has no place. Fix: Remove the number, or copy it again from the source.
- Quote each fact stated in the reply and the passage from RECORD behind it. Failed if a fact has none. Fix: Remove the fact, or mark the point as not on record.
- Quote any phrase that admits fault, gives a cause, blames someone, says what a policy or contract covers, gives legal, medical or financial advice, or promises something not in NEXT STEPS. Failed if one is found. Fix: Remove the phrase or replace it with the agreed step.
- List each row marked wants and the sentence in the reply that answers it. Failed if one has none. Fix: Add an answer to that request.
- Ask me: Has a person who can speak for your organization read the reply, and approved it before it is sent?
YOU DECIDE: Whether the reply is sent, and in what words. Show the reply and the tables, then stop.

OUTPUT, IN THIS ORDER
1. "Result:" line with the number of points, how many are confirmed, partly confirmed and not on record, and requests with no agreed step, then on the next line exactly: This reply comes from the checks above. An AI tool can miss things, so read the flagged parts yourself.
2. "Reply": the draft reply, ending with the reminder line.
3. "What the customer says" table: # | Point (quote) | Kind.
4. "Record and agreed steps" table: # | Point | Result | What the record shows (quote) | What will happen and when (quote).
5. "Checks" table: Step | Check | Result | Evidence.
Keep the reply short. State no fact outside RECORD and promise nothing outside NEXT STEPS.

START
Ask me for anything missing from COMPLAINT, RECORD, NEXT STEPS and SIGNATURE, then begin.

Using a download:How to use this in n8nHow to install a Claude skill

Use This Template

Add your material below. Logic Lab prepares Step 1; you copy it into your own AI and check the answer there. The site does not run the workflow.

Example materialSample
Choose a sample
Choose a sample input

A short complaint with one fact, one request and one agreed step, all confirmed by the file.

Step 1 Chat Prompt

Review the exact prompt, then paste it into your own AI. For later steps, use the chat chain in Other Formats and Files.

You are an experienced customer service reviewer who reads a complaint closely before anyone replies.

Your task is to list each separate point the customer makes in the complaint below.

The complaint:
Hello, my card was charged twice for the pottery class on October 3. Please fix this. Thank you, Maya Chen.

Rules:
- A point is one thing the customer says happened, one thing they want, or one way they feel. Split a sentence that holds two points.
- Quote each point from the complaint word for word, as short as you can. Do not correct it and do not reword it.
- In the Kind column, write exactly one of: happened, wants, feels.
- One row for each point, in the order the complaint gives them. Do not add a point the customer did not make and do not guess what they mean.
- Do not leave out a point because it is hard to answer or because it is rude.

Return one markdown table and nothing else:
| # | What the customer says (quote) | Kind |
Copy and open ChatGPTCopies this result and opens a blank chat. Paste and review it there.

Before Step 2, check: Every point is quoted word for word from the complaint.

What This Sample Should Produce

A short reply that confirms the two 25 dollar charges on October 3, says the duplicate will be refunded to the original card within 5 business days, and promises nothing more.

A result guide for this invented input, not an AI reply.

Want to see where the materials, steps and checks fit? Watch this template being built.