Complain about a faulty product or poor service, with AI drafting and you checking your rights

Use it when something you bought is faulty, a service was poor, or a flight was cancelled, and you want it put right.

Not when you need a general letter or a bill checked: see Personal admin with AI. For terms before you sign: Read a contract, lease or terms with AI.

You need your receipt, photos, messages with the company, and a chat assistant. Keep order numbers, card details and addresses out of the chat, or use placeholders: What not to paste. The steps and times are our suggestion.

Why you check the law yourself

Assistants can get consumer rights wrong: in a 2025 Which? test, "Copilot misleadingly said that you're always entitled to a full refund, which isn't the case" (Which?, 18 Nov 2025, consumer group test). The same test on tax questions: Taxes with AI.

Steps

Where to find your rights

Checked 2026-10-11. Rules change; open each page yourself.

United States

• The letter. The FTC says: "Tell the business what you want, like a refund, repair, exchange, or store credit" and "Say how long you'll wait for the business to answer you." (FTC sample letter).
• Paid by credit card. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, you can dispute charges for things "you didn't accept or weren't delivered as agreed". "Send your letter so that it reaches the issuer within 60 days after the first bill with the error was sent to you." Quality disputes have extra conditions, including "You must have tried to resolve the dispute with the seller first" (FTC).
• Flights. Under a 2024 DOT rule, you get a refund if your flight is "canceled or significantly changed" and you decline the alternative or credit offered. Significant changes include times "more than 3 hours domestically and 6 hours internationally" (DOT, April 2024).

United Kingdom

• Faulty goods. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, you can reject faulty goods for a refund within 30 days (section 22). After that you can ask for a repair or replacement, which the trader must do "within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience" and at their cost (section 23). A fault within six months of delivery is usually treated as there from the start (section 19).
• Poor service. A trader must use reasonable care and skill (section 49), and you can ask them "to perform the service again" at their cost (section 55).
• Paid by credit card. Under Section 75, "The cash price of the goods or services must be more than £100 but not more than £30,000" (Financial Ombudsman, 2024).
• Flights. For a cancellation, "You can get your money back for all parts of the ticket you haven't used", and with under 14 days' notice you may also claim compensation, except for things like extreme weather (CAA).
• Free advice. Citizens Advice offers "confidential advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free", with separate sections for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Elsewhere, use your government's consumer protection agency the same way.

The prompt

Draft a short, firm, polite complaint letter, under 250 words.
Facts (use only these, do not add any):
<TIMELINE>
My right, quoted from an official source. Cite it in these exact words
and do not add any other law, right or amount:
<QUOTED_RIGHT> (source: <SOURCE_NAME>)
What I want: <REMEDY>
Reply by: <REPLY_BY>
Structure: what I bought and when; what went wrong; the right above;
what I want; the date I expect a reply by; what I will do next if
there is no fair reply: <NEXT_STEP>.
Use placeholders for my name and order number. No threats.
After the letter, list every legal claim it makes, so I can check each one.

Replace the following:

• <TIMELINE>: your dated facts, such as Bought laptop 2 Sept; screen failed 20 Sept; reported by email 21 Sept (illustrative).
• <QUOTED_RIGHT> and <SOURCE_NAME>: the sentence from step 2 and its page.
• <REMEDY>: one remedy, such as a full refund.
• <REPLY_BY>: a date that gives them time to act. 14 days is our suggestion, not a rule.
• <NEXT_STEP>: the next rung, such as a dispute with my card issuer.

If they say no: the ladder

1. The company's complaints process. Keep the reference number.
2. Your card issuer. In the US, an FCBA billing dispute. In the UK, a Section 75 claim for credit card purchases in the range above, or ask your card provider about a chargeback.
3. An ombudsman or regulator. For a UK bank or card provider, the Financial Ombudsman: the business "has up to 8 weeks" to consider your complaint first, you then have "6 months from the date on your final response", and "Our service is free" (FOS). Other sectors may have their own scheme; ask the company which one. In the US, your state consumer protection office "can help with complaints against businesses".
4. Small claims. The last step. In England and Wales, GOV.UK says mediation "could be quicker and cheaper than going to court" (GOV.UK). Scotland, Northern Ireland and each US state have their own process.

Keep every letter and reply; each rung usually expects you to have tried the one above. To bargain over an offer, see Prepare for a negotiation with AI.

How to tell it worked

• The letter names one remedy and one date, and every right in it matches an official page.
• You have a dated copy and a reminder.
• It has failed if the letter cites a law you did not look up, or you held back payment because a chat said so.

Sources

1. Which?, AI tools giving risky consumer advice, 18 Nov 2025. Consumer group test. Link
2. FTC. Sample complaint letter; Disputing charges (May 2022). Government. Link · Link
3. US DOT, automatic refunds rule (24 April 2024); USA.gov, state consumer offices. Government. Link · Link
4. Consumer Rights Act 2015 (sections 19, 22, 23, 49, 55); Consumer Credit Act 1974 (section 75). UK legislation. Link · Link
5. Financial Ombudsman Service. Section 75 (23 Oct 2024); How to complain. Ombudsman. Link · Link
6. Civil Aviation Authority, Cancellations; GOV.UK, Make a court claim for money. Regulator and government. Link · Link
7. Citizens Advice. About us. Advice charity. Link

Changes

1. v1.010 Oct 2026first version