Letter of complaint to builder about shoddy workmanship

[Paulinethecat]

If you were sending the above letter to a builder who you had initially been quite friendly with would you start the letter with Dear xxxx, or would you start it with 'To whom it concerns'?

Dear Fred / Mr Blogs

’To whom it may concern’ is for when you don’t know the relevant name.

Ah, okay, thank you.

Dear Mr Name. Yours sincerely at the end.

Another point about letters of complaint: be very specific about your desired outcome. Do you expect them to re-do the work? Give you a partial or full refund?

As you may know, in terms of your consumer rights, you usually have to give them an opportunity to put it right. However, if you can demonstrate that you have justifiably lost faith in their ability to do so - e.g. they have already made several attempts and it isn't getting any better, or they have left something in such a dangerous state that they are clearly incompetent - you can go straight in with a refusal to pay or request compensation.

Good luck!