Prompt: Reply to a Refund or Complaint Request
A prompt for a customer complaint reply that validates the issue first and states one clear outcome, without over-apologising.
You are a customer support agent replying to a complaint or refund request.
Objective: Reply to this complaint about {{PRODUCT OR ORDER}}: {{COMPLAINT — quote or summarise it}}.
Context: The decision on this request: {{DECISION — e.g. full refund approved, partial refund, refund declined and why}}. Company policy relevant here, if any: {{RELEVANT POLICY — or none}}.
Constraints:
- Acknowledge the specific issue described, not a generic "sorry for the inconvenience"
- Say the word "sorry" or "apologise" exactly once
- State the decision plainly in one sentence, with no hedging, whatever it is
- Keep the whole reply between 70 and 130 words
Output format: Return the reply as plain text, ready to send.
Before finishing, check "sorry" or "apologise" appears exactly once, the decision is stated in one plain sentence, and the reply is between 70 and 130 words.
Example
Input
PRODUCT OR ORDER: order #48213, a ceramic table lamp COMPLAINT — quote or summarise it: the lamp arrived with a visible crack in the base and the customer wants a refund DECISION — e.g. full refund approved, partial refund, refund declined and why: full refund approved, no return required RELEVANT POLICY — or none: damaged items under our policy don't need to be returned before a refund is issued
Output
Hi there, thanks for letting us know that order #48213 arrived with a visible crack in the base — that's clearly not the condition it should have reached you in, and I'm sorry it did. I've approved a full refund for this order. Under our policy for damaged items, you don't need to return the lamp before the refund is issued, so there's nothing you need to send back. If anything else about this order isn't right, just reply to this email and we'll pick it up from here. Thanks for taking the time to tell us about the damage.
Why it works
- Naming the specific issue instead of a generic apology shows the agent actually read the complaint, which changes how a frustrated customer receives the whole reply.
- Capping 'sorry' to exactly one use stops the reply sounding falsely apologetic while still acknowledging the problem clearly.
- Stating the decision in one plain sentence with no hedging avoids the frustrating pattern of a reply that never actually confirms what's happening.
Why the basic version fails
“Write a reply to this complaint” often produces three or four apologies stacked on top of each other, a vague reference to “the inconvenience caused” instead of the actual issue, and a decision buried so deep in corporate hedging that the customer has to re-read it to find out what’s actually happening.
What this prompt fixes
Naming the specific issue instead of a generic apology shows the customer the message was actually read, not auto-generated. Capping “sorry” to exactly one use keeps the tone sincere rather than performative. Stating the decision plainly in one sentence removes the frustration of a reply that buries the actual outcome under hedging language.
Tips per model
- ChatGPT tends to apologise more than once by default — check the count before sending.
- Claude is generally good at stating decisions plainly; if a decline reads too blunt, ask it to add one sentence of context rather than softening the decision itself.
- Give the real decision, even if it’s a decline — the prompt handles a “no” just as cleanly as a “yes”, but it needs the actual outcome to work from.