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Our company occasionally has to write letters to a third-party in response to a complaint. There are times when we only know the complainant's last name (usually with first initial). Typically, we would write something like "Mr. Jones signed up for service on..." or "Mrs. Smith contacted us on...".

If we do not know the person's gender, what is the appropriate way to refer to the customer? Would we just use "complainant" or should we ensure that we use the customer's name? EX: "The complainant contacted us on..." vs. "J. Smith (the Complainant) contacted us on..."?

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  • I'm leaning towards "J. Smith (the Complainant)."
    – Blubberguy22
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 14:40
  • What’s wrong with simply saying,”J. Smith contacted us....”
    – Jim
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 14:43
  • I think you're right Jim, except that we often have to refer to the customer several times in the letter and it feels discourteous. EX: J. Smith contacted the us... . ABC Company has removed their contact information from our contact lists. We ask that J. Smith allow up to 30 days .... A letter will be sent to the address provided in the complaint to notify J. Smith of this resolution.... Which is why I thought of defining J. Smith as the "Complainant" and the using complainant throughout the letter was a possible solution.
    – Paul
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 14:50
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    What do you do in the case of "Mr. Jones."? Do you use "Mr. Jones" for all occurrences? To me, "complainant" is more discourteous than the name.
    – Jim
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 15:08
  • We would use "Mr. Jones" for all occurrences. I think it's the lack of title, and hence the lack of formality, in "J. Smith" that is making it feel discourteous. To your point, "complainant", while perhaps more formal, is impersonal and perhaps more discourteous. I think you've convinced me that using "J. Smith" throughout is fine. Thanks for the dialogue.
    – Paul
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 15:51

2 Answers 2

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How about "J. Smith, henceforth referred to as the Complainant..."?

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I would start with Mr Jones. If the complaint comes from Mrs Jones, we will soon find out and, of course, we would continue with Mrs Jones. But she might prefer Ms Jones anyway (and she will certainly tell us so) and, in that case, we should certainly continue with Ms Jones. In other words, we should call our customer the way he/she prefers. But, until we are informed about his/her preference, I would use Mr.

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    That is just wrong.
    – Jake Regier
    Commented Jul 24, 2015 at 14:42
  • Of course it is possible that I have misunderstood the customs of the City of London, where I worked for only 12 years as a member of the Institute of London Underwriters (followed by 19 years of working with them from my country). But perhaps they used to speak a funny type of English there.
    – alsa
    Commented Aug 22, 2015 at 14:54
  • Sure, it may be correct by ILU standards, but it is fundamentally sexist and, as such, should be avoided. What's a great way to piss off customers even more? Why, by calling all the madams mister. In fact, in both the UK and US, women are the numerical majority. By that logic, it would be a safer bet to start with Miss Jones.
    – Jake Regier
    Commented Aug 22, 2015 at 18:18
  • @Jake Regier. I want to assure you that I do not intend to be sexist and I would never ever want to discriminate agains ladies. But, when you write letters, you generally do not write to the population of a Country (were ladies may be the majority): you write to a person or to a few persons. And, in many cases, you write business letters and in business I am afraid that generally the majority is male. It is definitely so in the City of London: you just have to walk around it to be convinced. and also at Assicurazioni Generali (one of the biggest insurers in the world)
    – alsa
    Commented Feb 27, 2016 at 18:01
  • I would never ever want to discriminate agains ladies. But you generally do not write to populations: you write to a person or to a few persons. In business I am afraid that the majority is male. It is definitely so in the City of London. The same applies to Assicurazioni Generali (one of the largets insurers in the world) and to most Italian companies of any type. That's why - when I studied Typing - we always used Mr. About my respect for ladies I will add that the first lady working as a Marine Assistant Underwriter in the City of London was named Carla and she my Marine Cargo Assistant.
    – alsa
    Commented Feb 27, 2016 at 18:14

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