For when you want to deliver your message strongly and clearly, with the threat of the Information Commissioner’s Office backing you up.

[ Template complaint letter ]

This is a formal complaint letter, and as such it’s probably not necessary or suitable for an initial contact! But if you think a company or organisation is unlikely to comply and you want to save time and jump right to the heavy stuff, go for it.

How to use it:

Open the link. It’ll take you to a Google Doc of the complaint letter. If you don’t have a Google account, click File > Download as… and save it as a document to your own computer so that you can edit it to add your own details. Then print and post. If you do have a Google account, click File > Make a copy and you’ll get an editable version in your Google Drive that you can add your own address to (and their address), and then print it out directly.

If/when they respond to say that they won’t be adding Mx to their systems, you can go to the ICO and make a complaint. Please note that in order to have your complaint heard by the ICO, you need a final statement from the company that they won’t be adding Mx. This is just a letter or email confirming that they won’t be meeting your needs.

The ICO will probably take a few months but eventually they will instruct the company to add Mx to their systems.

Going to the ICO is especially good when you’re complaining about banks, because complainants tend to get compensated significantly by the bank!