Complaining with ChatGPT: Our top tips

You may have already heard about ChatGPT – an Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by OpenAI that’s taking the internet by storm.

Since its launch in November 2022, people have been putting its ability to generate well-written content to work on all kinds of tasks, from writing silly raps to answering philosophical questions.

We even heard about a woman who used ChatGPT to write a  ‘polite but firm’ complaint about a flight delay and got the full compensation she was entitled to! 

This got us thinking about ways ChatGPT could help us and our users or, alternatively, how it may create problems if not used properly. 

So here are our top tips for using ChatGPT most effectively when making a complaint. As well as highlighting some pros, we also have some thoughts on when you would be better off using your own intelligence.  

Using ChatGPT to write a complaint: the pros

When we asked ChatGPT how it could help us write a complaint it described the Resolver submission process almost word for word – from providing the relevant details like date, time, and nature of the complaint, to stating what kind of resolution you want. It also gives similar advice – like being concise and not using hostile language. 

In many ways, our system and email templates already do what ChatGPT does – gathering the necessary details and putting them into an easily-readable format. However, we have thought of a few other ways that our users could make use of ChatGPT when raising an issue with a company. 

Giving structure to your story

It can be hard to express oneself in a simple and efficient way, especially when describing a complex or difficult situation you’ve experienced. If you have a long story about what happened but want to make this more concise, ChatGPT can help. 

Write out the longer version of the event in your own words. Then make the first sentence ‘Make this clearer and more concise:’

ChatGPT will rewrite your description in a clearer and simpler way. You can then use the text it generates to help write or edit your complaint email to a company. 

Explaining emotional impacts 

Our email templates automatically generate the written content of your complaint based on the basic details you provide in the submission form. However, it is also important to explain how you were emotionally affected or suffered negative consequences.

We know that it can be really exhausting to write about something that was upsetting at the time. ChatGPT can save you the emotional labour of writing about a difficult experience while modulating the emotional language you use so that it is appropriate. 

Type in your own words what the overall emotional experience or impact of the situation you are complaining about was. Then make the first sentence ‘Describe these feelings in a clearer/softer/more polite way:’  

ChatGPT will repeat your feelings back to you using a different style or tone. This will provide you with new phrases or words that you can use to articulate your feelings and moderate your language in your complaint email. 

Jargon-busting 

Sometimes companies can use overly-complex language or jargon when corresponding with customers. Occasionally, a company that is based in another country may not have a great English language translation of the information they are trying to provide. 

In these cases, ChatGPT may be helpful for jargon-busting or re-wording an email into a more easily-understandable format. 

If there is a sentence or paragraph of text that you are struggling to make sense of you could copy and paste it into ChatGPT. Then make the first sentence, ‘Explain what this says:’ or ‘Say this in a simpler way:’

The AI will then generate a version of the same sentence or paragraph that should be easier to read and understand. 

Collaboration

Overall, ChatGPT works best with supervision and in collaboration with a human being. 

So whatever you use ChatGPT for, remember that you need to ensure that you thoroughly read and make some edits to what it writes before you send it to another human. 

Using ChatGPT to write a complaint: the cons 

Beyond needing supervision, there are also things that ChatGPT absolutely cannot do. 

When it comes to using this tool effectively, knowing what things ChatGPT cannot help with is as important as what it can. 

Cannot give advice

ChatGPT is, in its own words, ‘not intended to give advice’. OpenAI even warns that it can ‘occasionally generate incorrect or misleading information and produce offensive or biased content’. 

Ming Cheuk, an Element X Co-founder, has spoken on how OpenAI has trained ChatGPT specifically to ‘avoid giving advice when not appropriate (e.g if the answer is sensitive, has legal implications or there is no definitive answer).’ 

While it may give a really convincing answer, ChatGPT will make things up in order to generate them. So if the issue you have questions about is high stakes, be cautious of relying entirely on what ChatGPT tells you. 

Especially when it comes to legal precedents and procedures you will be better off consulting human experts.

Out of date data

You may want to use ChatGPT to find out information – whether that’s your consumer rights or the best way to complain. However, ChatGPT only knows about things up to September 2021. It is also not designed to do proper internet research. 

So it’s important to remember that the information it will provide may be out of date or not based on thorough research. You can use it to inform you, but will still need to do your own research and seek out trusted sources of up-to-date information. 

Cannot be trusted with sensitive information

Unlike our system, where all user information is protected by GDPR, ChatGPT is an open-source AI tool that is constantly being supervised to make improvements. Because of this, any information you put into ChatGPT is available to be seen by others. 

Remember that while utilising ChatGPT you shouldn’t share any sensitive information, like banking details, in your conversations with it. 

Does not save your conversations

Once you close a conversation with ChatGPT all of the information you input is gone. Because of this, it could be very easy to lose the content you’ve got it to generate by accidentally closing the window or starting a new conversation.  

So when using ChatGPT, remember to keep a copy of any of the text it generates and that you want to use in another place, such as the Notes app, Word, or Google Docs. That way any of the written content it has created can’t be lost as easily.

Our verdict

We want to empower consumers by helping them make their own complaints. ChatGPT has lots of potential as a technological tool to make this process easier. 

However, we would not promote delegating the whole process of complaining to a machine. Aside from the cons we’ve already flagged up, we believe that this would also remove the sense of empowerment people get from taking control of their issues, advocating for themselves, and obtaining a resolution.

So don’t underestimate the power of your own intelligence when it comes to raising a complaint  – especially when working with AI to help you do so. Even when we use cutting-edge technologies, this is still always a form of collaboration. 

If you have any comments, questions, or experiences of using ChatGPT to complain you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us at support@resolver.co.uk.