A complaint is a face-threatening act. Face-threatening act (FTA) refers to the expression of dissatisfaction to another person to ensure harmony in their interaction. It is an important element of communication in the sense that it requires speakers to convey concerns and still maintain interpersonal relationships. In the Malaysian Polytechnic English syllabus, making complaints is an assessed skill. However, this challenges many second-language (L2) learners, especially those with low proficiency levels, who often struggle to express complaints effectively due to linguistic limitations, pragmatic difficulties, and sociocultural factors. While the research on complaint speech acts is extensive, studies within the Malaysian context seem limited. This study examines the manner L2 learners negotiate complaint speech acts in English, concerning their strategies, level of politeness, and difficulty. Data was collected from a systematic questionnaire that Polytechnic students completed, which investigated their complaint-making behavior, politeness strategy, and subjective difficulty. Findings suggest that complaining strategies vary by proficiency level, whereby lower-proficiency learners employ a greater range of politeness strategies and higher-proficiency learners employ more direct complaining. Social context also plays a significant role, with the learners modifying their strategy depending on whether they are writing to seniors, equals, or strangers. There were also gender differences, with the female learners being more likely to use mitigating strategies and politeness markers than the male learners.