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Lesson 7 Complaints

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32 views

Lesson 7 Complaints

Uploaded by

Bai Donna S. Aliman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lesson 7: Complaints

Complaints are never a happy occasion, particularly if you are trying to keep a client or
customer happy AND you are struggling with the language.

It is important to remember that responding to a complaint always has FOUR parts:


Apologize for the problem – no matter if you created it or not – no matter whether the
issue is true or not.  What you are apologizing for is the fact that a customer is
unhappy.  That’s not good for business.

Ask for the specifics of the problem – what happened or what went wrong.

Say that you will take action [and take it!], and

Check back with the customer later to make sure the problem was resolved to their
satisfaction.

Review the three parts of responses below:


1. Apologizing:   
     I’m sorry . . .       I’m sorry to hear that . . .
     I apologize . . .
     I apologize for the problem . . .
     I apologize for the inconvenience . . .
     My apologies . . .
2.  Ask for Specifics
     Please tell me exactly what the problem is
      Please tell me exactly what happened
3.  Take Action
     I will send someone to take care of it
     We will send the correct order tomorrow
     Let me check with the shippers and see what happened
     I don’t know what happened, but I will get back with you later
today
     Let me straighten this out and I will get back to you today with
the
solution.
4. Check back – after the situation has been corrected
     Ms. Chen, did everything work out to your satisfaction?
     Mr. Wozniak, I wanted to see if the problem has been resolved
to your
satisfaction.
     Did everything work out okay?
     Did you get what you needed/wanted?

Practice the two dialogs below with a partner.  Be sure to exchange roles so that are
both the person with a complaint and the person responding to the complaint.

Dialog 1 – The missing parts . . .


A:  Hello Mr. Chen, may I help you?
B:  Yes, I ordered spare parts for my generator, but you sent the
wrong parts.
A; Oh no!  Can you tell me exactly what parts you ordered and
what you got?
B: Yes, I ordered two of part number B235C, but I got two
B235Ds instead!  They won’t fit my generator.
A: I’m very sorry, let me check and see if we have the correct
parts here right now and if we do, I can have someone deliver
them this afternoon.  Would that be okay? 
B: Yes, please – the sooner I have the parts the better.
Later . . . .
A: Hello Mr. Chen, did you get the correct parts I sent over ? 
Are they exactly what you needed?
B: Yes, they just arrived.  Thank you.
A: My pleasure Mr. Chen, again, sorry for the inconvenience.
Dialog 2 – Shoddy service . . .
A: Hello, Anderson Pool Service, may I help you?
B: Yes this Dolly McBride, someone was supposed to clean my
swimming pool today.  No one came.
A: I’m sorry Ms. McBride, let me check the schedule and see
what went wrong.  Can I send someone over first thing
tomorrow morning?
B: Yes, that would be okay.
Tomorrow . . .
A: Hello Ms. McBride?
B: Yes?
A: Did the pool cleaner get over there okay this morning?
B: Yes, everything is fine now.  Thank you.
A: Thank you, Ms. McBride – and again – my apologies for
the mix-up* yesterday.
* mix-up means confusion or problem

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