Handling complaints

What's in the lesson

1. 1Warm-up
2. 2In this lesson
3. 3Guess the words (1)Vocabulary exercise
4. 4Guess the words (2)Vocabulary exercise
5. 5Check the wordsVocabulary
6. 6Useful phrases for complaintsVocabulary
7. 7Check your understandingReading comprehension
8. 8Check the callListening comprehension
9. 9Use the new wordsVocabulary exercise
10. 10What does it mean?Grammar exercise
11. 11Find should have and shouldn't haveGrammar exercise
12. 12should have and apologiesGrammar rule
13. 13Choose the best answerGrammar exercise
14. 14After a busy nightGrammar exercise
15. 15Find the mistakeGrammar exercise
16. 16Say it like you mean itSpeaking practice
17. 17Role-play: an unhappy clientSpeaking practice
18. 18Let's discussDiscussion
19. 19Wrap-up

Homework

1. 1Homework: closest meaningVocabulary exercise
2. 2Homework: your sentencesVocabulary exercise
3. 3Homework: what went wrongGrammar exercise
4. 4Homework: reply to a complaintDiscussion

Words

• overcharge/ˌoʊvərˈtʃɑːrdʒ/

  to ask someone to pay more than the right price

• reverse a charge/rɪˌvɜːrs ə ˈtʃɑːrdʒ/

  to cancel an amount on a bill or a card, so that the money goes back to the customer

• refund/ˈriːfʌnd/

  money that is paid back to a customer, for example when they return something (also a verb: refund the money)

• replacement/rɪˈpleɪsmənt/

  a new thing that you get instead of one that is broken, wrong or lost

• inconvenience/ˌɪnkənˈviːniəns/

  trouble or problems that something causes for someone

• frustrated/ˈfrʌstreɪtɪd/

  annoyed because you cannot do or change something

• acknowledge/əkˈnɑːlɪdʒ/

  to show or say that you have heard and understood something, or that it is true

• resolve/rɪˈzɑːlv/

  to find a solution to a problem (resolution: the noun)

• escalate/ˈeskəleɪt/

  to pass a problem to someone more senior, for example a manager, because you cannot solve it yourself

• take responsibility/ˌteɪk rɪˌspɑːnsəˈbɪləti/

  to say that something is your job or your mistake, and deal with it

Two slides from the lesson

Warm-up

Let's talk about customers and complaints.

1. Who are your customers or clients at work: people, other companies or colleagues in other departments?
2. What do customers complain about most often in your line of work?
3. Think of a time when a company fixed a problem for you really well. What did they do?

Grammar rule

should have and apologies

should have / shouldn't have + past participle

Use these to talk about mistakes in the past: what was right but didn't happen, and what happened but was wrong.

Form	Meaning	Example
should have + past participle	It was the right thing to do, but it didn't happen.	We should have reminded you about the deadline. (We didn't.)
shouldn't have + past participle	It happened, but it was wrong.	I shouldn't have answered the email so quickly. (I did.)
should(n't) have been + past participle	the same in the passive, when it is clear or not important who did it	The menu should have been translated into Spanish. · Our flight shouldn't have been canceled without any warning.

Use the past participle: should have written / gone / bought, not should have go or should have went. In speech, should have sounds like "shud-uv" (should've). In writing, never should of.

Taking responsibility

With a customer, say what we (or I) should have done. "You should have read the email" sounds like blame, even when it is true.

Saying sorry

Pattern	Example
I'm sorry (that) + subject + verb	I'm sorry (that) nobody called you back.
I'm sorry for / about + noun	I'm sorry about the mix-up.
I'm sorry for + -ing	I'm sorry for giving you the wrong number.
I apologize for + noun / -ing	I apologize for the error. · We apologize for missing the deadline.
We apologize for any inconvenience.	formal: in writing and in announcements

We apologize to a person for a thing: not I apologize you. After sorry, use (that) + a clause, for / about + a noun, or for + -ing (and the fixed phrase I'm sorry to hear that): not I'm sorry for you had to wait.