Title LESSON 59 - How to complain to your service provider.pdf ✅

HOW TO COMPLAIN TO YOUR SERVICE PROVIDER Warm up Have you ever had to call customer service to report your bad experiences? Do you find complaining about something an easy or hard thing to do? Key Vocabularies Read the following text. How far would you agree with the points raised? Have you experienced the situations described below from the point of view of a customer or business? CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS A guide for small businesses Many business people regard a customer complaint as a negative experience. However, if your business handles complaints properly, previously unhappy customers may start singing your praises. Consider a complaint as one of the best opportunities you have to show your commitment to creating another satisfied customer. Customer loyalty is one of the biggest assets a business has; fight for this loyalty - be passionate about it! Complaints should be handled sympathetically and promptly. Some businesses believe that if they don’t receive many complaints, their customers must be satisfied. Wrong! Only a few customers will complain to you. The majority will not return to your business and will tell others of their bad experience. WHY SHOULD YOUR BUSINESS WELCOME COMPLAINTS? Some published statistics say that: - a typical business hears from only 4% of its dissatisfied customers; the other 96% just go quietly away and 91% of them will never come back; - a typical dissatisfied customer tells more than 8 people about his or her problem; - 7 out of 10 complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint favourably. HANDLING COMPLAINTS Try putting the following points into practice: - Set up a complaints handling system and train your staff to handle complaints well; - Make it easy for customers to lodge a complaint;
- Welcome customer complaints and deal with complaints promptly. Adapted from a Consumer Affairs Factsheet by the Australian Department of Justice Northern Territory Government. Find words and phrases in the text which mean: 1. take action in order to solve a problem (two synonyms): ________________________ 2. showing your approval (idiom): ________________________ 3. willingness to give your time and energy to something (noun): ________________________ 4. useful qualities or advantages (plural noun): ________________________ 5. repeatedly purchasing goods or services from one company; not changing for another company (phrase): ________________________ 6. immediately (adverb): ________________________ 7. not satisfied (adjective): ________________________ 8. to your advantage (adverb): ________________________ 9. make an official complaint (phrase): ________________________ Customer Care Practice this dialogue with a partner Customer: Good morning. I purchased a computer from your company last month. Unfortunately, I'm not satisfied with my new computer. I'm having a lot of problems. Customer Care Representative: What seems to be the problem? Customer: I'm having problems with my Internet connection, as well as repeated crashes when I try to run my word-processing software. Customer Care Representative: Did you read the instructions that came with the computer? Customer: Well, yes. But the troubleshooting section was no help. Customer Care Representative: What happened exactly? Customer: Well, the Internet connection doesn't work. I think the modem is broken. I'd like a replacement. Customer Care Representative: How were you using the computer when you tried to connect to the Internet? Customer: I was trying to connect to the Internet! What kind of question is that?! Customer Care Representative: I understand you're upset, sir. I'm just trying to understand the problem. I'm afraid it's not our policy to replace computers because of glitches. Customer: I bought this computer with the software pre-loaded. I haven't touched anything.
Customer Care Representative: We’re sorry that you’ve had a problem with this computer. Could you bring in your computer? I promise you we'll check the settings and get back to you immediately. Customer: OK, that will work for me. Customer Care Representative: Is there anything else I need to know about this that I haven’t thought to ask? Customer: No, I'd just like to be able to use my computer to connect to the Internet. Customer Care Representative: We'll do our best to get your computer working as soon as possible. Key Expressions The complaint-making and resolving process can be quite tricky, but these structures can help you a great deal. Making a complaint: I’m afraid I have to make a complaint. I’d like to make a complaint. I’m sorry to trouble you, but... I’ve got a bit of a problem, you see... I’m sorry to have to say this, but... Excuse me, there appears/seems to be something wrong (with)... Apologizing: I’m sorry... I’m sorry to hear that... Oh, I’m sorry about that. Oh dear, I’m really sorry. We were very sorry to hear that... Giving reasons: This was because... The main reason for this was... Calming someone down: I’m sure that we can sort it out... I’m glad that you have brought this to our attention... Asking for specifics: Please tell me exactly what the problem is/what happened... Taking action: I will send someone to take care of it. Let me check and see what happened.
Checking back: Did everything work out to your satisfaction/work out okay? I wanted to see if the problem has been resolved. Making promises: (You may be assured that) this won’t happen again. In the future, we will... Put the expressions to their correct category above. 1. I’m just not satisfied with the level of customer service. 2. Sorry about that. It’s probably a computer error. 3. Is it still under guarantee? 4. Can you be a little more specific? 5. What is the nature of the problem? 6. I’ll take care of it right away Role-play Work with a partner. Role-play each of the situations below, taking turns to be the customer. Complain, apologize, explain and promise action where necessary, using the language from this lesson. 1. You receive an invoice for cleaning services. The cost of the service was $300, but the amount on the invoice is $3000. Call the company. 2. You booked a flight with your regular airline. Your flight was delayed by 5 hours and you missed an important business meeting. Call the airline company to complain. 3. You ordered a crate of wine. When the delivery arrives, you notice that some of the bottles are broken. Call the supplier to complain. Answer Keys: 1. handle, deal with 2. singing your praises 3. commitment 4. assets 5. customer loyalty 6. promptly 7. dissatisfied 8. favorably 9. lodge a complaint