Handling Customer Complaints

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Exercise 1

Vocabulary

violate

Verb

ˈvaɪəˌleɪt

to break or disregard a law, promise, or rule

He was arrested for violating the law.

He was punished for violating the rules.

The Japanese government has set tough penalties for companies that violate workers' rights.

decent

Adjective

ˈdiːsənt

considered to be moral, good and/or reasonable

Donating blood is a very decent thing to do.

It's important to have decent meals three times a day.

The rooms in the hotel are decent, but not special.

I feel lucky to have a job that I like with a decent salary.

The printer did a decent job on the marketing brochures.

identify

Verb

aɪˈdɛntəˌfaɪ

to establish someone's identity; to recognize a person

He identified himself as a security officer.

In class, the students learned to identify all the world's continents.

We identified several problems with the system.

We need to identify our most important needs.

Doctors try to identify the cause of disease in their patients.

It is not an easy task for managers to identify critical employee issues before trouble starts.

compensate

Verb

ˈkɑːmpənˌseɪt

to make satisfactory payment or reparation to someone for specific unpleasant experiences he/she had to endure

The company had to compensate for the damage caused by its factory.

Many start-up companies compensate their employees with stock options.

complaint

Noun

kəmˈpleɪnt

a statement a person makes when he/she is unsatisfied with a service or product

She had a serious complaint.

The protesters had many complaints.

The manager received a complaint that the offices were too cold.

If you have a complaint about working conditions, please contact the Human Resource division.

intern

Noun

ˈɪntərn

a person who is training on the job, often unpaid

The intern is receiving training on the job.

Each medical student will spend one year as an intern before becoming a doctor.

We will have two interns from City University coming to our law office for the summer.

Exercise 2

Useful Expressions

What seems to be the problem exactly?
Would you mind giving me some more details?
I'm terribly sorry about that.
I'm very sorry for the inconvenience.
Thank you so much for letting us know about this.
I completely understand how you feel.
I understand your position.
I’m going to see how we can make this better for you.
Please rest assured that...
We will make sure that/ensure that…
To make up for this/To compensate you for...
Due to the inconvenience we have caused you…
I would like to offer...
Would you possibly be willing to accept...?

Exercise 3

Dialogue Practice

Read the dialogue aloud with your tutor.

The secretary of Golden Shoes, Nicole, is dealing with a complaint.
	Nicole Good morning! Golden Shoes, Nicole speaking. How may I help you?
	Nathan I want to talk to the company manager.
	Nicole I am sorry, but he is out of the office today. Would you like to leave a message? Or, perhaps I can be of assistance?
	Nathan Well, maybe you can. I want to make a complaint about one of your workers. He was terribly rude and unprofessional.
	Nicole I am very sorry to hear that. Would you mind giving me some more details? What happened exactly?
	Nathan Yesterday I was in one of your shops. I was trying on some shoes and I wanted to ask the salesperson a few questions, but he had his earphones on and was listening to music. He could barely hear when I called him!
	Nicole I'm terribly sorry about that. That kind of behavior is unacceptable and it will not be tolerated. Thank you so much for letting us know about this. May I ask for the address of the shop to identify the worker?
	Nathan It was the shop on the corner of Crimson Street. But that's not the end of the story! When he packed the shoes I purchased, he placed two shoes of different sizes in the box! I only noticed it when I came back home. So I went back to the store to return them and to get the right size, but he said that my size was out of stock!
	Nicole I completely understand how you feel, sir, and I'm very sorry for the inconvenience. It seems that we have an intern working in that shop. Please rest assured that he will be sanctioned for violating our rules and regulations. I would like to apologize on his behalf, and on the behalf of the company. We will refund the full price of the shoes you purchased. Also, to make up for this, I would like to offer you a 20% discount on any item that you choose in any of our shops.
	Nathan All right, thank you. I am glad to see that at least your management team is doing a decent job.

Check your understanding:

Why did Nathan call the Golden Shoes company?

What did he complain about?

How did the secretary handle the complaint?

Exercise 4

Role Play

Role-play the following situation with your tutor.

Situation

You are working in a travel agency. An angry customer calls you to make a complaint about one of the tour guides. Try to calm the customer, apologize and offer appropriate compensation. Your teacher will act as the customer. You may use the following expressions:

What seems to be the problem exactly?
I'm terribly sorry about that.
I understand how you feel.
We will make sure that...
To compensate you for...

Exercise 5

Discussion

Have you ever had to deal with an angry customer? How did it go?

What do you think are the best practices for handling customer complaints?

How can a company benefit from customer complaints?

Is it common in your country to complain about poor service? Why? Why not?