Learn how to make a complaint
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Making a Complaint in English. David Here. |
| Kellie: Hello. I'm Kellie. |
| David: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to make a complaint. The conversation takes place at a restaurant. |
| Kellie: The speakers are strangers. |
| David: So they will use formal English. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Katrina: I would like to make a complaint about the service today. |
| Waiter: I'm sorry to hear that. What is the nature of your complaint? |
| Katrina: We waited an hour for our food to arrive and when it did, it was cold. This is the most disappointed I have ever been at a restaurant. |
| Waiter: I'm sorry, that service is unacceptable. I will arrange for fresh and hot replacement meals to be brought immediately. |
| Katrina: No, don't bother. We don't want to eat here anymore. |
| Waiter: In that case, I will give you your drinks free of charge and offer you these vouchers for your next visit. I will ensure that our service is more timely next time. |
| Katrina: Thank you. |
| David: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Katrina: I would like to make a complaint about the service today. |
| Waiter: I'm sorry to hear that. What is the nature of your complaint? |
| Katrina: We waited an hour for our food to arrive and when it did, it was cold. This is the most disappointed I have ever been at a restaurant. |
| Waiter: I'm sorry, that service is unacceptable. I will arrange for fresh and hot replacement meals to be brought immediately. |
| Katrina: No, don't bother. We don't want to eat here anymore. |
| Waiter: In that case, I will give you your drinks free of charge and offer you these vouchers for your next visit. I will ensure that our service is more timely next time. |
| Katrina: Thank you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: Katrina isn’t happy. |
| Kellie: I don’t blame her! That was terrible service. |
| David: Yeah, it was. So she’s going to make a complaint. Do people make complaints a lot in the UK? |
| Kellie: I think that people moan a lot, but don’t make formal complaints too often. Moaning can be a bit of stress relief. |
| David: It can be quite enjoyable! |
| Kellie: Yeah. Sometimes the moaning and complaining isn’t serious, but if it is, then people will make a complaint. |
| David: Who usually deals with complaints? |
| Kellie: Bigger companies might have a complaints manager, otherwise it’s usually just management or staff. |
| David: Katrina was complaining verbally, but you can complain in writing too. |
| Kellie: Some companies will even accept and resolve complaints via Facebook or Twitter these days. |
| David: And what is the outcome of complaining? |
| Kellie: Like in the dialogue, you’ll probably get an apology and vouchers. |
| David: That’s something, at least! Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| David: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Kellie: complaint [natural native speed] |
| David: statement that you are unhappy with something |
| Kellie: complaint[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: complaint [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: service [natural native speed] |
| David: performance of duties of a company or staff towards their customers |
| Kellie: service[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: service [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: disappointed [natural native speed] |
| David: to feel depressed or let down by something due to your hopes and expectations that it would be better |
| Kellie: disappointed[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: disappointed [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: unacceptable [natural native speed] |
| David: not pleasing, not acceptable |
| Kellie: unacceptable[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: unacceptable [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: fresh [natural native speed] |
| David: recently made or obtained |
| Kellie: fresh[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: fresh [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: immediately [natural native speed] |
| David: at once, now, this instant |
| Kellie: immediately[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: immediately [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: to charge [natural native speed] |
| David: to ask for a certain price for goods or services |
| Kellie: to charge[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: to charge [natural native speed] |
| David: And last.. |
| Kellie: voucher [natural native speed] |
| David: a document that gives a discount against an item or service used or bought at a future time |
| Kellie: voucher[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: voucher [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| David: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Kellie: fresh and hot |
| David: meaning "some food that is served straight out of the oven" |
| David: “Fresh” means newly made and not stale. |
| Kellie: And “hot” means to be of a warm temperature. When the phrase “fresh and hot” is used for food, it means both of those things. Just cooked and still warm. |
| David: The way food should be! |
| Kellie: Sometimes in food stores though, the food may not be fresh and hot. It could have been baked a couple of hours ago and although it’d be fine to eat, it wouldn’t be fresh or hot anymore. |
| David: You can taste the difference! I always ask for fresh and hot food. |
| Kellie: You can ask for something fresh and hot, but you’ll probably have to wait while they prepare it. |
| David: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Kellie: Sure. For example, you can say.. Their pies are always fresh and hot. |
| David: ..which means "Their pies are always warm and straight out of the oven.” Okay, what's the next word? |
| Kellie: free of charge |
| David: meaning "it costs nothing" |
| David: “Free” can mean that something is without cost or payment. And “charge” can mean a demand for an amount to be paid. |
| Kellie: So together, they mean that there is no demand for payment. |
| David: The item is free. |
| Kellie: We can just say that an item is free, but by adding “of charge”, it highlights that there should be a charge. |
| David: It makes the fact that it's free sound more impressive. |
| Kellie: Right. |
| David: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Kellie: Sure. For example, you can say.. |
| “You can enter museums in London free of charge.” |
| David: .. which means "You can enter museums in London without paying". Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: In this lesson, you'll learn how use the comparative adverbs “more” and “most” and the modal verb “would” to make a complaint. In Lessons 18 and 19 we learned about comparative and superlative adjectives. |
| Kellie: Those were adjectives like “taller” and “tallest”. Or “more beautiful” and “most beautiful.” |
| David: Now, we’ll look at comparative and superlative adverbs. |
| Kellie: We will look at adverbs that end in “l-y”, “-ly”, such as “quietly”, “quickly” and “slowly”. |
| David: Like the adjectives with several syllables, we need to use “more” and “most”. |
| Kellie: Right. We use “more” and “most” the same way we did with the adjectives. We use “more” to compare two things. |
| David: And “most” to compare more than two things. |
| Kellie: Or everything! So for example, “He began to speak more quietly.” |
| David: This is comparing the volume of his speech now, with the volume from before. |
| Kellie: It’s two things. Or “She walked most slowly.” |
| David: Without the context it’s a little harder to define this one perfectly. |
| Kellie: Yeah. It could mean she walked the slowest out of the group she was in, or was the slowest person on earth. Either way, it means there is more than just her and one more person. |
| David: In the dialogue, the example is the waiter saying “I will ensure that our service is more timely next time.” |
| Kellie: Yes. He’s comparing the service this time to the service Katrina and Phil would receive a second time. |
| David: If there is a second time! Another thing from this lesson is the modal verb “would.” |
| Kellie: Oh! Modal verbs again! We can use “would” sometimes in place of “will” to make the sentence more polite. We can also use it for conditional sentences. |
| David: Which are sentences stating ‘If this happens, that will happen.’ |
| Kellie: Yes. Like, “If I won the lottery, I would give money to my family.” |
| David: That’s nice of you! “If I had a dog, I would walk it every day.” |
| Kellie: As you should! We can also use “would” for requests. This is seen as polite. “Would you help me with my homework?” |
| David: “Would you pass the salt?” |
| Kellie: And also for polite invitations. “Would you like another drink?” |
| David: Always! “Would you like to come to my house tomorrow?” |
| Kellie: If I came to your house, would you cook for me? |
| David: No. |
| Kellie: Thanks. As “would” is polite, it can be used in circumstances such as making complaints. “I would like to make a complaint” is a strong but polite way of saying that you want to complain. |
| David: And it’s important to be polite when you begin to complain. |
| Kellie: Yeah, you’ll get a better reaction if you’re polite. If the complaint isn’t listened to though, you can end the discussion with “I would not come here again!” |
| David: That’s polite but firm! |
Outro |
| David: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Kellie: Bye. |
Comments
Hide