Week 4 Study material: Customer Complaints
1. Reflection
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
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.
The above extract is 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): _________________
2. Typical complaints
Look at the following typical reasons for complaining in business. Match
them to the possible excuses/reasons on the right:
1. damaged goods a. a delay at the border
2. goods never arrived b. a lost invoice
3. a late delivery c. a missing order
4. an overcharge d. an accounting error
5. an overdue payment e. bad handling
6. lack of customer service f. business is short-staffed
Track 1. Listen to four dialogues.
Which complaint/excuse did you hear in each dialogue?
What action was decided on in each dialogue?
Dialogue 1: ____________________________________________________
Dialogue 2: ____________________________________________________
Dialogue 3: ____________________________________________________
Dialogue 4: ____________________________________________________
3. Useful expressions
Track 1. Listen again and complete the expressions from the dialogues:
1. I'm a ____________ we h________ a p_________ w_______ your latest
delivery.
2. I'm very s___________ about that. I'm afraid our driver was d__________ at the
border again.
3. Leave it w____________ me. I will l__________ i_______ the matter.
4. I'm c___________ b_________ we h________ a p___________ with our order.
5. What s___________ to be the problem?
6. In what w_________ are they d_____________ ?
7. I'm very sorry. This has never h___________ before. It must be d______ to bad
handling.
8. If you s________ us back the d________ sets, we'll send you r________
immediately and g_________ you a d___________ on your next order.
9. I a_____________ again for any i_____________ caused.
10. I'm c_________ about a m________ on our invoice. It l_______ like you have
o_____________ us by $50.
11. I'm s_____________ about this. Our accounts department m________
h________ made a small mistake when they processed your order.
12. We'll i____________ a c______________ invoice immediately.
13. I'm very sorry, madam. We are r__________ s_________ -s________ at the
moment.
14. Please w____________ here and I'll f__________ s____________ to help you.
Put the expressions into the correct categories below:
MAKING A COMPLAINT: _______________________________________________________
APOLOGIZING AND EXPLAINING: ________________________________________________
GETTING MORE INFORMATION: ________________________________________________
PROMISING ACTION: _________________________________________________________
Add the following expressions to the categories above:
15. I'm just not satisfied with the level of customer service.
16. Sorry about that. It's probably a computer error.
17. Is it still under guarantee?
18. Can you be a little more specific?
19. What is the nature of the problem?
20. I'll take care of it right away.
3. Into Action
Work with a partner. I have allocated each one of you a partner. Your partner’s information
and email address is listed on the next page. You should cc [email protected] in your emails so I
can review your emails.
The student who is the customer should email their partner and complain. The student acting
as the company representative should apologize, explain and promise action where
necessary, using the language from this lesson.
Task 1. You ordered 100 laptops from your supplier, but only 90 were delivered. This problem
has happened several times before. Email your supplier to complain.
Now swap roles the student who was the customer is now the company representative and
the student who was the company representative is now the customer. Complete the
following task. Make sure you cc [email protected] in your emails.
Task 2. You receive an invoice for cleaning services. The cost of the service was $300, but the
amount on the invoice is $3000. Email the company to complain.
Completion of the above tasks counts towards your participation score.
[email protected] [email protected]ALESSANDRINE VANESSA KEZIA KANDOU MONICA DWI OKTAVIENI
[email protected] [email protected]AMELINDA LAUREN NICKE ARIESA PUTRI
[email protected] [email protected]ARFIENA R.SARMIDA CHRISTINA
[email protected] [email protected]CYNTHIA EKA PUTRI RAINA
[email protected] [email protected]DESYA ALDINA FAJAR RANGGA PUTRAWICAKSANA
[email protected] [email protected]DIETA RIYANTI REYNALDO BUDI RAHARDJA
[email protected] [email protected]DODDY TRIHADI RIZA RAMLAN
[email protected] [email protected]DWI NATALIYANI ROSDIANA
[email protected] [email protected]FITRIANI LESTARI SHERLY MAYASARI SITOMPUL
[email protected] [email protected]HERNI RATNAULI SIHOMBING SHINTA ANGRIYANA PUTRI ALIFAH
[email protected] [email protected]INTAN NURUL HUSNA STEFANI GIAVANI
[email protected] [email protected]JESSICA FEBRIA TOKILOV STEVE ANTONIUS
[email protected] [email protected]LENI HERAWATI SYERLA
[email protected] [email protected]MARGARETH ALFANIA FIDELA DHIRU SYILVIA ARDIANTI
[email protected] [email protected]MOHD HARITH ZAHRA CRISA MEIDYHANSI
