How to Complain in English Effectively - Lecture Notes

Introduction

• Annemarie from Speak Confident English
  • Helps build confidence and fluency in English.
  • Weekly lessons on grammar, communication, etc.
• Focus of Lesson: How to complain in English and get results.
  • Benefits of effective complaints for companies and service providers.
  • Learning to set aside negative feelings about complaining.

Six Steps to Effective Complaining

1. Get Your Emotions Out First

• Importance: Communicate in a confident and calm manner.
  • Whether via email, phone, or face-to-face.
• Method: Vent negative emotions beforehand.
  • Write out angry, frustrated feelings.
  • Release those feelings before making the complaint.

2. Be Clear About Desired Result

• Importance: Know what outcome you want from the complaint.
• Questions to Ask Yourself:
  • Refund? Discount? Apology? Replacement?
  • What will make you feel better?
• Proportionality: Ensure the result is proportional to the problem.
  • Example: Request a refund or a future meal credit for a terrible restaurant experience.

3. Back Up Your Complaint

• Meaning: Provide evidence or support for your complaint.
• Examples: Purchase receipts, invoices, examples of poor service, defective product, etc.

4. Complain to the Right Person

• Importance: Ensure quick and positive outcomes by speaking to the correct authority.
• Questions to Identify Right Person:
  • Who do I need to talk to resolve this situation?
  • I’m not satisfied; who do I speak to?
  • Who is the right person to address my dissatisfaction?
  • Who on your team has authority to solve this?

5. Be Clear, Succinct, and Polite

• Method: Get to the heart of the issue quickly and use polite language.
  • Use words like "please," "thank you," and modals (e.g., can, would).
• Examples and Key Phrases:
  1. Hotel Room Mix-Up
     • There’s a problem with our room; I reserved a junior suite, but received a double room.
     • How can this be amended?
  2. Late Submission from Co-worker/Employee
     • I expected this on time. What went wrong? How can we avoid this in the future?
  3. Bad Haircut
     • I’m not satisfied with the haircut; one side is longer than the other.
     • At the very least, I’d like this fixed for no extra charge.

6. Use the Sandwich Method for Goodwill

• Concept: Start with something positive, then make the complaint, and end on an encouraging note.
• Example Revisited (Restaurant)
  1. Positive: "My family and I were looking forward to visiting your restaurant."
  2. Complaint: "Negative experiences including wrong food order, long wait, cold food."
  3. Encouraging Note: "We’d like to give your restaurant a second chance; please refund our dinner."

Practice

• Think about a recent situation that made you want to complain.
• Use the strategies and phrases learned to formulate an effective complaint.
• Share your complaint example in the Speak Confident English community.

Conclusion

• Engagement: Share your complaint examples in the comments.
• Feedback: Thumbs up if the lesson was useful.
• Subscribe: Don’t miss future lessons.

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