📙 Part 2: Describe a complaint that you made and were satisfied with the result

This episode's vocabulary

To resolve (verb) - to solve or end a problem or difficulty.

Annoyance (noun) - the feeling or state of being annoyed.

To sort something/someone out (phrasal verb) - to deal successfully with a problem, a situation, or a person who is having difficulties.

String (noun) - a series of related things or events.

Frustrating (noun) - making you feel annoyed or less confident because you cannot achieve what you want.

Ultimately (adverb) - finally, after a series of things have happened.

Questions and Answers

R: Well, frankly, I wonder if people are ever satisfied when they complain. I mean, even after they get the whole thing resolved because you have to maintain your annoyance over a significant period of time. And no one likes that, do they? However, a while back, I complained to a company called Network Rail about their unclear wording in a letter and managed to get that sorted out, which was quite good.

To say more about when it happened. Well, it was just a little while back, and a letter arrived at my home explaining there would be works on the line nearby. There's a railway line that runs outside of my house. Since it's usually quite a quiet area. And I like going for walks near the tracks, it's sort of a big deal. And it was kind of them to let us know. However, the dates on the letter didn't match what was on the calendar, which was confusing, and they were taking ages to reply to a call being made about it. So I decided to post about it on Instagram and basically shame them into answering. When it comes to who I complained to, actually, we spoke to a string of people, including the social media team and the customer service people, which is not, well, at least one of those is not the normal set of people that you would expect talk to about this kind of thing.

In greater detail about what I complained about specifically, the dates were over three days in April. But which ones was hard to work out, because on the letter it said Wednesday to Friday, but the actual calendar dates given looked like Tuesday to Thursday. So we called the company and they asked us to email and it took forever to get back to us. So like I say I post something on, well, I posted something on Instagram. And the social media team passed us on to the customer service advisors. And then on to the customer service managers, eventually It was a bit frustrating really, because they could have just looked at the dates and checked them with the works team. And this would have taken about five minutes in a phone call. I mean total lack of joined-up thinking on their part. However, we did eventually get an answer out of them. After a week, which is a really unacceptable time to wait for an answer about something so trivial.

To explain further why I was satisfied with the result, well, we did ultimately get a reply. But the hoops we had to jump through to get there were insane. To this day, I still don't get why it was so hard just to check this information but such is life.

M: And do you often complain about things?

R: Only when other people complain? Generally. The irony is not lost on me.

Discussion

M: Thank you, Rory, for your story.

R: It's a story you may have heard before.

M: Oh, yes. So Rory told us about this train thing before. And the topic was "Describe a time when you got incorrect information". Now Rory recycled the same story. But now he's talking about a complaint he made. Why, dear listener? Why does Rory give us the same stuff over and over again? Why, Rory?

R: I've only done it once. Or have I? I think I did it before.

M: This is a great strategy. Okay? So you remember one story, you make it up or it could be the truth. And you use this story for different IELTS topics. Questions, situations, okay? This is how you, kind of you learn this language, you know your story, and you make the story fit different questions. So the same story could be used in five different questions. It's like the same person. Like describe a person. You just have one person in your head and then this person becomes "Describe a writer you want to meet", "Describe an elderly relative", "Describe your friend", "Describe a famous person". You see? But the person is one in your head. Okay? Do you like this strategy, dear listener, So instead of creating many different stories, you can just have a couple, like one or two in your head, and then change them according to the question. What can our listeners talk about in this situation? Like describe a complaint you made, we often complain about what? I think food in a restaurant. Well, I never complained about food, normally. I think another thing that bothers me is when people take a really long time to do something that shouldn't take that long. Like, Yesterday, I went for a coffee with a friend, and it took about 10 minutes for them to make a very simple black coffee. I was like, it doesn't take that long. Could you please go a little bit faster?

M: Yeah, so we often complain about services or products. So perhaps food or a hotel, right? A hotel room, or an airline company, clothes, some products you bought.

R: Oh, airline companies, they lose things, or there are delays to your flight. It's crazy.

M: Yeah. English teachers, classes with your English teacher.

R: No no one complains about English teachers. Well, no one ever complains about our classes, because they're amazing.

M: Yeah, that's true, that's true. So, dear listener, we complain about things, and a nice phrase Rory used, get the whole thing resolved. So here, when you complain, things get resolved or solved. So to get the thing solved, basically to solve something.

R: What's the difference between solved and resolved?

M: I think resolved is just more formal.

R: Oh, no, there must be another... There has to be a reason. Let's have a look. Solve refers to the process of finding the correct answer. And resolve refers to bringing the problem to a conclusion.

M: Yeah, big difference.

R: But generally, people use them to mean the same thing. Because it's all about problems and solutions.

M: It was a little while back. So a while back - some time ago, or a long time ago. So a little while back. Do you mean that it was a long time ago or it was not so long ago? Yeah, a little while back is... It could be either, to be honest. It's just a way of saying sometime in the past, I don't really remember when. It's like the phrase the other day, you know, when was the other day? I have no idea.

M: So I don't remember when, a little while back I complained to a company called blah, blah, blah. Yeah? So complain to a company. About what? About their unclear wording. Wording? Like phrasing. The words they used were confusing in a letter. I managed to get that sorted out. So I managed, I was successful, I tried and I was successful, I managed to get it sorted out. To sort things out? To kind of solve them, to resolve them, sort things out. So I managed to get it sorted out. So the problem was that the dates on the letter didn't match what was on the calendar. So there was an error. Like with the dates, with days. And this was confusing. And they were taking ages to reply to a call. So you know, when you call an airline to complain.

R: And you just get a machine.

M: Yeah, like, your waiting time is five years five minutes. Your call is very important. So it took ages for them to reply, or they were. They take ages to reply to a call, reply to a call you make. So Rory decided to post about it on Instagram. Okay?

R: I did.

M: Yeah, he used social media for his complaints.

R: And I got a reply instantly.

M: The power of Instagram. So Rory shamed them into answering. So he posted it in his stories. Like, he tagged the company. So he shamed them into answering.

R: I did, I shouldn't have done that, but I did because I was annoyed. And it was the only way to get them to do their job properly. Yeah, shame them on social media. He spoke to a string of people.

M: Well, if it's a serious complaint, you usually talk to different people. And you can say that I spoke to different people, or I spoke to a string of people. A string? Like a line of people. So just like many people. I spoke to the social media team and to the customer service people. Customer service people? Customer service managers. And then Rory told us about the details, what he complained about, about the words, the dates, the days in the letter.

R: So the days and the dates are different things. The days are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. But the date is the third of August 2023, for example. And so they gave both, but they didn't match. And they should.

M: And usually when you write an email to a company, you write a complaint email to a company, it takes forever for them to get back to us, right? So you write an email, it takes forever, it takes a long time for them to get back to us. So they get back to us, they reply, and like tell you what they will do. You can also say that I posted something on Instagram. So I posted something on social media. And actually, many people do that these days. So they try calling, they try emailing and then they post things on social media. And everybody sees it. And usually the brand, the company kind of gets back to you faster, because they don't want this wrong advertising.

R: Well, what do you call it? Negative advertising? Negative feedback?

M: Negative feedback. Yeah. So it was a bit frustrating. So I think the whole situation about complaints is a bit frustrating. Frustrating? Like disappointing. It's a bit negative.

R: Important to point out, that these are all antonyms or the opposites of feeling satisfied.

M: Yeah. Like, I was dissatisfied. I was frustrated. It was a bit frustrating. It was annoying. But we did eventually get an answer out of them.

R: Yes. And to get an answer out of someone just means you get an answer from them. From them. But it's kind of like, I'll get it out of you. But eventually, we did get an answer out of them. So we did get it like intensifies the meaning, not just like we got an answer, but we did get an answer out of them. Kind of we just took it out of them. Or you can also say we did ultimately get a reply. So eventually or ultimately, very nice words, which means finally. So finally, we did get a reply from them, or we did ultimately get a reply. So ultimately or eventually is used in the middle of the sentence, dear listener, which is a cool thing to do. So we did ultimately get a reply from them, or we did eventually get an answer out of them. When you make a complaint, you have to jump through hoops.

R: It just means that you have to do different things in order to achieve something. But like jumping through hoops is a very negative way of talking about it. It's just like doing something just because rather than going directly to where you want to be.

M: Yeah, you may not like it. But you know that to get a good mark, for example, at school, you need to do this, this and that. So you do it. So I have to jump through hoops to get a good mark. So I have to jump through hoops to get an answer out of them. Rory, what helped you organize this answer?

R: Well, the fact that I told the story before was extremely useful. And then, of course, going back to relying on the prompts. So everything is organized in roughly the same way that it is on prompt talking about when and then who I complained to, what I complained about, and why I was satisfied with the result with all the introductory phrases, like to say more about when it happened, when it comes to who I complained to, in greater detail about what I complained about. And to explain further why I was satisfied with the result. So those are the classics, something new relying on an old answer. I think you will probably notice that I didn't dedicate too much time to when it happened. And I gave a big long preamble at the beginning like a sort of introduction to the story and how I feel about the task.

M: Sweet. Thank you very much for listening! And we'll get back to you in speaking part three about complaining. Bye!

R: Oh joy, more complaints...

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