Real English - How to complain about a problem

Got a problem? Speak up about it! In this useful lesson, you will learn a simple 3-step process to complain about any issue you have! This lesson is essential for anyone living, travelling, or doing business in an English-speaking country. Whether your hotel room is dirty, your food is cold, or your internet is not working -- you need to know how to lodge a complaint! Watch this lesson so that you can stand up for yourself and get the service you deserve! Then take the quiz here: http://www.engvid.com/real-english-how-to-complain-about-a-problem/

TRANSCRIPT

Hi. My name is Rebecca. Complaining is something that most people don't enjoy doing. But sometimes, it's necessary for us to get what we need or want or deserve. In this lesson, I'll show you an easy three-step process to complain effectively in English. Let's get started.

Okay. So the three steps are: First, state the problem; second, express your feelings; and last, ask for action. Let's look at some examples of how this works.

Let's say you have no hot water in your hotel room. So state the problem. You say, "We have no hot water in our hotel room. This is unacceptable. Please transfer me to another room." Okay? So, "I have no hot water. This is unacceptable. Please transfer me to another room." Right? State the problem; express your feelings; ask for action.

It's very important to do this last part. Some people just do this part. They state the problem, or they grumble by stating -- they're expressing their feelings. But they don't tell people what they want them to do. So if you really want action, make sure you ask for what you ask for what you want someone to do to fix your problem, okay?

Next, you're in a restaurant, and the food isn't to your satisfaction. So you say, "The food is cold. This is ridiculous. Please bring us some hot food." Okay? One, two, three.

Next, "The Internet is down" -- "the Internet is down" means the Internet is not working, all right? "This is unacceptable. Please credit me for the lost hours." Okay?

Another example, "You overcharged me for this item. This is wrong. Please give me a refund." Okay? So you see, by following this three-step process, it's a very easy way for you to complain about anything that you're having a problem with, okay?

So remember, don't forget to ask for action, because without that, people may come up with a solution which you don't really like. And you want to make sure that people do what you want them to do, for example, give you a refund, or for example, not just fix your Internet, but give you a credit for the hours that you lost. So by you stating what you want, there's a much greater likelihood that the problem will be fixed in a way that makes you satisfied, okay?

For example, let me tell you what happened to me the other day, a really bad experience. I went to the supermarket. I was really hungry. I had nothing at home to eat. And I bought a roast chicken. And that was going to be my dinner. So I took it home, spent a good amount of money for that chicken, prepared some other things to eat with the chicken. And finally, when I was about to sit down, I opened up the chicken, and what do I see? Somebody had actually eaten a part of the leg. One of the legs was eaten, and the bone was left there. I mean, can you imagine my shock? I was absolutely disgusted. I took action. I complained. So what did I do? I told them, "Someone has eaten my chicken! Somebody has eaten one of the legs and actually left the dirty bone there in the package! And you sold me this ridiculous chicken! So this is ridiculous. This is completely wrong. Please give me a refund immediately. Give me a replacement chicken. And in addition, I'm going to write to your management because this is a health hazard." So depending on what the situation is, you can decide how much you complain, what you ask for. I did, by the way, get a replacement chicken. I did get my money back in addition. And I'm planning to follow up with the management because it's really crazy, isn't it?

So I hope you've learned from this, how to complain. I hope this never happens to you, no chicken situations or anything else. But sometimes things happen. So at least, you'll know how to handle it, all right? If you'd like to do a quiz to really master how you complain, please go to our website www.engvid.com. And you could also subscribe to my YouTube channel to learn many other things that you could do in English more effectively. All right? Thanks very much for watching. Bye, for now.