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Topic 21 of 60

Discussion picture Discussion questions Key words

Picture warm-up

1. What do you see in this picture?
2. Who are these people, and what are they doing?
3. Does this look like your life here, or in your home country? How is it the same or different?

Discussion questions

1. Have you ever made a complaint in a store or restaurant? What happened?
2. How do you feel about calling customer service on the phone in English?
3. What makes good customer service?
4. What is your worst customer service experience?
5. Is customer service in the U.S. better or worse than in your home country?
6. Do you prefer to complain in person, by phone, by email, or in an online chat?
7. What polite phrases can you use when you make a complaint?
8. Do you write online reviews? Why or why not?
9. What should you do if a company charges you incorrectly?
10. Is the customer always right? Why or why not?
11. How do you stay calm when you are angry about a problem?
12. Have you ever worked in customer service? What was it like?
13. How do you feel about talking to automated phone systems or chatbots?
14. What would you do if a package never arrived?
15. What is a company that treats customers really well?

Key words

Say the word, then read the example sentence out loud.

• complaint
  I’d like to make a complaint about my bill.
• customer service
  I called customer service to ask about my order.
• representative
  The representative solved my problem quickly.
• manager
  May I speak to the manager, please?
• refund
  They gave me a full refund.
• charge
  I was charged twice for the same item.
• damaged
  The box arrived damaged.
• apologize
  The waiter apologized for the mistake.
• on hold
  I was on hold for twenty minutes.
• warranty
  The TV is still under warranty.
• review
  I wrote a good review for the hotel.
• solve
  Can you help me solve this problem?
• polite
  It’s better to be polite, even when you’re upset.
• frustrated
  I felt frustrated because nobody helped me.
• account number
  Please have your account number ready.

Next topic: 22. Weather

Topic chosen by comparing popular ESL conversation resources (see How these topics were chosen). Questions and example sentences are original to this collection. Translations are a guide and should be reviewed by a fluent speaker.