Functional Skills English
Speaking, listening and communication
Customer complaints
Level 2 Speaking, listening and communication
TASK 7 CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS
Have you ever had to deal with a customer complaint? Or perhaps there was a time when
you felt motivated to complain about the poor service you received?
Scenario
Dealing with a customer complaint can be difficult. The person may be angry and the
problem might not be your fault. Having good speaking and listening skills will help you to
handle the situation. You can then try to resolve it to the customer’s satisfaction.
The better you are at empathising with other people and using persuasive language, the
easier you will find it to deal with these difficult situations.
The activities in this task will require you to use some of your functional skills
in English, including:
●
considering the kinds of complaints you might have to deal with
●
finding persuasive words to help deal with someone who is upset or angry
●
observing body language in yourself and others
●
summarising a complaint to find the key points and acting out a customer
complaint role play
●
reviewing how well you did in the role play.
The activities in this task have been broken down into stages:
Weigh up the task
In this section you will work out what you need to do.
Prepare your strategy
In this section you will plan how you are going to do the task.
Tackle the task
In this section you will use your skills to complete the task.
Check and evaluate
In this section you will review what you have done.
Key terms
Formal complaint – an official complaint made to a manager.
Informal complaint – an unofficial complaint.
Empathic – identifying with someone’s feelings.
Complainant – the person making the complaint.
Body language – feelings expressed through posture, gesture or facial expressions.
Non-verbal communication – feelings expressed through body language rather than speech.
Consider complex information and give a relevant, cogent response in appropriate language;
present information and ideas clearly and persuasively to others; adapt contributions to suit audience, purpose and situation.
Functional Skills English Level 2 © Pearson Education Ltd 2011. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.
1
Functional Skills English
Speaking, listening and communication
Customer complaints
Level 2 Speaking, listening and communication
Name:
Date:
ACTIVITY 1 – WHAT KINDS OF COMPLAINTS?
In this task you are going to practise the speaking and listening skills needed to deal with
customer complaints. Let’s start by thinking about the different kinds of complaints you have
had to deal with before.
Instructions
1.
Think about the complaints you have dealt with at work, at college or in your home life.
What were the complaints about? Who were the people making the complaints? For
example, the complainant could have been a customer, a tutor or a friend.
2.
List the complaints in the table below. Identify which are formal and which are informal .
Formal complaint
3.
Informal complaint
How would you approach formal complaints differently to informal complaints?
Consider complex information and give a relevant, cogent response in appropriate language;
present information and ideas clearly and persuasively to others; adapt contributions to suit audience, purpose and situation.
Functional Skills English Level 2 © Pearson Education Ltd 2011. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.
2
Speaking, listening and communication
Customer complaints
Functional Skills English
Level 2 Speaking, listening and communication
Name:
Date:
ACTIVITY 2 – RESPONDING TO AN ANGRY CUSTOMER
Now you’ve thought about what kinds of complaints you deal with, it’s time to practise what
you might say to a customer who is making a complaint.
Instructions
1.
Read the phrases in the ‘How not to say it’ column. Think about why these responses
are not the best way to respond to an unhappy or angry customer.
2.
For each ‘How not to say it’ phrase, write down a more appropriate way of responding to
the customer in the ‘How to say it’ column. You could try saying the phrases aloud to
find the most sympathetic tone. The first phrase has been done for you as an example.
How not to say it
How to say it
Yeah, what do you want?
Hello, how may I help you?
I’m busy at the moment.
What’s up?
Got your receipt?
I can’t understand you, what did you say?
It’s not my fault.
I can’t really help.
Don’t shout at me.
You’ve left it too late to bring this back.
You’re upsetting our other customers.
3.
●
What advice would you give to a colleague or friend who was concerned about
responding to an unhappy customer? Try to come up with a list of key points.
An example has been provided to help get you started.
Maintain a polite tone and remain calm, it helps to calm others down.
Consider complex information and give a relevant, cogent response in appropriate language;
present information and ideas clearly and persuasively to others; adapt contributions to suit audience, purpose and situation.
Functional Skills English Level 2 © Pearson Education Ltd 2011. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.
3
Speaking, listening and communication
Customer complaints
Functional Skills English
Level 2 Speaking, listening and communication
Name:
Date:
ACTIVITY 3 – BODY TALK CHECKLIST
People’s body language can tell you a lot about how they are feeling. Understanding
how people are feeling from their non-verbal communication will enable you to select the
right tone and language to respond.
Instructions
1.
Complete the checklist below by observing people who are angry or upset at work,
home, college or even on television. See if you can check all the items on the list.
Include your own interpretation of the person’s non-verbal communication in the
right column.
An example has been done for you to start you off.
Body language
Situation
What I think the body language shows
Folded arms
Team meeting at work
A colleague was feeling defensive because a
deadline had been missed.
Hands on hips
Thin-lipped
Raised eyebrows
Rolling eyes
Shaking head
Frowning
Staring eyes
Clenched fist
Tapping fingers
Consider complex information and give a relevant, cogent response in appropriate language;
present information and ideas clearly and persuasively to others; adapt contributions to suit audience, purpose and situation.
Functional Skills English Level 2 © Pearson Education Ltd 2011. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.
4
Functional Skills English
Speaking, listening and communication
Customer complaints
Level 2 Speaking, listening and communication
Name:
Date:
ACTIVITY 4 – ROLE PLAY CARDS
The following role play scenarios are customer complaints and other difficult situations. Do
this activity in conjunction with Activity 5.
Instructions
1.
Read each scenario.
2.
Practise what you would say to the customer. Remember that, in addition to excellent
listening skills, you will need to persuade the customer that you are dealing with their
problem effectively.
If you are working in a pair or group of three, take turns being the customer and the observer.
A customer has come into the shop where you work to purchase a specialist book for her
daughter’s studies. She telephoned ahead and was assured it was in stock but she was
misinformed. The book is not available and she has travelled a long way to visit the shop.
a) What would you say?
b) What would you do next?
You have served a diner in the restaurant and he has complained that his food is cold. He
wants to have a fresh meal cooked but you noticed that he spent a long time on his mobile
phone before trying the food.
a) What would you say?
b) What would you do next?
Your manager has asked you to photocopy all the papers for an important meeting. Your deadline
was today. It’s 4 pm and you haven’t started because you were busy with other work. Your manager
has now appeared at your desk and is looking very annoyed.
a) What would you say?
b) What would you do next?
A regular client has decided to have a radical change of hairstyle. You’ve advised her to go
for something less drastic but she is determined. After you have cut and coloured her hair
she decides she doesn’t like it and refuses to pay. She is very angry and says you haven’t
done what she asked.
a) What would you say?
b) What would you do next?
You are renovating a house with a team of builders and the scaffolders have broken some roof tiles.
The owner is angry that you were not supervising them properly and will not pay for the repairs.
a) What would you say?
b) What would you do next?
A relative of one of the residents in the care home where you work has complained that her
father’s room is not being kept clean and tidy. Her father has dementia.
a) What would you say?
b) What would you do next?
Consider complex information and give a relevant, cogent response in appropriate language;
present information and ideas clearly and persuasively to others; adapt contributions to suit audience, purpose and situation.
Functional Skills English Level 2 © Pearson Education Ltd 2011. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.
5
Functional Skills English
Speaking, listening and communication
Customer complaints
Level 2 Speaking, listening and communication
Name:
Date:
ACTIVITY 5 – OBSERVATION CHECKLIST
Do this activity in conjunction with Activity 4.
Instructions
1.
When acting out your role plays for Activity 4, take a turn as the observer.
2.
Note down how well your fellow learners do when they are responding to the customer’s
complaint. Use the scoring below to help give them feedback.
Scoring
1 They really need to work on this.
2 OK, but they need to improve.
3 Pretty good.
4 They did this very well indeed.
When responding to a customer’s complaint, did they...?
Score
Listen without interrupting
Stay calm
Make notes if they needed to
Use persuasive words
Speak politely
Use a calm tone of voice
Use language that was appropriate
Use open body language
Consider complex information and give a relevant, cogent response in appropriate language;
present information and ideas clearly and persuasively to others; adapt contributions to suit audience, purpose and situation.
Functional Skills English Level 2 © Pearson Education Ltd 2011. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.
6