Warm-Up 4 Apologising and Complaining
Warm-Up 4 doesn't give you any marks … but we hope you feel that you'd like to contribute anyway. It's a sort of practice for the In-Tray Exam which will be made available next Friday, 17th November, since two out of the four exercises in that exam are about complaining and apologising.
Warm-Up 4 simply asks you to share any experiences you've had with apologising and complaining in English, either in speech or in writing. Which strategies worked well? Which ones were a complete disaster?
I'll mark any specific sentences which need marking from your Warm-Up 4s, and make a general comment about them all here on the blog.
Warm-Up 4 simply asks you to share any experiences you've had with apologising and complaining in English, either in speech or in writing. Which strategies worked well? Which ones were a complete disaster?
I'll mark any specific sentences which need marking from your Warm-Up 4s, and make a general comment about them all here on the blog.
posted by David Richardson at 12:56 AM
1 Comments:
This one's actually from Sofie Hellström …
Apologizing
When you are apologizing you should firstly investigate the situation to see what the complaint is about and how you perceive the situation from your own point of view. After that you should try to see the situation from the complainer’s point of view. In this way you will be able to make a fare assessment on how to solve the problem, what you have been doing wrong and what you are apologizing for.
After this and you are going to make your apology it is important to acknowledge a mistake and to make an excuse for it. The excuse should include a valid explanation and it might be a good idea to explain that you have done something about the situation and taken measurements in order to improve the situation. It is also a good idea to identify to whom you are making a apology, because how an excuse are formed are depending on the receiver. For partners you might have to apologize for not fulfilling the goals and it might be a good idea to focus on why it went the wrong way and give them a suitable explanation for these obstacles. But in all cases when making an apology I believe that it is very important to make sure that the person who has been treated inadequately in some way feel that his/her complaints are taken seriously.
The language used during apologizing should be formal so that you will show that you understand the seriousness about the circumstances. In the service branch there is a saying that the customer always is right. So in that matter you should always make the customer satisfied but in a reasonable way. I believe that the same goes in all business relations; you should apologize but not too much but to the extent so the complainer will feel satisfied. After that a fare solution should be found and determined to suit both the complainer and the one apologizing.
Complaining
When you are complaining it is of outmost importance to think carefully about your language. It should be formal, concise and without any strong emotional attributes. The complaining of course depends on what the problem has been, if it has happened during a longer period of time, if it is the first time you are complaining and so on.
I think that when complaining it is a good idea to include the necessary information and give it in a formal and calm way. Many letters of complaint seem to be emotionless and a bit harsh sometimes. When writing a complaint you should not use curse words and too much emotions instead you should explain in detail and paint a picture of your situation so that the receiver will understand you and confess their mistake, this is the hard part.
I believe that you never should write a letter of complaint and send it away when you are upset. Probably then you will write things you will regret. Instead take notes while you are upset and rephrase it after you have calm down. In this sense you will include most of your feelings but in a bit nicer but firm tone, you will explain what has happened and what compensation you would like to have for the inconvenience you have been put through.
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