BBC Learnings · Section 9

Are you good at complaining_

Hello, this is 6 Minute English. I'm Sam. And I'm Rob.

Level: B2 · 74 sentences

Transcript

  1. Hello, this is 6 Minute English.
  2. I'm Sam. And I'm Rob.
  3. Are you good at complaining, Rob?
  4. Of course not. I'm British.
  5. I never complain, even when I get terrible service.
  6. It's just too embarrassing. Well, you might be in a minority now as it seems we British are complaining more than we used to.
  7. We'll look at this topic a little more after this week's quiz question.
  8. The oldest recorded complaint is on a stone tablet in the British Museum.
  9. It's nearly 4,000 years old.
  10. What do you think, Rob?
  11. I'm just going to guess at the goats.
  12. Someone bought a load of goats and fewer were delivered...
  13. than were bought. That sounds good, but it's just a guess.
  14. OK, well, I will reveal the answer later in the programme and don't complain if you get it wrong.
  15. You and Yours is a BBC radio programme about consumer affairs.
  16. On a recent programme, they discussed the topic of complaining and customer service with Giles Hawke from an organisation called the Institute of Customer Service.
  17. He talks about different sectors.
  18. A sector is a particular area of business.
  19. Which sectors does he say have most problems when it comes to keeping the complaining customers satisfied?
  20. The sectors that probably have more problems than the UK average are public services, telecommunications, transport and service sector.
  21. And there are probably some inherent challenges within those sectors.
  22. They maybe have more impact on a day-to-day basis.
  23. Those sectors which are performing well, travel is performing well, retail is performing well, leisure appears to be performing well.
  24. So, which sectors are not keeping the customer satisfied?
  25. He says that public services – telecoms, transport and the service sector – have most problems.
  26. And he says that these sectors may have inherent challenges.
  27. And what does he mean by that?
  28. Well, some sectors by their nature are more complicated and more likely to cause problems for customers.
  29. Public services, for example, often don't have enough money or enough staff.
  30. Telecommunication systems, such as your internet connection, are very complicated and sometimes go wrong.
  31. And bad weather can affect transport and so on.
  32. So an inherent problem is a problem that is part of the nature of the thing itself.
  33. So those sectors are not performing well.
  34. We usually think of the word perform...
  35. when we're talking about actors or musicians, but in a business sense, to perform well or badly means to be successful or not.
  36. And according to Giles Hawke, travel and retail are performing well in terms of customer service.
  37. Giles Hawke goes on to talk about how people are actually making their complaints, but are modern methods taking over from the traditional letter or phone call?
  38. We still see over 58% of complaints are made by phone or by letter.
  39. So, you know, the more traditional methods of making a complaint are still dominant.
  40. But we are seeing social media rise, although it's still a very small part of how people complain.
  41. And it tends to be used as an escalation point if people aren't getting what they want dealt with in the first instance.
  42. So, are people using modern methods more than traditional ones?
  43. Actually, no. He says that phoning or writing a letter are still dominant.
  44. This means they are still the main, most used methods for making a complaint.
  45. Where people are turning to social media is if their complaint is not dealt with.
  46. To deal with something means to sort it, to fix it.
  47. And if you complain and it's not dealt with, then, he says, people turn to social media as a form of escalation.
  48. When you escalate a complaint, you take it to a higher level.
  49. Putting your complaint on social media means that a lot more people are going to see it and it might encourage a company to deal with the complaint.
  50. Right. Well, before we receive any complaints, let's review today's vocabulary after the answer to the question, which was about a 4,000-year-old complaint.
  51. Was the complaint about...? A.
  52. An incorrect number of goats that were delivered after being bought at market.
  53. B. The quality of copper bars that were supplied.
  54. Or C. The non-payment of a bill for a banquet.
  55. Rob, what did you say?
  56. I went for A. I went for the goats.
  57. Sorry. It was actually a complaint about the quality of copper ingots, or bars, that were supplied.
  58. If you knew that... Very well done.
  59. If you guessed right, also very well done.
  60. No shame to get that one wrong.
  61. And no complaints from me.
  62. OK, right. Now to vocabulary.
  63. We had sectors which are particular areas of business in the economy.
  64. Something that is inherent is a natural part of something.
  65. It's usually used to describe a problem or risk that is an unavoidable part of something.
  66. How successful a company is can be described as how well it's performing.
  67. And if something is dominant, it means it is the strongest or most used.
  68. And if a company doesn't deal with or try to fix a problem, the customer might take the complaint to the next level on social media, which would mean an escalation.
  69. Thank you Rob. That's all from 6 Minute English this time.
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  71. Bye bye! Bye! Hi everyone!
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