Dealing with complaints Guess the situation- Student A
Negotiations and trade/ import export vocabulary
Choose one of the situations below and apologise using the structure Apology + Reason + Promise, and see if your partner can guess what the situation is. If they can’t guess correctly, give more possible apologies for the same situation until they get it right. Try to make the first apology quite vague so it isn’t easy to guess from.
Useful Language
Apologies
I’m (very/ so/ extremely/ truly) sorry (for…) Please forgive me/ us (for…)
I (would like to ) apologize (wholeheartedly/ unreservedly) (for…)
Please accept my/ our (sincere/ sincerest) apologies for…
I/ We regret to inform you that… We were very sorry to hear about/ that…
I cannot say how sorry I am that… There is (really) no excuse for…
Reasons
This was because… Unfortunately, this was unavoidable as…
The delay was due to (circumstances beyond our control/ …)
The main reason for this was …
Promises
In the future we will… To make up for this…
Due to the inconvenience we have caused you…
We wonder if you would be willing to accept… Please accept…
In order to show how sorry we are… We would like to offer you…
To compensate you for… We will shortly/ soon be back to normal service
(You may be assured that) this won’t happen again
That will (absolutely) be the last time that happens
1. Apologize to farmers who have lost money or lost their jobs due to a free trade deal you have signed with the USA (e.g. due to local consumers buying cheaper American beef rather than meat produced by the local farmers. You are a politician)
2. Apologize to your customers about a product containing genetically modified(= GM) soybeans being falsely labelled as organic
3. Apologize to one customer about prices for coffee going up in your café (possible reasons- all coffee becoming organic or fair trade, or the market price of coffee going up due to weather conditions, world demand etc)
4. Apologize for stopping the sale of beef from one particular country in your supermarket (possible reasons: boycotts of that country’s goods, health concerns such as BSE etc.)
5. Apologize for the breakdown in the Doha Round of WTO trade talks (you are a politician)
6. Apologize for one consignment getting lost or arriving late
7. Apologize to your husband or wife for losing all your savings while trading on the commodity markets
Were the promises you were given good enough? Go through the situations one more time, this time seeing if you can negotiate a solution which both sides can accept.
If you work in an international trade/ import export company or often deal with deliveries and suppliers, make sure you understand and can use all the vocabulary in italics above.
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Dealing with complaints Guess the situation- Student B
Negotiations and trade/ import export vocabulary
Choose one of the situations below and apologise using the structure Apology + Reason + Promise, and see if your partner can guess what the situation is. If they can’t guess correctly, give more possible apologies for the same situation until they get it right. Try to make the first apology quite vague so it isn’t easy to guess from.
Useful Language
Apologies
I’m (very/ so/ extremely/ truly) sorry (for…) Please forgive me/ us (for…)
I (would like to ) apologize (wholeheartedly/ unreservedly) (for…)
Please accept my/ our (sincere/ sincerest) apologies for…
I/ We regret to inform you that… We were very sorry to hear about/ that…
I cannot say how sorry I am that… There is (really) no excuse for…
Reasons
This was because… Unfortunately, this was unavoidable as…
The delay was due to (circumstances beyond our control/ …)
The main reason for this was …
Promises
In the future we will… To make up for this…
Due to the inconvenience we have caused you…
We wonder if you would be willing to accept… Please accept…
In order to show how sorry we are… We would like to offer you…
To compensate you for… We will shortly/ soon be back to normal service
(You may be assured that) this won’t happen again
That will (absolutely) be the last time that happens
1. Apologize to the citizens of your country for cutting fuel subsidies (you are a politician)
2. Apologize to a representative of another government for cutting rice exports to their country (you are a member of your country’s government, maybe the Minister of Agriculture and Trade)
3. Apologize to the public for your country’s trade deficit (you are a member of the government)
4. Apologize for not being able to offer a bulk discount
5. Apologize for not being able to despatch immediately
6. Apologize for demanding cash on delivery
7. Apologize to a member of a foreign country for increasing tariffs on wheat imported into your country (you are a member of the government)
Were the promises you were given good enough? Go through the situations one more time, this time seeing if you can negotiate a solution which both sides can accept.
If you work in an international trade/ import export company or often deal with deliveries and suppliers, make sure you understand and can use all the vocabulary in italics above.
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PDF version for easy printing: ComplaintsGuessing
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