How to Help Angry, Unhappy Customers! Business English for Customer Service On the Phone

hi there high Lev listeners welcome back to our English learning YouTube channel with side by side American and British English have you ever talked to an angry customer at work have you ever tried to fix a problem but you weren't sure if you were saying the right things in the right way so we've got a really helpful topic for today's video how to help customers and clients especially when they're impatient upset unhappy or maybe even a little angry yes that's right we know this can be a really uncomfortable situation to deal with it's always stressful

to deal with an unhappy customer at work whether you're in a restaurant or in an office but we think we've come up with a really effective strategy and a lot of perfect phrases to help you deal with these situations professionally politely and effectively eating so actually our strategy is pretty simple first you want to acknowledge the customer and the problem which means that you need to let them know that you are listening to them and you understand that they are having problems that's what it means to acknowledge them you you say yes I understand I

hear you I'm listening to you then the second part of the strategy is to tell the customer or the client that you are going to fix the problem that's it you need to acknowledge there is a problem then offer a solution tell them you're going to to help them so with this strategy we're going to give you 10 phrases today that will fit perfectly into this strategy and help you deal with customers in English better than ever we understand that having these phrases in writing would be very helpful for memorizing and practicing these phrases so

we would love to invite you to join us as a highle listening member here on YouTube becoming a member means that you can get the PDF transcript on this episode and easily follow along word for word get that in the link in the description below okay so let's get started with these phrases that are going to take your customer service skills to the next level we're going to introduce the vocabulary in two parts the first part is acknowledging the problems the second part is offering a solution so we really think if you want to deal

with an unhappy customer effectively you need to say both of these parts and we'll start with the first part acknowledging the problem first phrase to acknowledge a problem is thanks for letting me know thanks for letting me know to be a bit more polite you could say thank you for letting me know it's the same it's a polite General phrase to acknowledge any problem it also means that I'm ready and I'm willing to help you okay there's a problem thanks for letting me know I sound like I'm trying to help you straight away this is

all also really good if someone actually has a problem with you or with your work then instead of getting uh defensive saying oh I didn't do anything I didn't do anything wrong oh okay yeah thanks for letting me know thanks for letting me know now our next one is I'm sorry to hear that I'm sorry to hear that you know usually when we say I'm sorry it means that it's my fault right but I'm sorry to hear that is kind of showing a bit more sympathy oh I'm sorry to hear that I feel bad that

you're having problems okay oh I'm sorry to hear that I'm sorry to hear that your brous accent I'm sorry to hear that oh I'm sorry to hear that that sounds very sympathetic as Kat said I feel bad that you're having a problem too I sound emotionally invested so we're going to fix this third phrase for acknowledging a problem is thanks for your patience thanks for your patience again tiny bit more formal thank you for your patience if you've had a customer who's been waiting a long time maybe they were on hold on the phone for

a long time or maybe it's been several days since they uh put in their ticket you can acknowledge that they waited a long time and say thanks for your patience if you acknowledge that they waited a long time they might feel a bit better they might calm down a little bit because at least you noticed that they have been waiting for a long time again that kind of builds a better rapport with the customer they're more likely to be calm and you're more likely to have a better interaction thanks for your patience this is a

good alternative as well because sometimes we hear the word sorry a lot oh I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm late I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry and then we're not really sorry we just feel bad about it so instead of saying I'm sorry for the weight say something like thanks for your patience so it's more about you and not about me right thanks for your patience now a little bit of a higher level one a little bit more formal we appreciate you bringing this to our attention actually this is very funny because I just had a

problem with an app on my phone so I sent a message and said hey there's a a bug there's an issue on this app and the first thing that they said to us was we appreciate you bringing this to our attention now yes this might be a copy and paste answer I might be talking to a bot but I thought even to myself oh okay yeah no problem I felt almost helpful yeah I felt dless helpful at that point so we appreciate you bringing this to our attention Okay so you brought this to us we

now we can notice it now we can fix the problem we appreciate you bringing this to our attention yes we appreciate you bringing this to our attention this is similar to the first one you're not denying or getting defensive about a problem you're saying thank you for showing me so now we can fix it the last phrase for acknowledging a problem is I completely understand your concern I completely understand your concern your concern could be your problem your frustration your anger or your impatience that is your concern I completely understand your concern I'm taking this

problem very seriously maybe this is a problem with money problem with the bank or something quite serious so this is a serious answer to a serious problem I completely understand your concern it's important also to not minimize the problem or make it seem small all or easy every issue should seem important and this phrase shows that yeah this is a big deal and I'm going to treat it like a serious problem I completely understand your concern I even like just the first part of this sentence I completely understand so while people are talking we do

usually like to hear that you're listening to us and sometimes you can say things like yes I see right mhm yes of course I completely understand yes yes so this is another good way to kind of let them know that you're still listening to them because if I'm talking about my problem and it maybe takes 30 seconds to a minute and I don't hear anything on the end of the line I'm going to think that you ignored me or you put the phone down so it's this is also a good way to use this one

I completely understand I completely understand your concern all right it's time to offer a solution now you might not be able to to fix the problem immediately you might not be able to fix the problem right away we understand I get that but I'm going to start working on it okay I don't have an answer this second I don't have an answer but I'm going to start working on it I'm going to start fixing it okay so this is when we offer a solution we take personal responsibility for it you told me your problem I

understand I acknowledge the problem now I'm going to tell you I'm working on it okay I'm working on it so a lot of these ones we will add for you at the end I think this is a nice touch okay just saying let me check on that for you let me check on that for you meaning it's not just because it's my job but it's because you brought the problem to me I want to fix it for you let me let me check on that for you yes let me check on that for you I

like the first phrase let me check that let me do it is me taking the responsibility like no no no you don't do it let me check that for you allow me so we're sounding like we are serving we are helping you straight away let me check on that for you in my mind I imagine myself in a restaurant saying that that feels like a common restaurant phrase if there's a problem with the food oh sorry yes let me check on that for you second phrase to offer a solution let me see how I can

fix that for you let me see how I can fix that for you again for you at the end sounds a little bit more personal and let me see like cat said maybe I don't have the answer right now it's maybe a difficult question or a difficult problem so give me a little bit of time let me see how I could fix that for you in none of these five phrases will we say the word wait I would not recommend using the word wait with a customer especially if they're angry or upset why why does

that bother us so much Mark right when you said wait I said no I'm not gonna wait you wait yeah EXC me no so even yeah I know this is just even this is fake this is a completely fake conversation but Mark I mean if you said calm down or wait even if you said wait please I would say so what are you working on something else are you even like trying to fix my problem you might be able to say Let me let me check on that for you um could you hold on a

moment but it's because you already told me that you're helping me out right but Mark you just made me mad just then you said wait it's just one word yeah one word don't say wait don't say calm down don't say wait until well I would never say calm down to someone unless they were really really really mean or really mad at me then I think that's appropriate but right so if you do need a bit more time the best way is say let me see how I can fix that for you let me see like

that means give me a bit of time I'm going to investigate because it might take a moment let me see how I can fix that for you and it's kind of interesting we don't say let me see if I can fix that for you because that's a little bit of Doubt right um I'm not sure so let me see if if I can fix that for you then I'm thinking what this is a waste of my time we don't even know if you can fix it right so this kind of gives you more confidence let

me see how I can fix that for you I'm going to fix it all right I'm going to try my best at least let me see how I can fix that for you and again trying to bring that confidence in I'll handle it right away I will handle this right away oh man if someone said that to me oh okay I'll wait then all right I'm okay to wait now I'll handle this right away I'll handle this I'll handle that I'll handle the problem I'll handle the issue right away to handle something is to take

control okay I'll handle it I'll manage it I'll fix it I'll find a solution I'll handle it you told me your problem you're done I'll handle it from here I'll handle it right away yeah I'll handle it again that's I will so it's me taking responsibility this is my job now that reassures customers too similar phrase number four I'll take care of that for you I'll take care of that for you for you because you're special I'll take care of that sounds a little bit softer more friendly and it also feels like this is quite

an easy fix this is not a very complex or difficult problem yep lots of people call us every day with this yep I'll take care of that for you done okay your website is back online so I think if you've got a short or quick solution for them I'll take care of that for you okay that's done this is a very confident phrase and it feels quite friendly like you're not stressed you're not worried this isn't a big deal I'll take care of that for you now our very last one is actually that you do

have a solution right away okay so here's what I can do for you this is when we're going to present the solutions okay we're going to present the solutions and solve these problems for you so this is a really good one when you have already investigated all right so here we go here's what I can do for you we can do this we can do this or we can do this this is really good um to see which one they want to accept and then you can let them know they can say okay and then

we'll move on with the solution so here's what I can do for you here's what I can do for you like cat said if you've got multiple options maybe a refund maybe a discount or something else you can present the solutions and see which one I like okay so now you've heard both sets of phrases we're going to give you some dialogues in each of these dialogues there's an unhappy customer talking to an employee a worker someone who's running their account right listen to how we use the two steps we're going to acknowledge the problem

and then we're going to offer a solution to deal with the issue professionally respectfully and effectively yes and the best thing about all these phrases is that you can mix and match them you can combine any two together and you'll still make a professional polite answer so let's hear the first dialogue this first one is in a restaurant and I imagine is the customer and I am the server the waiter oh hi excuse me um I ordered a salad but it hasn't arrived yet and it's been 30 minutes oh no okay uh thanks for letting

me know about the salad sorry about that I'll take care of that for you I'll be right back okay okay yeah sure all right there we go yes cat it was so professional I oh okay all right that's fine thanks so you shrink in the thanks thanks I can wait not thank thanks for listening to me yeah sometimes you know you've had a you've had a server at a restaurant who says oh no or oh okay and then you think oh okay fine you don't fixing it or happening yeah if you can be professional about

it oh I'm not mad at all anymore okay thanks thanks thanks for putting in an effort yeah we turned the tables all right so our next dialogue we're at the grocery store and you are working at the grocery store and one of the customers at the store has a problem so Mark is the customer and I'm am the cashier or the salesperson or the stalker at the grocery store hi sorry the self checkout machine charged me twice for the same item no I'm sorry to hear that let me check on that for you can I

take a look at your receipt yes here you are okay so we got the two parts acknowledging the problem I'm sorry to hear that and offering a solution let me check on that for you so those two pieces always dialogue number three this is a phone customer service situation so maybe a customer is calling you and they want a refund cat is the customer I'm calling because the package you sent me was damag so the product inside was damaged as well I I think I deserve a refund for this oh okay I'm sorry to hear

that and I completely understand that you would want a refund here's what I can do for you let me get your information and we'll get you a full refund okay okay thanks yeah okay thank you okay all right right that's a success if the angry customer ends up saying thank you you've done you've done well because I was mad and I was ready to get even more mad but um well I don't okay have any reason to be mad anymore so I'm just going to tell you thank you right all right for the next one

this is it support okay so if you work in it and you've got to support people with problems questions issues so an employee is speaking to it support so yes this could be an employee in the um company that you're helping with a computer problem so Mark is going to be the employee and I work with it I I can't access the shared drive and I need those files for my presentation this afternoon oh yeah uh I'm sorry to hear that let me see how I can fix that for you and give you access to

those files okay all right go ahead and tell me your ID number and email address and I'll take care of it for you okay thank you okay the fifth and final dialogue is going to be in the HR Department that human resources this is the department in a company that handles the paychecks and the salaries of their workers so this could obviously be a stressful situation cat is going to be an employee at the company and I am the HR agent hi good morning um I I haven't received my paycheck yet and it's it's already

a day late I I have bills to pay some of the bills went out yesterday I'm a bit behind I I really really need to get paid yes of course we appreciate you bringing this to our attention and thank you for your patience I'll take care of that for you and check with payroll immediately okay all right thanks so see how it calmed cat down I didn't sayal yeah I was you know I mean money money is really important and when you miss that paycheck or if it's a day late that's that can ruin a

lot of people's month for sure so you know um if you're on the other side remember to show empathy to remember that because people are mad or sad or angry or upset they just want to be listened to that's number one they want to be listened to and they want you to help them as much as you can so these are great ways to do that so there you go everybody lots and lots of useful ways to diffuse and deal with situations with unhappy customers professionally clearly and correctly were any of these phrases new for

you in the video which ones let us know in the comments below we read and reply to every single one mostly mark but I do too yes we do you do a couple sometimes uh but yes so if you work in customer service or if you deal with customers in English as well we would like to hear your experiences because maybe we could make some more videos to help you or give you more phrases for those kind of situations instead so yeah please get in touch it gives us ideas for future videos and as always

if you want the PDF transcript so you can see all of these phrases written down and read the dialogues offline you can join us a M below click the link it's at the top of the description don't forget if you really like this video let us know in the comments like And subscribe so until next time highle listeners we'll see you very soon thank you everybody bye-bye bye-bye [Music]