Describe a time when you had to regret for being polite.
You should say:
When did this happen? Why did you regret?
Note: You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.
Model Answer:
Introduction: Well, politeness is the greatest virtue, and we are always taught to be polite. But here, I would like to narrate one such incident when I had to regret being polite.
When did this happen? This incident took place almost two months ago when I received my phone bill. Usually, I receive a bill of around 200 to 300 rupees, but this time there was an additional charge of 200 rupees.
When I saw and figured out it was for the ringtone service for which it was charged. I never make use of such services. But when I tried to recall, I realized that it might have been accidentally done by my nephew, who often plays with my phone.
Since I never use such services, I decided to call customer care to request them to revert the charge. Mr. Sony was the representative, and I talked to him very politely. I tried to make him understand my situation, but this service was never availed.
For that reason, it would be no harm to the company if it reversed the charge, but Mr. Sony was not in the mood to listen to me. He said he was not in a position to help me in any way, and by all means, I had to pay the bill.
I also requested that it is the very first time that I have mistakenly or accidentally availed of the service. I was extremely polite to him so that I could convince him to do the favor for me, but he was completely adamant, and ultimately I had to pay the additional charge for no reason.
But the very next week, when I shared this incident with my friend Karan, he started laughing at me and said you had made a blunder.
Because he has many experiences like this, he told me that whenever you talk to customer care executives, never talk politely to them.
Talk in a very authoritative manner and rudely, and rather than requesting, order them to do the refund, or you will discontinue using their services.
If you talk in this manner, they will not argue with you, and without thinking twice, they will refund you the money.
Why did you regret? and Conclusion: In fact, he showed me a few transactions in his account where he had received a refund even when it was his mistake.
I couldn’t believe my eyes, but this conversation really helped me to learn one thing that next time if you talk to the customer care executives, do not talk to them politely; otherwise, you have to regret it.
IELTS Speaking Part 3 : Follow up Questions
Here some examples of follow up questions that you may asked during your speaking part 3 by examiner related to cue card “describe a time when you had to regret for being polite”.
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