Lesson 8: Complaints and Negotiations with Customer Service
Practical French for filing a complaint, making polite requests, and handling brief negotiations with customer service departments and retailers.
About this lesson
In this lesson, you will master how to express dissatisfaction politely, request a refund or replacement, and negotiate a resolution. You will reinforce the use of the conditional tense for courtesy, the subjunctive after expressions of demand, and key phrases drawn from real-life after-sales service (SAV) situations. The lesson prepares you to communicate confidently by phone, email, and in person at a service desk.
40 minutes
What you'll learn
- Formulate a polite complaint and request using the conditional tense.
- Ask for a refund, replacement, or compensation using precise terminology.
- Respond empathetically and professionally in the role of a customer service agent and negotiate a solution.
- Use the subjunctive after verbs of demand and insistence.
- Give a brief account of a past complaint experience by combining the passé composé and the imparfait.
Lesson vocabulary
- — подавам оплакване Je souhaite faire une réclamation concernant ma commande.
- — дефектен / дефектна Le produit est arrivé défectueux.
- — възстановяване на сума Je demande un remboursement complet.
- — заменям Pourriez-vous échanger l’article trop petit ?
- — обезщетение Serait-il possible d’obtenir un dédommagement pour le retard ?
- — сервизен отдел / следпродажбено обслужване J’ai contacté le SAV hier soir.
- — изчерпан (няма наличност) L’article était en rupture de stock la semaine dernière.
- — забавяне на доставката Nous avons constaté un retard de livraison de trois jours.
- — търговски жест (компенсация от търговец) Pourriez-vous faire un geste commercial ?
- — доказателство за покупка Avez-vous une preuve d’achat, comme la facture ?
- — в гаранция L’appareil est encore sous garantie jusqu’en novembre.
- — поемам (разходи/случай) Le magasin prendra en charge les frais de retour.