Expressing A Complaint in English (EFL/ESL English Speaking Lessons)

EFL/ESL English Speaking Lessons

Expressing a complaint in English

What is a complaint?

Expressing a complaint – A complaint is a statement that shows that someone is not satisfied with something or that someone is bothering him or her. Every day, we live cases in which we are not satisfied with things that happen to us. So, we need to complain about them. If you are a student of English and you want to express your complaint, how can you do it?

Here in this lesson, you will be introduced to several expressions that will help express and respond to complaints.

Making a complaint

-Sorry to bother you, but….
-Sorry to say this, but I have a complaint about + v + (infinitive)
-I’m so sorry about this, but I really need to complain about + verb + ing or noun
-I have a serious complaint to make, ….
-I’m afraid there is a slight problem with…
-Excuse me, but I think there is a problem with…

Accepting a complaint

I’m sorry, but this will never happen again.
-I promise that this will never happen.
-I’m sorry, I promise I will solve this problem now.
-I do apologize for what happened.
-I’m really sorry about that.
-We will do our best not to make the same mistake in the future

Rejecting a complaint

Sorry, there is nothing we can do about it.
-I’m afraid, there is not much we can do about it.
-I’m afraid that can’t be fixed

Examples of expressing complaint in English

A: Sorry to bother you, but the hotel has no light.
B: I’m very sorry about that. I will make sure this will never happen.
A: I have a serious complaint to make. The book I bought has some missing pages.
B: Sorry, there is nothing I can do about it.