Describe a bad service you received in a restaurant/shop IELTS cue card

The IELTS speaking cue card topic “Describe a bad service you received in a restaurant/shop” requires you to speak about a disappointing customer service you experienced. In the IELTS cue card section, you are given one minute for preparation and are required to speak for 2 to 3 minutes on the given topic. You will be asked follow up questions in the final section of the IELTS speaking test. Refer to the sample cue card answers and follow up questions provided in this article.

Describe a bad service you received in a restaurant/shop

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You should say:

• When and where it happened?
• What happened?
• How it was solved?
• And explain how you felt about the experience?

Model answer 1

Introduction:
   Bad customer service usually leaves a client angry, sad, and dissatisfied. It happens when a business fails to meet one’s expectations. Here I am going to share about the bad service which I received in the restaurant.

When and where it happened?
  I still remember the day, it happened in June 2022 on our last day of last semester exam, as it was the last of our college days. My friend and I decided to have a group lunch at DIA restaurant located in Chennai.

What happened?
  As we planned before, we pre booked the table with an advance, but the supervisor has allocated our table to some other family. When we reached their reception they said we hadn't done the pre-book.

How it was solved?
   They haven’t given the right response. If we asked the manager he told us to ask the reception. Like this they were done for an hour. Even though we have shown our pre-booked slot on their website, they haven’t accepted it. They were giving an irresponsible reply. Then we showed the evidence for our pre-booked table by showing the screenshots of payment and the table no.

Explain how you felt about the experience?
   It was the worst experience for me, because as I mentioned above the conflict lasted up to one hour. After the conflict we got back our pre-paid amount and went to another restaurant to have our lunch.

Conclusion: 
    To avoid bad service, the restaurant can Collect customer feedback and give them a way to report their negative experience. This will help you discover an issue and do something about it before your client leaves you for good.

Model answer 2

Introduction:

• Bad services happen as an accidental casualty of lots of things that go wrong inside organizations.
• Here I am going to share about the bad service which I received in a shop.

When and where it happened?

• Last year during vacation, one of my cousins and I went to the chat stall. They have both chat items and pastries. 
• It was a pleasant evening with light drizzling. We went to that shop.

What happened?

• As it was a rainy evening we both ordered samosas and icecreams. 
• At first we didn’t find any. Once we started eating it we found a kind of bad smell.
• Then we realized that they gave us spoiled samosas.

How it was solved?

• As it was a franchise, First raised the complaint to the person running the shop, he didn’t give a correct response for his mistake, he didn’t even hear what we said.
• Then we raised a polite complaint on the website of the main branch of the shop. 

Explain how you felt about the experience?

• Every time my cousin came to my home, we both regularly visited that shop.
• We didn’t expect it, after that we stopped going to that shop.

Conclusion: 

• Irresponsibleness is the main reason for bad services. 
• The shopkeeper should have responsibility to handle their customer in a good way and their queries.

Model answer 3

Introduction:
   Customer satisfaction is given the utmost importance in the hospitality and retail industries. Despite that, we’ve all faced bad customer service at some point. I am going to share one such experience where the service completely fell short of my expectations.

When and where it happened?
   It happened last year on my birthday. My friends and I went to a restaurant which is near to my house to celebrate my birthday with lunch.

What happened?
  We have ordered both vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods and dessert. One of us ordered chicken biryani. In that bowl we found hair, which is like beard hair.

How it was solved?
  First we called the server and raised our complaint, but he didn’t accept it and he blamed us like it was our hair. Then we raised our complaint to the manager. He apologized for the inconvenience, then he replaced our food with another bowl of food.

Explain how you felt about the experience?
  The poor service we received that day disappointed me a lot. Because we went there with lots of excitement to have fun and tasty food.

Conclusion:
   Overall this experience has reminded me till the day. Whenever we go to have food in any restaurant this experience will come in my mind.

IELTS speaking part 3- Describe a bad service you received in a restaurant/shop follow up questions.

   In part 3 of the IELTS speaking test, the candidates will be given a few follow up questions to complete within 4-5 minutes. In this article some follow up questions are given which are related to the topic of  “Describe a bad service you received in a restaurant/shop”. This article will assist better marks in your major exams.

1.How do most people respond to bad services? 

   Most people get upset with the bad service, everyone expects the good product or service because they were paying for the product. If they get bad service first they politely ask the person who is supplying. If they don’t get a correct response they hurried to the manager or to the owner with conflicts.

2. Do you think services are better now than in the past?
  In this modern world, the services are getting much better than in the past. As technology increases nowadays in most of the restaurants and other shops with automated services, also in some restaurants there is a self service which is popularly known as buffet system.

3. What kind of services are bad services?
   I think, people expect a kind of service if they don't get back what they expect, it turns into bad service.

4. Why do some people remain silent when receiving bad services?
  Some people remain silent when receiving bad services because they do not want to make it a problem or they do not have time to raise any complaint.

5. Who should be responsible for the inadequate services?
   The entire organization is responsible for the inadequate services, because the customer’s were paying for the organization.

6. What would you do as a boss to prevent inadequate services?
   If I were a boss, I would take immediate action once the complaint is raised.  It helps to avoid it in the future. Secondly, I will design a system to keep a proper check on my clients and monitor whether my employees are giving their best or not.

7. How can we avoid the bad services?
  To avoid the bad service the organization should pay attention to the customers feedback, ask for the customers needs and preferences and should train the server or waiter to respond to the customer. 

Check out other IELTS speaking cue card topics

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• Describe a crowded place you have visited
• Describe a game you played in your childhood