Chigusa's Advice for ESL Students with Billing Mistake Problems

Distance Learning Student Chigusa Uematsu has good advice for ESL students with bill problems:

Have you ever had an unfamiliar purchase on your credit card

statement? Or have you been charged a fee that you shouldn’t have been  charged? I have and I managed to correct or get reimbursed for these charges by calling or sending e-mails to customer service.

If you are making a phone call to claim an inappropriate bill, be sure to prepare a note about what you want to say. It will make it easier for you to express yourself. It is OK to tell the operator that you are an English learning student and they might have difficulty understanding you. They will understand and speak slowly

for you.  Usually, I think customer service operators are kind and patient. They try hard to help you. So please don’t hesitate to make a call even though you feel  your English is not good enough to claim a complaint. 

However, a problem with making a phone call is it takes time to reach an operator.  Therefore, if  you can and an e-mail address or help desk in a store web site, it might be wise to utilize it. Response may take few days. If you don’t get any response, you must remind or request for a reply over and over. If you quit, you will never hear from them. 

 

My advice to making a complaint is to overcome your fearfulness and be patient!  Soon you will get used to making complaints about errors and mistakes and you will receive good results for effort.

 

Thank you to Chigusa for sharing her good advice and excellent writing.  If you have advice to share, tell your teacher.  We can share it here on the blog with other SMAS students.