A phone call from a customer

A phone call from a customer

Listen to the phone call from a customer to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Junko: Hello, Junko Mori speaking. How can I help you?

Andrea: Hi, Junko, it's Andrea here from Red Band. I'm calling about our latest order.

Junko: Everything arrived OK, right? We got the delivery confirmation at our end.

Andrea: Yes, everything's fine with the order. I'm calling about the invoice and the payment terms. I need a favour.

Junko: A favour? What do you need?

Andrea: This is a little, er ... difficult, but I need an extension on the payment terms. I know they're usually 30 days, but we're having some cash flow problems. You'd really be helping us out if you could extend it to 60 days.

Junko: I'm not sure if I can do that, Andrea. We've got regulations at our end, and also have to manage our own cash flow.

Andrea: I promise this won't become the norm, Junko. Actually, I also want to place another new order. The same size order as last time. It's for an important customer and they pay on delivery.

Junko: I see. So your cash flow problem will be solved after this new order is delivered.

Andrea: Exactly.

Junko: That sounds good. Hold on, Andrea. Let me see what I can do. Yes, I think we can make an exception this time.

Andrea: That's great, Junko. I appreciate your help.

Junko: And we appreciate your business, Andrea. It works both ways.

Andrea: Thanks again, Junko. Can you send me a quick email confirmation of the payment terms extension?

Junko: Sure, no problem. We're happy to help you.

Andrea: Great. And I'll email you the new order.

Junko: Thanks. I'll keep an eye out for it. Talk to you soon.

Andrea: You too. Goodbye.

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

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Average: 4.4 (612 votes)

Submitted by vinglo28 on Sat, 03/09/2022 - 23:16

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Yes, when I was working with my father he used to make exceptions with some customers because they buy frequently in our store and he knows them

Submitted by Evelyn.Lucero on Sat, 03/09/2022 - 20:48

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I did a exception when the client had to present a surety policy but the amount and the term of validity wasn't significant.

Submitted by raruiz on Fri, 26/08/2022 - 16:43

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In some cases, this type of favor is necessary to build customer loyalty.

Submitted by farhadwahaj on Thu, 25/08/2022 - 08:40

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From the experience that I have here in Pakistan, there is no way to make exceptions for customers, even though they did not follow the rule and regulations and they did not clear their invoices on time. And they do fraud usually in everything.

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Submitted by Briant on Sat, 20/08/2022 - 19:16

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Yes, I've do favours for important clients. For example, reschedule the date of service.

Submitted by Han Min Tun on Sat, 13/08/2022 - 07:21

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I will do exceptions and favors to my loyal customers as long as it won't become a norm.

Submitted by asalvado on Thu, 11/08/2022 - 15:04

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When you do your work you need to follow the regulations and do favours is not possible all times but it is kind and necessary for some clients. I do favours if it’s possible and if it won’t compromise my job.

The favor asked by customer to extend the payment terms in more 30 days won’t be possible because will have financial impact in firm but extend for few days would be possible or extend for more 30 days including interest.

Submitted by mamalirezaenglish on Mon, 08/08/2022 - 15:25

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It really depends on the case and company regulations. We usually make an exception for our loyal customers and also new customers. The reason is if we make an exception for new customers, they'll buy from us again.

Submitted by Johnnyc on Sun, 07/08/2022 - 19:52

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I was hesitating to leave this comment 'cause I thought this question had been released a long time ago, but now I can see that there's still answers in July... so I'm not too late

As for me, Yes I did. And it was only with costumers who are trustworthy. And talking about trustworthiness, we can rate it according to past experiences.

Submitted by ivanricardo07 on Sun, 31/07/2022 - 21:57

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It depends, if is the first time that this person has a cash flow issue being a company customer, we could contemplate making an exception, owing this is an especially situation. Further, if this person will place a new order, it would be nice to help him with an extension that his last invoice and ensure that well-treatment related to the customer is maintained

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