B2 — upper-intermediate Practical and transactional life
Handling problems & complaints
Lesson opening
This is the first part of the lesson. The rest, the exercises and the reviews are in the app.
Problems and complaints: getting it put right
Sooner or later something goes wrong: an appliance breaks, the wrong parcel arrives, your card is charged twice. You met the word reklamacija in the lesson “Shopping & money”. Here is the whole path to a fix, from the diagnosis to a written answer, and the other side: what to say when the complaint is made to you.
Definition
The arc of a complaint has five steps. 1) The opening: Izvinite, imam jedan problem. “Excuse me, I have a problem.” 2) The fact: Aparat ne radi već dva dana. “The appliance hasn’t worked for two days.” 3) The demand: Molim vas zamenu ili povraćaj novca. “I’d like a replacement or a refund, please.” 4) The grounds: Još je u garanciji, evo računa. “It’s still under guarantee, here’s the receipt.” 5) The record: Mogu li da dobijem pisanu potvrdu? “Could I have it confirmed in writing?” Learners usually fall at steps 3 and 5: they hint instead of saying what they want, and they leave without a piece of paper.
What exactly is wrong: the vocabulary of faults
A Serbian complaint starts not with an emotion but with a diagnosis: what broke, since when, what is missing. The key word is kvar “fault, breakdown”; to report a fault is prijaviti kvar , to fix it otkloniti kvar .
Examples
Serbian English kvar , pokvario se fault, breakdown; it has broken down greška , pogrešan mistake; wrong, not the right one oštećenje , oštećen damage; damaged neispravan , ne radi faulty; it doesn’t work nedostaje , fali is missing (fali is colloquial) kasni , nije stiglo is late; hasn’t arrived curi , ne zagreva , fabrička greška it leaks; it doesn’t heat up; manufacturing defect
Mašina za veš pravi buku i ne centrifugira. The washing machine makes a noise and won’t spin.
Poslali ste mi pogrešan model, naručio sam crni. You sent me the wrong model; I ordered the black one.
Ovo nije ono što sam naručio. This isn’t what I ordered.
Paket je stigao oštećen, a u kutiji fali punjač. The parcel arrived damaged, and the charger is missing from the box.
Naplaćeno mi je dva puta. I’ve been charged twice.
Deeper etymology
Žalba , žao and English complaint : born of griefSerbian žalba “complaint” goes back to the Proto-Slavic root *žalĭ “grief, pain, regret”. From it comes a whole family: žao in the phrase žao mi je “I’m sorry, I regret it”, žalost “sorrow, mourning”, žaliti “to feel sorry for, to mourn” and the reflexive žaliti se “to complain”. English complain is similar: it came through Old French complaindre from Latin plangere “to beat one’s breast, to lament” (also behind plaintiff ). The shared root is why the branches get mixed up: Žalim te means “I feel sorry for you”, not “I’m complaining about you”.
Return, exchange, repair: reklamacija
Taking faulty goods back is called reklamacija (roughly, a formal complaint about faulty goods), and it is a procedure, not a chat. You lodge one with uložiti reklamaciju or podneti reklamaciju . The shop fills in a reklamacioni list “complaint form” and gives you a copy: that copy is your protection. The key to it all is the račun “receipt” (in a café, the bill); ček is only a bank cheque, never the American “check”.
Examples
Serbian English saobraznost , nesaobraznost conformity of the goods (with what was sold); non-conformity zamena , zameniti replacement, exchange; to replace vratiti proizvod , vratiti novac to return the item; to give the money back povraćaj novca , umanjenje cene refund; price reduction popravka , popraviti , ovlašćeni servis repair; to repair; authorised service centre garancija , garantni list guarantee, warranty; guarantee card rok , u zakonskom roku , fiskalni račun deadline, time limit; within the time limit set by law; fiscal receipt
Želim da uložim reklamaciju na ovaj telefon. I’d like to make a complaint about this phone.
Da li može da se popravi? Can it be repaired?
Reklamacija je odbijena, tražim pisano obrazloženje. The complaint has been rejected; I’m asking for a written explanation.
Novac je vraćen na karticu. The money has been refunded to your card.
Tip
Buyers’ rights are set out in the Zakon o zaštiti potrošača “Consumer Protection Act”. The seller must accept your reklamacija , give you a written confirmation or its number, and reply in writing within a set time; your rights under the law do not depend on any garancija . For the deadlines, and for exchanging things that are not faulty, see “Shopping & money”. Online purchases can usually be returned even when nothing is wrong: the law gives you 14 days from delivery, no reason needed. Ask about the deadline on the spot: Koji je rok za odgovor? What is the deadline for a reply?
Deeper etymology
Reklama and reklamacija : one Latin shoutReklama “advertisement” and reklamacija “complaint about goods” are relatives. Both come from Latin reclamare “to cry out against, to protest”: re- “back, against” plus clamare “to shout”, as in English claim and clamour .
Then the paths split. Through French réclame “publicity” came reklama , the shout of the seller; through German Reklamation came reklamacija , the shout of the buyer. French still calls a complaint une réclamation . So at a shop counter Želim da reklamiram ovaj proizvod means “I want to return this product as faulty”; elsewhere the same verb can mean “to advertise”.
Cheat sheet The cheat sheet — everything essential from the lesson on one page. In the app it opens at any time.
Problems and complaints The arc of a complaint: opening, fact, demand, grounds, record.
Examples
Izvinite, imam jedan problem. Excuse me, I have a problem. Aparat ne radi već dva dana. It hasn’t worked for two days. Molim vas zamenu ili povraćaj novca. A replacement or a refund, please. Još je u garanciji, evo računa. Still under guarantee, here’s the receipt. Mogu li da dobijem pisanu potvrdu? Can I have it confirmed in writing? What is wrong Examples
Serbian English kvar , pokvario se fault; it has broken down greška , pogrešan mistake; the wrong one oštećenje , oštećen damage; damaged neispravan , ne radi faulty; doesn’t work nedostaje , fali is missing (fali colloquial) kasni , nije stiglo is late; hasn’t arrived curi , ne zagreva leaks; doesn’t heat fabrička greška manufacturing defect Ovo nije ono što sam naručio. This isn’t what I ordered. prijaviti kvar , otkloniti kvar report a fault; fix it
Examples
Receipt: račun ; ček is a bank cheque. The shop must accept a reklamacija , confirm it and reply in writing; no garancija needed. Online: usually 14 days to return, no reason needed. A service: three strengths Examples
primedba remark (to a waiter: Imam jednu primedbu ); prigovor objection, a formal complaint about a bill; žalba the most official, also an appeal: žalba na rešenje .Cases: žaliti se na + Acc., uložiti žalbu na + Acc. Ulažem prigovor na račun, ovo nismo naručili. I’m disputing the bill: we didn’t order this.
The pressure ladder Examples
Step Phrase fact Ovo ne radi kako treba. demand Molim vas da to rešite. pressure Ostajem pri svom zahtevu: tražim zamenu. escalation Mogu li da razgovaram sa poslovođom? Želim da razgovaram sa šefom. record Molim vas pisani odgovor. Ako se problem ne reši, podneću pismenu reklamaciju.
“Senior”: poslovođa , šef smene (shop), nadređeni (company), načelnik , pretpostavljeni (public office). Softener: Znam da niste vi krivi, ali problem i dalje postoji. Ask, don’t order: Da li biste mogli da mi vratite novac? Answering a complaint Examples
Move Serbian acknowledge Potpuno vas razumem. Greška je do nas. apologise Izvinjavamo se zbog neprijatnosti. Žao mi je zbog toga. act Odmah ćemo to rešiti. Rešićemo to danas. compensate Nadoknadićemo vam. Zamena je o našem trošku. pass on Nije do mene, ali prosleđujem vašu reklamaciju.
Watch out
Traps. “Žalim na buku” without se : žaliti alone is “to pity”; say Žalim se na buku. In a shop ask for the poslovođa , not the načelnik (public office). Goods: reklamacija ; a bill: prigovor ; pretenzija is an ambition.