Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1171.
Canceling a service.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1171.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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On this episode we're going to listen to a dialogue about someone who no longer wants a certain kind of service.
Let's get started.
You've reached customer service for Bully Services.
How may I help you today?
I'd like to cancel my service.
Why do you want to cancel?
I'm switching to another company with cheaper services.
I'm no longer under contract so there should be no early termination penalties.
Let's take a look at your account.
I'm sure we can make you an offer so you won't want to discontinue service.
I've made up my mind.
I just want to cancel.
As a customer service rep, it's my job to find a way to retain you as a valued customer.
Please bear with me, sir.
Really, I'm not interested in any offers you can make.
No high-pressure tactics are going to work with me, so please just cancel my service.
Please, sir, be reasonable.
I'm trying to work with you so you won't miss out on our great deals.
If you sign a new two-year contract, or set up auto pay, I can offer you... I'm not interested.
I want to cancel.
Now.
Just let me tell you about these three plans that are available to you at a lower price.
I know that deep down you don't really want to cancel your service.
I do want to cancel my service, and I want to do it right now.
Sir, please.
You're being a little pushy.
I'm being a little pushy?
This episode is called canceling a service.
A service is anything that someone does for you.
In this dialogue, what a business does for you.
You can buy a service or you can buy a product from a company.
A product is a thing that you buy.
A service is something that someone does for you.
For example, we talk about phone service.
The telephone company provides you with a service.
It does something for you.
It connects your telephone to other people's telephones.
You could also have television service, cable TV service where a company provides television stations to your TV so you can watch them.
Today we're talking about canceling a service, meaning to decide to stop getting a certain service.
The dialogue begins with Diana saying to Philip, You've reached customer service for Bully Services.
How may I help you?
Diana works for this company, oddly called Bully Services.
She is part of the customer service department.
The customer is the person who buys something from a company.
Customer service is the part of the company that takes care of problems that a customer may have.
That's the service that customer service provides.
Philip says to Diana, I want to cancel my service.
To cancel C-A-N-C-E-L is to end something, especially a service like well, whatever it is that Bully Services provides Philip.
Diana says, why do you want to cancel?
Philip says, I'm switching to another company with cheaper services.
To switch S-W-I-T-C-H to something or someone means to stop using one person or one company and use another person or company instead.
You could switch products as well.
I used to drink Starbucks coffee, and now I drink Dunkin' Donuts coffee.
I'm switching the kind of coffee I drink.
I'm switching to Dunkin' Donuts.
Dunkin' Donuts is a company that makes donuts, but also coffee.
Well, in this example...
Philip is switching to another company that provides cheaper or less expensive services.
He says, To be under contract means that you have signed a legal agreement, called a contract C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T, and you are required, with this contract, to do something for a certain amount of time.
For example, if you buy a phone in the United States, it's quite common for some companies to give you a discounted price, a cheaper price, if you also sign a two year contract with that phone company.
During those two years, you must pay your bills.
You must get your telephone service from that company.
That's called being under contract.
After the end of two years, you are no longer under contract.
That's what Philip is referring to here, although we're not sure this is about phone service.
He says, I'm no longer under contract here.
So there should be no early termination penalties.
The word termination comes from the verb to terminate, which means to end.
You may remember the famous movie called Terminator.
Well, a terminator is a person who terminates someone's life, ends someone's life.
Here, we're talking about...
Termination as a noun in the expression or term early termination.
Early termination means you end your contract, you cancel your contract before it's over.
Now, when you do that, say for telephone service, you usually have to pay the company a penalty P-E-N-A-L-T-Y.
A penalty is some sort of fee, some amount of money you have to pay because you ended the contract early.
So an early termination penalty is money you have to pay the company for canceling or terminating your contract before the end of the contract period.
Why do you have to pay a penalty?
Well, because you no longer are going to be paying the company what you said you would pay under the contract.
So the company wants to get at least some money back, and it does that by putting a penalty into the contract itself.
You agree to pay a penalty if you terminate the contract or cancel the contract early.
Diana says, let's take a look at your account.
An account A-C-C-O-U-N-T here refers to a list or record of all the interactions or transactions between you and the company.
It's going to be something the company has in its computers.
Diana says, I'm sure we can make you an offer so you won't want to discontinue service.
When you try to cancel your telephone service or your cable television service, sometimes the company will try to persuade you not to do it.
Diana says I'm sure we can make you an offer, meaning we can cancel, give something to you so that you won't want to discontinue D-I-S-C-O-N-T-I-N-U-E service.
To discontinue means the same as to cancel or to terminate service.
However, Philip says, I've made up my mind.
I just want to cancel.
To make up your mind means to decide, especially after you have given a lot of thought to something, after you've thought about something for a long time.
Diana says, as a customer service rep rep meaning representative it's my job to find a way to retain you as a valued customer.
To retain, R-E-T-A-I-N, here means to keep or to continue to have you as a customer.
She then says, please bear with me, sir.
To bear B-E-A-R with someone means to be patient with someone, especially if someone is taking a long time to do something.
Philip is not interested in being patient.
He says, really, I'm not interested in any offers you can make.
No high pressure tactics are going to work with me, so please just cancel my service.
High pressure tactics would be things that a company does or a salesperson does that make it difficult for you to say no?
A high-pressure tactic would include things that may sort of force you to do something because of the way the person is acting, talking to you, or because of what the person is trying to give you.
If you go to a store and the salesperson comes up to you and is trying to give you things and says here's a free sample.
Try this.
Oh, no, you should try this.
The person is almost trying to force you to buy something.
That might be considered an example of a high pressure tactic in sales.
But Diana says, please, sir, be reasonable.
To be reasonable, R-E-A-S-O-N-A-B-L-E, means to be logical, to be rational, or to be fair.
She says, I'm trying to work with you so you won't miss out on our great deals.
If you sign a new two-year contract or set up auto pay, I can offer you.
And then Philip says, I'm not interested.
I want to cancel now.
Autopay is when a company automatically takes money out of your bank each month or each year for the bill for the money you owe that company, for whatever service the company is providing.
That's called autopay.
Auto, A-U-T-O, comes from the word automatic.
It happens every month or every...
Six months or every year without you having to do anything extra.
Diana says, just let me tell you about these three plans that are available to you at a lower price.
She's still trying to get Philip to continue his service with this company.
She says, I know that deep down.
You don't really want to cancel your service.
The expression deep, D-E-E-P down means your true emotions, refers to your deepest feelings, your real desires.
Perhaps there are things that you don't say or don't talk about, but deep down you really believe, or you really feel.
You may say to someone you're happy, but deep down you're sad.
Deep down refers to your true feelings or your true thoughts or your true desires.
Philip says, I do want to cancel my service, and I want to do it right now.
That is, immediately.
Diana says, sir, please, you're being a little pushy.
To be pushy P-U-S-H-Y means to be overly demanding, to insist that you get your way, that you get what you want.
It's a negative way of describing someone.
Now, of course, Philip here thinks that Diana is being pushy by trying to get him to renew or to continue his service with this company, instead of simply canceling his service, which is what he requested.
That's why at the end of the dialogue, he's surprised.
He says, I'm being a little pushy.
He says it as though it were a question, but really he's showing that he is surprised that Diana is saying this to him, because she is the one who's being pushy.
Now let's listen to the dialogue at a normal speed.
You've reached customer service for Bully Services.
How may I help you today?
I'd like to cancel my service.
Why do you want to cancel?
I'm switching to another company with cheaper services.
I'm no longer under contract, so there should be no early termination penalties.
Let's take a look at your account.
I'm sure we can make you an offer so you won't want to discontinue service.
I've made up my mind.
I just want to cancel.
Really, I'm not interested in any offers you can make.
No high-pressure tactics are going to work with me, so please just cancel my service.
Please, sir, be reasonable.
I'm trying to work with you so you won't miss out on our great deals.
If you sign a new two-year contract or set up auto pay, I can offer you... I'm not interested.
I want to cancel now.
Just let me tell you about these three plans that are available to you at a lower price.
I know that deep down you don't really want to cancel your service.
I do want to cancel my service and I want to do it right now.
Sir, please.
You're being a little pushy.
I'm being a little pushy?
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Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
