BEP 81: Telephoning - Making a Cancellation - Workplace English Training E-Platform: Learn Business English Online!

BEP 81: Telephoning - Making a Cancellation

telephoning

Introduction

Often in business things don’t go according to plan. Sales fall, meetings are rescheduled, budgets are cut, orders are cancelled, flights are delayed. So just how do we inform our colleagues or customers about bad news? How should we apologise and how should we react to an apology?

In this podcast lesson, we’re going to use a telephone conversation between a buyer and a supplier to illustrate some of the common language used when giving and reacting to bad news.

Situation

Andrea Suchy, a clothes buyer for a large shop in London, is calling one of her suppliers, Prebdel Manufacturing in Hong Kong, to cancel a recently placed order.

Because the company has recently declared a profit warning, the purchasing department is being required to reduce its purchases by 25%. However, the order with Prebdel was placed one week before this and it might be too late to cancel.

You’re now going to listen to Andrea as she tries to cancel her order without damaging her business relationship with Prebdel.