This section includes a variety of phrases grouped by the situations they are used at. Same meaning can be delivered with different wording, and it’s your responsibility to choose themost appropriate way of delivering information according to the circumstances. Pay special attention to grammar: prepositions, sequence of tenses, auxiliaries, possessive case etc.
Greeting.
- Garage Services, [name] speaking. How can I help you?
Q: How are you?
- Pretty good, thanks for asking, and you?
- I’m fine, thanks. How are YOU doing today?
How can I help you?
- So what can I help you with today?
- How can I assist you today?
- What can I do for you today?
Sure, we can help you out with that.
- Certainly, I would be happy to assist you.
- That is exactly what we do!
- Oh, so you’re locked out? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one who got locked out today.
- That does sound frustrating, but we can definitely help you out.
- Not a problem, we’ll take care of it for you!
- This is certainly something we can help you with.
We cannot help you out with that.
- Unfortunately, we do not provide that type of service. Thanks for your call though! Have a
good one! - As much as I would love to help, we, unfortunately, do not serve this area.
- Unfortunately, we do not duplicate house keys. But you can try your local Home Depot instead.
- Unfortunately, we don’t make keys for this specific make and model, but you can try your
dealership instead. - Well, actually, we don’t offer such services. But we can [offer a service that we do provide if it's relevant] instead.
- I’m sorry, but we do not sell parts separately, only with installation. If you’d like, we could
set something up for you, or you could visit our website slk-hardware.com
Name.
- Could I have your name? And your last name?
- Could I have your first and last name?
- Just for bookkeeping purposes, could I, please, have your first and last name?
- Could you provide your first and last name?
- I’m sorry, could you, please, repeat your name?
- Just to make sure that I got it correctly, could you, please, spell out your first/last name?
Phone Number.
- What would be the best number to reach you on? Is it the one that you’re using right
now? The last digits are [last 4 digits of the phone number], correct? - Just to confirm, the best number to reach you is the one with the last digits [last 4 digits of
the phone number]? - And what is [another person]’s phone number?
- Could you please provide [another person]’s phone number?
Address.
- What is the service address?
- What would be the exact address?
- Can I get the service address?
- Where is the vehicle located?
- Where are you located?
- Could you please spell out the street/avenue/road etc; name for me? The service is pretty
bad today and I couldn't hear you well. - Could you, please, google the address? It’s important so that my technician can find you
well.
Appointment time.
- What would be the best time for the technician to come over?
- What time would work best for you?
- Could you, please, give me the time frames for when the technician could come?
- What time would work best for you?
- How about [time]? OR Would [time] work for you?
Checking schedule.
- Just give me a moment to check the schedule.
- If you don’t mind, I’m gonna contact my technician regarding the schedule. Would that be all right?
- If you could please wait on line for a little bit, I need to check the schedule.
Coming back.
- Hi, are you still there?
- Hi again. Thanks for waiting.
- Sorry for the long wait.
- Thanks again for waiting.
- I appreciate your patience.
Passing to others.
- Unfortunately, I’m not able to see why/when/how/who [information], so I will need to
hand you over to our [position]. - It looks like you were working with my colleague, [Name]. Would it be okay for me to
connect you two again so you don’t have to repeat any information? - The only person who can answer questions about [information] is a [position] specialist.
Would you like me to transfer you to them? - If you want to ask questions about [information], I’ll have to have you speak with my
supervisor/manager/specialist. Would that be all right? - Please contact our support team at [email] and they will help you schedule a call with the
manager.
Quote.
The tech will quote on-site.
- It’s something that our technician needs to assess on-site. He’ll come to you and will take
a look and will not start working until he gives you the exact price. - The technician will quote you on-site, he has to assess the issue first. But he won’t start
doing anything before he quotes you. - The technician will quote you on-site. He has to see what needs to be done, BUT he will
give you the quote before he starts doing anything. - It depends on what we have to do, so the technician will take a look and will let you know
before he starts doing anything.
Service Call Fee.
- As a dispatcher, I can provide you with the Service Call fee, which is $[amount] for my
technician to come over, and the exact price for the service he will give on-site before he
starts doing anything. - There is a Service Call fee of $[amount] for the technician to come over, and the technician
will quote you on-site after he takes a look at what has to be done. - It's a free quote for a new installation, so my technician can quote on-site.
What would be the best time for someone to come over?
Over-the-phone quote.
- No worries, My technician will contact you before coming over and he’ll assist you with the
price over the phone. - If you don't mind staying on hold for a little bit, I can ask my technician for an estimate.
- If you’d like, I can ask my technician for an estimate, I would have to put you on
hold for a little bit. Is that ok? - Let me get in touch with my technician to get a better idea of the price. I will give you a
call back in a couple of minutes, ok? - Just give me a moment, I’m gonna ask my specialist about the price, and then
I’ll get back to you in a few.
Payment.
- We accept credit, debit, and cash.
- We accept all types of credit cards.
- Yes, we accept American Express.
- Sure, you can pay over the phone.
- We can send you an invoice with the link to pay with the credit card online. Could I get/
confirm your email address for that? - We don’t work with [insurance company’s name], so you would have to pay on-site. But we
can send you an invoice afterward, so you can get reimbursed with [insurance company’s
name].
Making exceptions.
- We usually don’t do this, but ...
- I’ve been authorised to give you ...
- Since we really value you as a customer, I’m going to [action].
- Well, we don’t usually do this, but I’ve been authorized to [action].
Confirming information.
- My records show that [information]. Is that correct?
- My records say that [information]? Is that right?
- I just want to make sure that I have the right address/number/etc...
- Could I just confirm that [information]
- Can I just confirm? You said that [information]. Is that correct?
- I just want to make sure I understand. The issue is that [information]. Is that right?
- Let me repeat it back to be sure I’m clear. [information]. Correct?
- So let me just repeat that back to you. [information]. Correct?
- Allow me to repeat it back: [information]. Right?
- So let me just confirm the phone number/address/etc.: [information]. Is that correct?
Asking for repetition.
- Could you, please, repeat the last thing you just said? You were breaking.
- Would you mind repeating the last thing you just said? The service is pretty bad today.
- I didn’t quite get the part about the [information]. Could you please repeat it?
- I’m sorry, I wasn’t able to catch that. Could you please repeat that again?
- I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that. Would you mind saying it once more?
- I’m sorry, I wasn’t able to catch that because there was some static. Could you, please,
repeat it?
Asking for clarification.
- Could you please describe the issue you’re having?
- Would you mind describing your issue?
- Please, tell me more about the issue.
- Could you please tell me if/what/when/how etc ...?
- I just need to ask a few more questions to better understand what’s going on.
Agreeing.
- Sure
- OK
- Absolutely
- Exactly
- Of course
- Definitely
- Right
- For sure
When you can't help.
- Well, according to our policy, we aren’t able to [action].
- Well, according to our policy [information].
- The policy we have now doesn’t allow that.
- I wish there was more I could do...
- There’s just not much I can do here...
- I would really appreciate your understanding on this.
- I wish there was more I could do, but unfortunately, it’s our policy to [action].
You're welcome.
- You’re welcome
- My pleasure.
- Happy to help.
- No problem at all.
- You’re very welcome.
Empathy.
- Yeah, I totally get it. (For minor inconveniences)
- That must have been frustrating.
- I can certainly understand.
- Yes, that is completely understandable.
- I’ll definitely do what I can, but I may need to escalate the issue to a supervisor.
- Don’t worry. I’m going to do everything I can to help.
Anything else?
- Is there anything else I can help you with today?
- Was there anything else you were calling about?
- If there’s anything else I can do, don’t hesitate to give us a call.
Saying Goodbye.
- Thank you for calling, and have a great day!
- I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day
- Thanks again for calling. Take care.
Calling back.
- Hi! It’s [name] from [company’s name] - garage door company. We have a
missed call from you. How can I help you today? - Hi! It’s [name] from [company’s name] - garage door company. I’m
calling in regard to [service details] . - Hi! It’s [name] from [company’s name] - garage door company. You’ve
placed a request for [service details] and I’m just calling to [action] .
Rescheduling.
I’m calling to let you know that, unfortunately, our technician..
- is running a little late
- is stuck on his current job
- is stuck in traffic
- has issues with his van
– I’m calling to ask whether it would be possible to reschedule the appointment for ....
- Don’t forget! - Thank you so much for your understanding and sorry for any
inconvenience caused!
Cancelling.
I’m calling to let you know that, unfortunately, we would have to cancel the appointment
for [type of service] because [reason].
- Don’t forget! : Thank you so much for your understanding and sorry for any
inconvenience caused!
Solicitations.
- I’m sorry, the business owner/manager is not available right now, but I can transfer the
message. - I’m sorry, but I’m not the right person to speak to. You can send an email to [relevant office
email].
