IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card # 40
Describe a product you purchased and was dissatisfied about it.
You should say:
- what the product was
- where you purchased it from
- what was not satisfying about it
and explain how you felt and what you did with the product.
[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
Model Answer:
We buy things in our lives either because we need them, or we like them. But, for whatever reasons we buy them, we want them to be perfect in their looks as well in their usage. But, the problem is not everything, we buy, is perfect despite our best efforts and intention. I am talking about my “perfect” DVD player, which I bought from one of the local electronic shops in my hometown so that I could watch some of my favourite old movies during my holidays.
But, the problem was I found my perfect DVD to be everything but “perfect” soon after purchasing it when it suddenly stopped working one day in less than a week of purchasing it. Initially, I was having problems with taking the DVD out from the disc drives, followed by frequent “freezing” while playing a DVD. Of course, I checked my discs, but I couldn’t exactly notice any problem with them. So, the problem had to be a mechanic one with the DVD player since it couldn’t properly load or read the discs.
I am not a professional, but, I still tried to push and nudge the laser assembly (the part of the optical disc drive that moves radially and helps read the disc from the centre outwards). But, unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me. I really liked the DVD because of its distinctive design features, so I decided to take it to a local technician, of course, only to be discouraged by him from keeping it since the electronic machine was still under warranty. In fact, my technician told me that the DVD had a major problem.
Needless to say, I was very disappointed and annoyed with the product and its manufacturer. Of course, I returned the product since it was still under warranty, but the trouble I had to go through to get the machine going was certainly not worth the handsome price I paid to purchase it. The most frustrating part was it never actually occurred to me that there could actually be anything wrong with the product, which was manufactured by a very famous company, and as a result, I was busy trying to figure out the problems with my discs instead of the so-called “perfect” and newly-purchased DVD player! I felt like I was “duped” into buying the product since it looked just so nice and perfect from outside!