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Describe A Problem You Had While Shopping Online Or In A Store: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • When it happened
  • What you bought
  • What problem you had
  • And describe the party.
Show all 122 answers

Cue 1:When it happened

  • Begin by mentioning the time frame when the online shopping experience occurred, such as during a festival or sale.
  • Provide context about your shopping habits, like if you usually shop online or prefer physical stores.

Example

Last month, during the Diwali festival, I decided to do some online shopping to buy gifts for my family. I usually prefer shopping online because of the convenience it offers.

Cue 2:What you bought

  • Clearly state the item you intended to purchase, including any specific details that make it relatable.
  • Mention why you chose this particular item, perhaps due to its significance or popularity.

Example

I was looking to buy a beautiful set of traditional Indian sweets to gift to my relatives. These sweets are a staple during Diwali, and I wanted to ensure I got the best quality.

Cue 3:What problem you had

  • Describe the specific issue you faced while shopping, whether it was related to the website, delivery, or product quality.
  • Explain how this problem affected your shopping experience and your feelings about it.

Example

Unfortunately, after placing my order, I received a notification that the sweets I ordered were out of stock. I was really disappointed because I had planned to surprise my family with them.

Cue 4:And describe the party

  • Talk about the significance of the occasion and how the problem impacted the celebration.
  • Share how you resolved the issue or what alternative you found to still make the occasion special.

Example

Diwali is a time for family gatherings and celebrations, and I wanted to make it special. After the issue, I quickly searched for another vendor and found a local store that offered similar sweets. I managed to get them in time for the celebration, and my family loved them!

Conclusion

    Example

    Overall, while my online shopping experience had its challenges, it taught me the importance of having backup plans. In the end, I was able to enjoy Diwali with my family, which was the most important part.

    Following this structure will ensure you cover all the essential points while providing a clear and engaging response to the cue card topic.

    Tips to answer this Cue Card

    1: Vague Descriptions

    Being vague can make your answer less engaging and informative. Avoid general statements that do not provide specific details about your experience.

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    Tip

    Use specific examples and details about the product, the problem, and your feelings to create a vivid picture for the examiner.

    2: Ignoring the Cues

    Failing to address all the cues can lead to an incomplete answer. This may result in a lower score as it shows a lack of organization.

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    Tip

    Structure your response by clearly addressing each cue: when it happened, what you bought, the problem, and your feelings about it.

    Overly Negative Tone

    Focusing too much on negativity can make your response less appealing. It’s important to balance your experience with some positive aspects.

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    Tip

    While discussing the problem, also mention any positive outcomes or lessons learned to create a more balanced narrative.

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    IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

    Reported by Leap students who gave IELTS

    Describe your favourite food at a traditional festival or a special event in your country
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    Pitampura Test Centre, New Delhi

    Answer

    I like to taste different types of cuisine. Here I would like to talk about my favorite dish at my traditional festival of Onam which is Sadya. Sadya is popular in my city. We are experimenting these cuisines on Onam festival day. Onam is a famous festival in my city. All family members get together in my home and we make a delicious Sadya. There are many ingredients includes that Sadya. Moreover, we make a big feast that day as well as we create a lot of memories together and we wear that day the traditional dress called Sari and men wear the Dhotis. That festival is really important to us because the whole day we are conducting different kinds of games at our homes and all the family members came together. It's a memorable day in my life. This is the festival. We are making the Sambar and Aviyal. These all the kinds of foods are making with the vegetables.
    Talk about a toy you liked in your childhood
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

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    Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

    Answer

    The toy which I liked in my childhood was a panda doll, which makes me pleasant and makes me more blush. The pandas are the most beautiful creatures of the world, which looks gigantic and has pooshy cheeks and they are like stars in the clouds and they dream in me. Furthermore, these have been given by my father. My father is a very very beautiful artistic person, who makes me think of that. Every day you will face every difficulties and make you suffer and move forward. Pandas are always seen in Japanese countries. It is my lifelong dream to visit a Japanese country and click a photo with the original pandas, which makes sounds better.
    Describe a time you were in a place where you didn't know the local language
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

    Answer

    As India is a very large country full of diversity, so there are many places which have their own language and speak their native language. The place which I visited and I didn't know about their language was Leladakh, which is about 300 km away from my hometown and it is a very good place as it consists of different kind of trees, animals and have many scenic views and I visited over there last year in summers as it was the best time to visit because it has many, it was cold over there and we had summers in our area so it was the best time to visit over there and I went over there with my whole family.
    Describe a time when your friend damaged something you owned
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

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    Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

    Answer

    When I was a kid, I had a little pencil box which had these four buttons which gave the pencil box an operative use. When you press the button, the box would open up. When you press the second button, a little part of it would slide out. Basically it was just a little electronical and a fun thing to have and I owned it when I was in 6th. One day after break, I was standing and talking there with one of my friends and another friend of mine was running through the hallway and accidentally she pushed my shoulder and my pencil box hit the ground and it broke into multiple pieces to the point that it was not functional anymore.
    Describe a book you recently read
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    CBD Belapur Test Centre, Navi Mumbai

    Answer

    It Ends With Us is a book I read recently. It's by the author Colleen Hoare. It's mainly a story about two teenagers, Atlas and Lily, and how they just handle their life going through high school, adolescence, and just domestic violence at home. Both of them come from very, very different families. However, they have one common determining factor between them, which is domestic violence. The abuse that they've seen their moms go through is just insane, and they connect through that on a different level. They're actually in the same high school, but they never speak to each other until Atlas actually crashes into an empty house next to Lily's villa. When Atlas is homeless and he doesn't have anywhere to go, he just comes and breaks into the house next to Lily's, and Lily helps him with all the daily necessities like clothes and food, medicines and stuff. Furthermore, their friendship blossoms into love, but it doesn't really fructify as Atlas has to leave. This book really gave me a lot of knowledge about domestic abuse and how to deal with it.

    All Answers

    Here are all the answers by real-users practicing speaking for IELTS Cue Cards on our IELTS Prep App.

    Band 6

    This event happened quite recently when I was doing an online shopping and I was purchasing a kurti set. First of all, the app which I was purchasing had a glitch in it and it took me around 45 to 1 hour just to get everything sorted out. And then when I was doing the final step which was the payment mode, there was another difficulty in the payment app and that took around 20 minutes more to get the payment done. The delivery date for the order was 2 days past the order date and I was eagerly waiting because I had waited more than a month to order that particular kurti set. I was really excited and then on the day of delivery, I received the package and upon opening, the product was entirely different from what I had ordered. All the efforts that I had taken to order that particular item, just to solve wasting around 1-1.5 hour of my time to get that order done and then waiting 2 days eagerly for it to finally arrive. The products arrived completely different and the worst part is it was not even my size and I had to put that product again for a return. The whole event was so depressing that I just thought about quitting the online purchase. Every now and then whenever I do an online purchase, such an incident happens but still, the exciting offers and the wide variety of collections that we get online often tends to attract me and fill me into the same mistake again and again. It's like I never learn from my past mistakes and tend to make the same mistakes often.

    Band 6

    Well, I had a problem. When I was shopping online and looking for earphones, I bought two pieces of earphones that are TWS, truly wireless earphones and it came after a few days and this incident has happened with me in the last few months. When I unboxed the earphones, everything was fine. The voice was also really good and clear and it has the noise cancellation features. I used the earphones to the fullest and also after it dropped its battery, I saw in it that the earphones had a battery problem. I charged them. They were not charging fully and the big deal was here. I complained to them that earphones are not charging fully. So, they just told me like you can visit a nearest store and replace them or they'll repair it. After a few weeks, after using the earphones to the fullest, I replaced them. I went to the store. She was like, wait, we'll just try to repair but it didn't happen. She told me, wait, you have to sign an agreement with us and I'll just replace the earphones. And yes, that was a huge problem and a huge hurdle for just listening to simple music. That's it.

    Band 6

    I recently bought a pair of t-shirt from one online website and I saw it in Instagram ad and through which I got to know about this. It was my first time booking from it. When it got delivered after 6 to 7 days, I realized that I picked the wrong size although other company's size for that is fit for me but that size was little bit tight. So I raised a return request for it. Then what happened that the delivery, the pickup person, he came, he didn't came actually and then he just updated the message that it didn't pass for the quality check. And I was surprised by seeing this because that person didn't even call me for the pickup and it just updated this. Then I called their customer care services asking them why it happened and why didn't they have the OTP to actually verify that if pickup person has came or not. So after raising the request, they understood my concern and then they tried to fix it and they again scheduled a pickup for me. So now that return has been done but it took almost 10 to 15 days which in that time I felt that I lost my money because that was a new website for me, the online website and I thought that I shouldn't have just see the Instagram ad and you know purchased something from there. But at the last, because they resolved my issue, they again scheduled a pickup. So yeah, it was fine. Now when I look into this that what I can do in future to improve.

    Band 6

    well this happened a few weeks ago while I'm trying to buy a new TV for my home which is needable because of my old one is exhausted and repaired for a while and in the offers half of time I tried to buy a new television for my own with 55 inch of requirement of basic 55 inch TV with good amount of picture quality and also in decent amount of sound output but once I got the good deal I ordered it and they delivered in a speedy time also but once I received my order the TV didn't work well I shocked and surprised I called customer care according to the e-commerce website I order from they have firstly no response from them I tried eventually so many times I do it I call so many times test them and even email them my problems about the situation but they didn't get proper response from them after a while I go into the e-commerce website customer care and call them so several times once they pick up the call and get good response from them I explained my situation about that device I bought from them they responded very well give suggestions and their team came to my home and replaced that damaged item into the new brand new one but now that TV is very well working in this situation I conclude that every buying is a device from online gives to some problems if you have ready to face it then you can go

    Band 6

    The problem which I faced was when I ordered a table mat in Amazon. So the color which I ordered and the design was totally different from what I received physically. So I just raised a complaint in customer portal and I got a call from the manager. And I just raised my issues and concerns on it that what I ordered didn't match with what I received. So then they asked whether I wanted a refund or the replacement of the product which I actually ordered. And then finally they have accepted for returning the product and giving me the right one. So this thing happened two months ago. And after that since then I am getting the right product as they have received and they are just themselves correcting themselves. So now it's fine.

    Band 6

    So, a month ago I was shopping with one of my friend at the Zodiac store which is in Patiala. I was shopping my cloths and everything accessories like shoes and clothes and jewelry you know. And after I bought everything I wanted, I proceeded for the payment but when I was doing the payment, my card was not working with their paying machine so it was a huge problem because I really wanted to buy the clothes but I was unable to proceed the payment because of my card issues. I don't know what was the issue but the payment was not proceeding. I tried a lot of time but I didn't have cash on me so the problem was solved earlier because the friend I was with paid on behalf of me so it was a really big mistake that I should carry cash afterwards. It also gave me a lesson that we should always carry cash if we have cards but we should also carry cash. So, it was a very difficult moment for me because I become nervous if there is a situation like this so my friend really helped me at that time if she wasn't there, I would not have to able to buy that clothes and accessories I have bought there.

    Band 6

    So, problem which I had while doing shopping was online shopping, which I had done on last month 14th, where I bought new dresses and makeup products for my upcoming friend's marriage function. So, I ordered a medium size lehenga and makeup products like foundation, lipstick, mascara, which matches to my color, but the problem with that is the dress size was sent wrongly. I ordered extra small size, but they have sent me large size and I ordered brown shade foundation, but they have sent me a dark brown color shade, which doesn't match my skin tone and I couldn't able to return it also, because I purchased all those items in a great discount with previous notice of not returning it, but I trusted them a lot about it, but they have proven that the trust which I have kept them is unduly waste. It was a miso platform, which was extensively used by many publics to purchase things at discounted price and most budget friendly, but their customer service is really bad and I don't recommend this online platform, in-store shopping is much better to get the right products, which doesn't waste money.

    Band 6

    Hm. Hm. Let's see. Recently, I got scanned by an online application. It was cleared as back while I decided to order some food items from an application. And that application is based on O-N-D-C, the latest digital tech prepared by Indian government. It is fully backed by Indian government and open source. So, different companies, different organizations can use this O-N-D-C platform to promote their own products. Or to use it and customize it. So, I ordered from an application in Barola. It is just the same platform that I mentioned. I ordered some noodles to satisfy my midnight hunger. And I prayed for it in arguments. I think the time was approximately 40 minutes. So, in my mind, I was like, okay, let's chill. 40 minutes, I could wait. But then, 40 minutes passed. 1 hour, 2 hours. The food didn't reach my home. It was around 2 am in the night and I decided to sleep. I thought food won't be delivered. So, I slept after waking up in the morning. When I checked the notification, it said the food has been delivered but were roasted. At around 4 am. Which was fishy. Because I didn't save the OTP. Because to complete any payment through e-commerce applications, you need an OTP. I didn't save and the transaction was completed. So, I got scammed and this is one of the horrible experiences.

    Band 6

    The major problem that I have faced while shopping in-store was the size and price issues, especially when I loved the product. For instance, during back in the time when I went to lifestyle stores to purchase an outfit for a party, I saw a beautiful pretty blue frock which cost around 2200, which was not at all in my budget. But then I also had a solution, since I am a shopaholic, I have some tricks and tips for you as well. So let me go through it. So I found out the product brand, so it was from Fabeli. So what happened now, I went to the app store of lifestyle and found the same exact replica of the product and it was cost around 1100 with a 50% discount. That's when I came to find out that it was a product from Fabeli. So then I again went to check in with the Fabeli online website. So there the price was around 880, but did I stop there? No. So I also checked with Nykaa app store and also Myntra app store, the price was 880. But then I need my size. So when I checked with sizes, Myntra and Fabeli didn't have my size. Luckily, Myntra had my size. So I went for Myntra. So it was my solution as well. But it does not apply on all cases. Sometimes these app stores will have more prices as well as the original website or in-store will have less prices. So it depends totally upon the situation of the availability and the cost of the price. I feel this tip was useful to you as well to face or overcome.

    Band 6

    The problems I had while shopping online or in a store is a topic of my today's to-go, right? So, as a problems I had while shopping online is the mostly the online shoppings are not intelligent. It is like a winter shopping, right? So, sometimes we can't tell the exact size of that shirt. So, through this we can book and we can buy this. We can purchase this shirt. In case if I brought the shirt from online shopping then later when I receive this product so that time the shirt might be in a different color. So, the problem is that there are so many chances of fraud. In 2018, I brought one power bank and watches. They are showing in Instagram advertisement. They are showing that it's only just for rupees 1000, I mean 999, right? So, at that time I feel like it's quite cheap and it's worth to this money. So, I brought this one. Later I got to know that it's about fake, yeah. So, at that time I feel like that online shopping is a cause of problems. There are so many chances of facing fraud and issues of not working, right? When we go to the shops, at that time we can check and we can purchase, right? So, the problem to the shopping online is mostly the big or the sizes are not expected as we are in.
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