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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

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    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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    Anonymous student Band 8

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    Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

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    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

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    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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    Anonymous student Band 7

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    Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

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    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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    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 6-7

    for my exact size was 34 after that I ordered 34 size and after a week I received my parcel from the courier service and I just opened the product and while just dressing I think that size is too big and I just saw the price tag and there is mention that size was 36 I was very upset compared to what I ordered and I feel very bad for the online experience that was my first experience through my friend and my friend was told that in online platform there is a lot of offer compared to store that was true but in my experience that it is already received after 7 days and instead of this we can go to store and buy the exact size and whatever the correction is there in front of this we can clear that I think

    Band 6-7

    Generally, I am a person who make double assurance before doing something. But here I will like to talk about an issue that I had while shopping online. Last weekend, me along with my two of the friends, Minnu and Neha, decided to order food from Smiles. Actually it is a food delivery app. It is a very good app actually with option of delivering the food to the home and also picking up directly from the restaurant. It also provides so many offers to the persons who are purchasing. So I got a 50% off and I ordered a packet of pizza and also some juices. It usually takes one hour the maximum to deliver the food. We ordered by 7.30 and we waited till around 8.30, 8.40. Still our order hasn't processed and we called the restaurant and they were telling that they haven't received the order. I called the Smiles app assistant and they told me first that they will be assuring my order and will be paying back my money. I waited for one day long. Still I haven't received my payment. So that I sent a mail to the Smiles company directly where I got a very bad reply from them that it is our mistake and not their mistake. So only at that time I realized how crooked and cunning these types of food delivery apps are like. So from that moment I stopped to order from that.

    Band 6-7

    I would like to describe a problem that I had while shopping online. It happened recently, just a few days back when I had ordered a shoe for myself. One of my friend is getting married in January and I wanted to design a shoe for her that can go with her bridal attire, because of which I ordered a very plain simple looking shoe which I could decorate later on. The problem with the product was that it was slightly dirty and it appeared to me that it had been used. The product was not fresh and also I had some sizing related issue with that product. It is just that nowadays the shoe size I think are not as universal as they used to be a while back. So, I placed my replacement request and I was really happy with their response. They were really quick to help me place the replacement. Also because I think it was within the number of days I am legally allowed to get the product replaced. So, I placed the replacement option, I wrote down my note and I ordered a next size. It is yet to arrive. So, let us see how the replacement turns out.

    Band 6-7

    I remember I had a problem while I was shopping online. It was through a website which was very new to us and I have never used that. So I was ordering my phone and the discount structure showing on that particular website or you can say the app was very attractive and I thought of using my credit card and purchasing the phone. The problem arrived when I have ordered the phone and it has not been delivered to my home. I was very worried what happened and how to resolve this. I tried to reach the customer care. I was not getting a proper response and somehow I managed to connect to one of the customer care which has helped me that there is a technical issue or glitch because of this. They have not received my payment and that the reason the order has not been delivered. So there we found out and this has been resolved.

    Band 6-7

    Being a shopaholic person I like to shop different kinds of things such as clothes, shoes and electronic devices but mostly I prefer offline shopping instead of online because I face a lot of challenges while online shopping and that's why the list of problems while online shopping is quite long so it is hard for me to choose a specific one. However, I have a thought of one when I bought a new headphone from online. I clearly remember that recently two months ago I bought a new headphone so I bought Rockhards 451 which is a good headphone and the sound quality is also too good but while shopping I faced different kinds of problems such as firstly when I chosen a set of headphones that was out of stock and they sent me a notification about that headphone you can add this gadget to your cart and when they were restocked we confirmed you and you can buy that kind of headphones but I waited a long time for that headphones but that was not restocked after that I bought another one that's why I faced that challenges while online shopping and after that I decided I always buy things from offline shopping.

    Band 6-7

    So, I would like to talk about a problem that recently occurred to me. I like shopping a lot. I like to shop a lot from online stores such as Amazon, Flipkart or we can say Nike. I like to purchase things online which it is convenient for me and it is easy. It is easy and very time saving thing for me as I do not like to go outside and shop from a shopping mall or any showroom. So, I prefer shopping from the base of my home. So, recently two months back I have ordered one dress for me for my cousin's wedding. It was a very nice gown. In the picture it was amazing with this beautiful diamonds on it, a nice hemline and I fell in love with the dress as I first saw the image of it. I ordered it instantly for the wedding of my cousin and then it arrived after two weeks. The dress was amazing as I thought the dress looked beautiful on me when I tried it on but it was a size smaller to me and it made me little bit sad that the dress came in the smaller size. It was a bit itchy to me. The fabric was somewhat itchier on my skin. So, I thought of returning it but it broke my heart while returning my favourite dress. So, after that I searched for the other similar dresses online.

    Band 6-7

    so my mom and I ordered stuff online we bought it through me show and it was my mom's sari the product was a sari and it was bought through me show so while ordering online we even paid them but the when it arrived the sari was in a bad condition it was not the same product that was shown on the app itself before buying it even the quality of the cloth was so pathetic so online shopping disadvantages are this only that the product which is shown on the app is not similar when the customer takes that product or when the product is delivered it either it's quality of fabric is pathetic the cloth is so it was also torn from one side and thirdly it wasn't the same product that we ordered online through me show

    Band 6-7

    A problem that I faced while shopping online was, I received one of the fake products which was described in the advertisement but I received something else. That was one of the major problems I faced. This happened while I purchased from a specific Instagram page and when I tried to complain to them they just blocked me. I happened to buy a perfume, a set of 4 perfumes from them and it all came in a bit of bad packaging and the smell was completely different from what they have described. Usually we cannot try perfumes but the cost was a bit cheaper than the one I expected to buy so I thought of trying it but in the end I had lost the money.

    Band 6-7

    Well, I'm very fond of gifts and I'm sorry I'm going to start here from here again. I'm very fond of shopping. I usually shop home decor, my clothing and various stuffs both online and offline. I vividly remember an experience in my life when I shopped for a home decor online, it just caught my eyes, I was really fascinated by its beauty. It was a beautiful vase in pink color with white and purplish flowers, but when it arrived at my home, it was all broken up in pieces, so I just bite the bullet as it was a very difficult situation for me to handle and there was no return policy for the same item. I bought it from an online platform known as Amazon. As it was a home decor, they did not offer any return for the same, it was all broken into two pieces, but as we say, there is nothing to cry over spilled milk, so I tried my best to bring the pieces back in one shape and luckily with the help of a glue, I was able to make that. After that, I finally felt relieved, I placed that home decor in my living room. It not only adds beauty, but also increases its ethical values, I have clicked many photographs with that, that vase in my room really adds cherry on the cake, it is everyone who visits it gets rejuvenated by its beauty, so that is a very beautiful piece, if I ever get a chance to buy the same vase, I will definitely buy it.

    Band 6-7

    Last time, last Monday, I went to Mantra Mall, which is located at Attapur, Villa No. 187. There, I went for a shopping of toys for my niece as her birthday was, as her birthday is on Tuesday. So, I went on Monday and I bought some toys. But, once I went to the billing area, there, once I reached the billing area, there I saw the toy what I picked up was already broken. So, I complained the department over there, the helping department. So, they replaced, but they had, according to them, I broke that toy while taking from one place to other place. Anyway, they checked all those cameras. Then next, they gave me the other toy and I came back to home and I presented that gift to my niece. I had a very bad experience in that mall. Whenever I go to that mall, I'll be feeling like there's no proper support that should be there to a customer. Whatever we choose, it will be either spoiled or broken. So, choose wisely whenever going to that.

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