arrow back icon Top Answers

Describe something you bought that you really wanted to return: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What you bought?
  • Why you wanted to return it?
  • What happened when you tried to return it?
  • And explain how you felt afterward.
Show all 294 answers

Cue 1:What you bought?

  • Begin by clearly stating the item you purchased and its significance to you.
  • Include details about where and when you bought it to set the context.

Example

I bought a pair of expensive wireless headphones from an online store during a sale. I had been wanting them for months because I love listening to music while commuting and exercising.

Cue 2:Why you wanted to return it?

  • Explain the specific reasons that led you to want to return the item.
  • Mention any expectations you had that were not met.

Example

After using the headphones for a few days, I realized that the sound quality was not as good as I had hoped. Additionally, they were uncomfortable to wear for long periods, which was disappointing since I had read many positive reviews.

Cue 3:What happened when you tried to return it?

  • Describe the process you went through to return the item.
  • Share any challenges or frustrations you faced during the return process.

Example

When I contacted customer service to initiate the return, I faced long wait times on the phone. They informed me that I needed to send the headphones back at my own expense, which I found frustrating. Eventually, I managed to send them back, but it took a lot longer than I expected.

Cue 4:And explain how you felt afterward.

  • Reflect on your emotions after the return process was completed.
  • Discuss any lessons learned from the experience.

Example

After finally returning the headphones, I felt relieved but also a bit frustrated with the whole experience. I learned to be more cautious when buying expensive items online and to read reviews more thoroughly before making a purchase.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, returning the headphones was a challenging experience, but it taught me valuable lessons about online shopping and managing expectations. I now feel more confident in making future purchases.

    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

    Using vague language can make your response unclear. Avoid general statements that do not provide specific details about the item you bought or your feelings about returning it.

    bulb icon

    Tip

    Be specific about the item, including its name and features. Describe your feelings and experiences in detail to create a clearer picture.

    2: Neglecting Emotional Impact

    Failing to express your emotions can make your answer less engaging. It's important to convey how the experience affected you personally.

    bulb icon

    Tip

    Share your feelings before and after the return process. Use descriptive language to express your emotions, such as frustration or relief.

    Ignoring the Return Process

    Not explaining what happened during the return process can leave your answer incomplete. Candidates often skip this crucial part, which can lead to a lack of depth.

    bulb icon

    Tip

    Detail the steps you took to return the item, including any challenges faced. This adds depth to your story and shows your problem-solving skills.

    calendar icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    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 6-7

    I love to stay fit, so I regularly do workout and go to gym and in addition use supplements which are quite important for my muscles to grow, like protein, creatine and multivitamin tablets. So recently I bought a protein powder which cost me around 8000, I guess its quite expensive, I expected it would have given me great results, I used it for a month then I started feeling bloating in my stomach. In addition with some allergic reactions in my body, I tried to return it, I even posted many mails to the company but they didn't respond me on the topic of return. The product was under the risk of unreturnable items, so sadly my request got cancelled and I regret ordering protein from the website. I wasted 8000 of rupees which is hard to digest, yet I feel I will never repeat such mistakes again of ordering protein powders online or any supplements through websites. From next time I will go to store and buy things.

    Band 6-7

    १.२ ०२। seeds ०२॥ Well.. That's an captivity cue card To talk about the things I really want to return In my 24 years of life There are multitudes of things which have brought and really want to return But for the sake of this cue card I will like to talk about the thing which I really want it to return Recently Few months back I bought a phone for myself It was Google's Pixel 7 It was really a dream phone for me as I really wanted this device from years and when I got this device there was a minor issue with the microphone and I was not happy with that I really wanted to return that device as in my mind I am also thinking about how I get this device and how I was dreaming about getting a Google's phone from years and when I got this it was not in the best condition Moreover I have also spoken to some of the customer care persons They recommended me to visit a service center where they have taken 7 days to repair that device which was really frustrating as I have no other device to use in 7 days After that they have returned that device to me and the time they have consumed was really frustrating and not up to my thinking I really wanted to return that device on that place but on the other hand I appreciate

    Band 6-7

    Now this is a really very interesting question, the thing that I brought was a t-shirt. I brought it from an online platform, soul store. It was an oversized t-shirt and when I received the parcel and tried it on, I really did not like the cloth that it was made of. It was quite rough and I felt really uncomfortable while wearing it. So I wanted to return the product and when I filled in the return process, I got a message that my request was denied because when I sended the picture and contacted the seller support, they informed me that because removing the tag, now the t-shirt cannot be returned. And I felt that it was a really sad moment for me as I had spent some money on a valuable stuff that I really liked but now because I wasn't able to return it, I had to keep the product and also had to face the loss of the money. Apart from that, I also felt that since I have brought the t-shirt, so I must wear it and it is a really awful experience whenever I am wearing the t-shirt. Furthermore, I would like to add that it was a great design and pattern. Only because the clothing was not good enough, I felt that I had to return it. So as of now, I occasionally wear it on my week off or while I am at home and I am not really a lot interested in the t-shirt that much. So I am not planning to wear it for a while and I will soon give it to my sibling or friend if they would like to accept the t-shirt.

    Band 6-7

    Recently I bought a good, a very costly mobile phone after seeing or I would say after you know getting influence by others that I should also have a very good phone or you know a costly mobile phone but you know after using sometime I felt this was not needed because it is moreover similar to my previous phone, moreover apps are same, moreover you know I mean most of the features are same, the only thing it has a brand value, it has a brand name so that is it is costly and the worst thing happened when I try to return to this mobile to the shopkeeper from where I purchased this, he behaved very rudely although it was in, it was in you know what should I say there is a period like there is a capping that within 2 days or 3 days you can return your things if you are not liking it so this was in that service so I tried to return this item back to the person and he clearly refused to take it back and there I felt that I have wasted my money on it and I realized that we should really really you know spend our money wisely, once we you know do such kind of act we do not realize initially but after using the product for a while we know that where we have gone wrong and that's a alarming point for us.

    Band 6-7

    Once I have bought a steady lamp I was very excited because I always wanted to have a steady lamp on my study table but unfortunately once it came I tried to turn on the power button but it was not working it was not showing any at least dim light it was entirely damaged I think it might be due to them transportation during the time it might happen during the transportation but I felt very sad about it because I always wanted to have a steady lamp on my table and it was the first time I bought something that I always wanted to buy and I actually I have bought it without my mother's permission but after it came my mother already called me and when it was not working she really called me then I unfortunately I had to return it to them but I tried to buy another lamp but I lost my hope because I think the online marketing need to be more careful enough when they are dealing with these kind of electronic devices and I felt

    Band 6-7

    One day I was really excited to buy a new skin care product. I am really fond of skin care and taking care of my skin. So I often find myself purchasing skin care products. So one day I bought a skin care product from a derma company which included niacinamide and vitamin C combined together. After ordering it I got to know that my skin barrier would not accept both the ingredients together because my skin is really weak and my skin barrier is very unhealthy. So thankfully it was refundable and I got my money back in my bank account after a few days. I learned a lesson that it is very important to know what type of skin you have and whether you really need such a product or not. Because if it was not refundable then I would be in a loss of 2000 rupees as the product was really expensive. Even in case of cheaper products it is important to keep in mind to purchase those products only that we really need. So that's the lesson I learned and I was thankful that my product got refunded and I got my money back. Moreover there was another time when I could not refund a dress. I often rush in shopping so I ordered a dress that was huge in size and I didn't bother to check the size chart and I ordered it. After it arrived I tried it on and it was super long for me.

    Band 6-7

    So, once I bought a cap from a local shop in an unorganized store and at that moment I really liked it but when I bought it to my home, I find it doesn't look good on me. So, I wanted to return it. I was feeling quite awkward while returning it but that was my good decision as I wanted to find a cap that suits on me but the cap I bought doesn't look nice on me so I wanted to return it. I was feeling awkward as it was my first time while I was returning anything which I bought from an unorganized market. Usually I don't visit unorganized stores. I only visit malls and online shopping platforms to shop the things and that experience was really not very nice but I appreciate, myself appreciate me that I returned it on time and the vendor was very nice as he doesn't...

    Band 6-7

    Recently I brought a dress from RGU which was a long till knee and I was so excited about that dress as it was it had that Korean look and the whole attire was so beautiful it has florescent flowers on it which suits me a lot so I ordered it I paid online through gpay and when after 2-3 days I received the order after receiving the order I immediately tried it, it was looking pretty but it was so loose though the size was what I wear but then too it was too loose so I need to return it and I got refund on it whatever cash I paid I got a back to my bank account but this made me feel so low as I was so excited about that dress but it didn't made that good to me.

    Band 6-7

    I recently bought a pair of headphones. Like I literally bought a pair. When I was about to buy it, I read the online specs of it and reviews from the people, but what I did not pay attention on was that it was not, it's speaker, it's in-ear speaker was not up to the mark. Me being a student, I have way too many calls that need to be attended hands-free and the speaker did not allow me to do it hands-free. I had to keep one earbud in my ear and the other one close to my mouth so that the receiver could hear my voice clearly, which was a major downfall of these earbuds. I did not expect it to be in such a bad shape. Moreover, when I thought of returning it, it had crossed its warranty period, so unfortunately I was not able to return it. But it does have some disadvantages like the sound quality during songs. It is really nice and it is appreciated. I really like the color, I really like the box it's put in. But nevertheless, I was not satisfied with the product that I got, but it's okay as of now because I cannot return or dispatch it. Also, I would not suggest anyone to buy from this company as I've had a really bad experience.

    Band 6-7

    I bought a pair of salwar kameez last month which was defective and I found out that it was defective and was missing several gemstones that were supposed to be stitched to the salwar kameez. Actually I was in a bit of a haste when I bought that piece as I was running really late and I wanted to buy clothes for the upcoming wedding and due to all that haste I forgot to check the material and check the article for any potential defects but as soon as I got home I tried that salwar kameez on and I found out that there were several faults in that article therefore I tried to return it but as it was on sale the shopkeeper denied the return policy as it is clearly mentioned in the terms and conditions that they won't return and they won't take anything back in return if the article that is purchased was on sale.
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
    ielts logo

    Get the IELTS Prep App

    Star rating icon

    4.2

    1M+ Installs

     app download banner image

    Get the app link on your phone

    +91

    Or download app from

    google play storeapp store
    master ielts speaking ad