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 319 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

    Well, I am usually a person who usually buy things online and do a lot of shopping online. However, here I would like to talk about an item which I purchased earlier that I... purchased online. The name of the item is jacket. I purchased online jacket from Adidas brand. Actually, I was busy in my hectic schedule, so I placed an order of my product online and I bought a jacket online. But when I received the order after a week, then the quality was really bad of that jacket, which made me so disappointed. And that is why I thought of returning it. And when I called the delivery agent, then he agreed with my point of view. And he told me that he sent his customer agent at my home to get back the product and give me the returned one. However, I felt really bad because first time I did online shopping and bought a new product, but my experience was extremely bad with it. So, yes, I think buying with full details is really necessary when you bought something.

    Band 6-7

    I am a very big fan of shopping things online, that's why I prefer to order online, because it has the home delivery facility which makes it more convenient. I once bought a shorts of white color online and the problem was that the shorts was so thin, it was of such a poor quality that it was a bit transparent I would say, which made it difficult for me to wear, so I had no option but to return it. The return facility was so poor that it made me so worried whether my money will be refunded or not. Moreover, they didn't have any helpline number to call on, which made it more complicated I would say and when I initiated the process of returning, there were so difficulties and at last the return was accepted, but I didn't receive my money. It took at least one week for them to return my money back into my account, moreover, the person who was allotted my pickup didn't come on time, it took him 2-3 days to come to pick up my order back so that my money can be refunded. The facility was so poor that I started hating on that app. I felt quite relieved after that because I received my money safe and sound I would say, but the quality of that shorts was so poor, like how can someone make such a poor quality shorts. Moreover, the facility of returning was also not good, so personally I had a very bad review of that app.

    Band 6-7

    I really wanted to return the top I got last week from Amazon. I had bought it at an offer of a 20% discount. I really liked the red color. In addition to that I also was impressed by the floral design, how it looked on the model. So I was very excited to buy it and try it. In fact I was looking forward to the day my dress was actually delivered. The moment my dress got delivered the first thing I did was went and tried it on and with great sorrow I realized that it did not fit and I had ordered a wrong size. So I had to return it and get a new one at my size. So I went back on Amazon and tried to return it but I couldn't find the same item in my size. So I had encountered a huge problem. Then I thought that maybe I can give that to my sister because she's two size short smaller than me and maybe it might fit her. In hopes that I have not wasted my money I gave it to my sister. Fortunately it was perfect for her and I ended up keeping the top.

    Band 6-7

    Recently I have bought a second-hand iPhone as it is a good company and the model name is 13 Pro Max. As I was using the smartphone, it became very laggy which is very unfortunate as the company claims that their phones never get laggy or kind of stopping. But this problem was very major for me as I am doing editing on that phone and various other tasks. However, after facing that problem, I went to the iPhone store and told them to return it to and claim me some kind of money or exchange the phone with another one. But they told me that the phone warranty has been expired and there is no solution for this problem as the model is now outdated and the company claims that you have to buy the new one and there is no solution for this problem. But I feel like it is very difficult for me now to do the table tasks in my everyday life. I feel very angry at the company that they sold the outdated product to me at very high cost as it was about 45,000 Indian Rupees which is a loss for an investor in the smartphone. But I feel like their excuse is genuine as the model is outdated. But it was very awkward for me to do and to express that feeling to them.

    Band 6-7

    I bought a guitar from one of the offline stores available in the instrument market in Delhi. It was a very nice guitar and it was from a good company. Initially, I really enjoyed, you know, for the first two weeks, I really enjoyed playing it, practicing it and I was very excited about it because being a, I mean, I'm really into the pop music and rock music. So I always wanted to perform one of the gigs and guitar riffs that, you know, which usually we hear from the band from the 80s and 90s. But eventually, since I have a job, a permanent job and, you know, I also work out, I, after a month, I was not consistent with my practice. So I, you know, I just left my guitar in between, learning my guitar in between and then I jumped back again on learning it and then, you know, I was actually very inconsistent about it. So I thought of returning it back because it was an expensive thing, which I have bought and I really hope that they will, you know, I really hope that that they will accept it. But then again, as soon as I reached it, even though I had bought it from one of my contacts, he told me that, you know, we won't be able to take a return of it. And so I even asked him, you know, that, can you just, you know, pay me half of a price and then just keep this guitar because it was actually very new, right? But then they refused it and I was really feeling bad during that time because it was a big investment.

    Band 6-7

    So I ordered a beautiful and an elegant blue dress on online, on a website called MiuMieAsia. So due to the size difference, I wanted to return this dress because my size was an extra small. Therefore, in addition, they gave me a size large. So while trying to return it, I went into the website and I have selected the return option and I have tried returning it. But furthermore, it was 10 days, 10 days passed and there was no response from the website. So in addition, I put in an email to the brand stating that I need a return for this product because there was a size difference and after 3 to 5 days, the brand replied with a note stating that they are sorry for the delay and for the inconvenience and they returned my product in 2 to 3 days. So it was a bit time consuming experience but the dress was lovely. According to the dress, the dress was lovely, beautiful, elegant but it did not fit me.

    Band 6-7

    Today I would like to describe a thing that I buy online and returned it. It was a pair of shoes. My friend suggested me to buy that because I am looking for shoes and there was a sale on shoes and there is a lot of variety available on the website and it was branded shoes like Nike Adidas and some other. So I decided to buy a pair of Adidas shoes which was in black color and the logo is in white color. I placed the order and it was nearly 1500 and after one week I received my order and when I opened the order I was very disappointed because the shoes are fake, the logo of Adidas is fake because it is not double D, it is double A and I know that the famous brand of shoes Adidas does not make such a mistake. So I want to return it and I make a request for returning. After 2-3 days the delivery boy came to me and I returned to it and I got my refund. It was quite

    Band 6-7

    I would like to return a laptop that I purchased from Flipkart. It wasn't working very efficiently because there are some keyboard issues when I was trying to type something on Microsoft Office. There are some digits are not displaying on the keyboard. So I decided to return it to the Flipkart return hub center and it was a very awkward moment for me because they were not able to accept it because it's a third party seller item and it was difficult for me to get the refund for the laptop. So I contacted the seller and seller gave me some opinions to take it to the repair center and I think it is very much not convenient for me to take it in the repair center which has a warranty card. So I decided to return

    Band 6-7

    I worked and shopped online and it was a horrible experience. When I tried to return it, I tried to return it because it was very damaged but when I tried to return it, they wouldn't buy it. They said it was not an option and I gave them a negative feedback. So, I think it is really irresponsible of those people to not consider this returning feedback and not accepting these refunds and things. I really would like it if they change that policy of theirs and allow their customers to return products while still being comfortable to shop with them. A store should have these basic decent policies where they can offer their customers proper care and if anything is damaged, their customers should be able to return it to them without feeling obnoxious and very bad about themselves. They should try not to make them feel very bad and like they have done something wrong. It is actually just something that is not useful which needs to be returned because they find it not good. So, if they had to change one thing about their store, it must be the return policies of them. This issue needs to be addressed.

    Band 6-7

    No audio text available
    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 31 32

    Master IELTS Speaking with Leap's Self-Prep Course

    student enroll count

    Students Enrolled

    review count

    2,411 Reviews

    app download banner image
    See Course Details

    Master IELTS Speaking with Leap's Self-Prep Course

    student enroll count

    Students Enrolled

    review count

    2,411 Reviews

    app download banner image
    See Course Details