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

    I have brought a pair of sandals during my 5th grade for my daily uses. I had asked my mother to buy me the size of 7 but during entering of the size my mom made a mistake by entering number 3 in the size box. I was very eagerly waiting to receive that parcel. I had already told my friends that I am getting a new Puma sandals. I was on my toes to get it and show off to my friends. But I had told all my friends the date when it will be delivered and all the timings and all. When the delivery person arrived near my home we were playing hide and seek. I had gathered all my friends for opening the package but once I opened the package the size was very short. The sandals would only fit two small toddlers. My friends started teasing me saying that I have ordered a nice pair of sandals. It was very embarrassing for me.

    Band 6

    The thing that I bought was a lipstick, basically I am so much into makeup, I love lipsticks, I love eyeshadows, I love exploring makeup in general. What happened was, I got this, actually when I saw it through online, I found this dark brown shade, it will actually suit my skin tone, so I thought okay, let's buy this, then I bought that and it had the worst, when it was delivered, it was really bad, it wasn't good at all, it was very reddish in colour instead of brown, it was a bright red, it was a Taylor Swift red, a crimson red kind of thing, well I wanted a very maroonish shade to be honest, so then I asked this particular app, I decided to return the product and they were like, no, no, you opened the product and it cannot be returned, was their statement from the feedback group and I was like, no, I won't return this product because I wanted a certain colour and it showed as a certain colour in online and now when it was delivered, it is more like a crimson red or a ruby red, so I don't want it, then I had to talk to the executive saying, I have purchased so many things from the app, I have never returned something, if I am returning something, there is a reason that I am returning it, once it was returned, I felt sad that it wasn't my shade because that was the time where I started adding into makeup and I felt like maybe my skin tone doesn't have a lot of shades, today I am wearing a good colour of lipstick because I have found a good one.

    Band 6

    When I got into my college in India, I did a lot of shopping in H&M and I tried jeans which was not in my size and I tried to return it to the shopper. They helped me a lot. They were very helpful about the sizes and they were very kind to the customers. They helped me to figure out which size do I fit and they really let me decide what is my actual size. The overall experience was very good and they were very helpful and welcoming. So overall it was a good experience to shop in H&M and I think their services are great.

    Band 6

    The thing that I felt to return was a sneaker which I had recently bought through a site named snapkicks. I am a big fan of shoes and basically I am a sneaker head and I love to collect different varieties of shoes and currently I have a huge collection of nearly 9 shoes of different brands and at that time I was looking for a sneaker named pine green which was from a Nike brand. So, I looked on an offline shop and online store while I got it in an offer rate from a site named snapkicks which was a quite good site that I have earlier purchased from that site and I doesn't feel bad for it but I however managed to get a fund and order through that site and it takes almost 5 days to reach me. I was much more excited to open that package and when I opened that it felt very much a local quality of the product and also I came to know that it was not that original project it was a 7a copy of the product and I felt so sad about it and the size also was not at all correct for me it was too tight and I felt so sad about that product and when I searched here and there for that return option it is said that there is no return option for that particular shoe which was a great tragedy for me and I felt so sad about it because I eagerly waited for that shoe for nearly 5 days and whenever I got that shoe I feel much more sadder because of that quality. That made me very much angry towards that site and there is mistake of mine because I haven't even checked earlier that if there is replace option available or not.

    Band 6

    So, I remember a time when I bought a jeans. So, I wanted to return that jeans because the fitting was not good and afterwards I got so busy because of some marriage functions to attend and I had to go in my friend's reception because she was living miles away from me and I didn't attend her wedding. So, for that I had to leave my city and because of that I was unavailable and didn't reach to the shop at the right time and when I went there to the shop after the reception then the shopkeeper told me that now we can't take this product because you have used it but I couldn't use that product but I begged to them but they didn't listen to me then after coming to home I felt very disappointed with the behavior of shopkeeper and decided to try from next time I will try whatever I will shop I will try first then I will take it

    Band 6

    Well, recently when my exams got finished I got bored in my home. I called one of my friend and asked for a movie. Later on we decided to walk around and do some window shopping and moreover I found a store named Home Center. There were many decoration items like vases, painting, lamps and suddenly I caught my eye on a wooden floor lamp but that was the only piece which was for the store only and I had to book it online. When that classic antique and tall matte finished wooden lamp arrived at my home through home delivery I got very amazed and I opened it suddenly but somehow I found out that it was already broken. However, I tried to replace it but it was not an option. Later I tried to contact with the call center and they asked me that I can return that. In contrast I initiated a return but somehow the period got over and I could not return that lamp. I even think that how pricey it was and I feel that why I got that lamp because now I could not return that and I really wanted to because I feel that I had wasted my parents money on such a quick decision without even thinking twice that what are the later consequences could be.

    Band 6

    Once I was roaming around with my friend in the market of Cannot Place which is located at Delhi, we visit to a store of H&M which is a very beautiful store of clothes, there I found one dress which was red in the color, when I tried that dress that was looking super amazing, however I bought that dress with me and when I bought it at my home my mother checked that dress and it was defected, that dress was torn and after the two days I go back to that store and request for the return, they said ma'am it is not available in our stock you can purchase any other dress, but I was very fond with that dress, I love that vibrant colors and beautiful look, so I denied them to return and I requested them to please stitch that dress very perfectly so that I can wear it on my event which is on 25th of the March and that day it was 20th March, so they told me that we can't stitch those dress we can only exchange or we can return, so I request them to please exchange my dress with some other red dress, so I found one of the red dress and I exchanged that, after that I feel very low and very you know irritate.

    Band 6

    Now something that I really wanted to return was a t-shirt and a pair of clothes, so like one day, a few days ago, I was scrolling through an online shopping website, I found it on Instagram, so I decided to visit it because it has great reviews and many people have bought from it and it is a very popular online shopping website, so I was watching and scrolling through the website and I really wanted to buy a t-shirt and a pair of shoes during that period, so I was finding if I would find a good pair of shoes or a t-shirt, so I searched for a long time, so then at a moment, I found a good t-shirt, it was very beautiful and appealing, it was exact the same I wanted to buy and there was also shoes, they were very affordable and so the delivery time was about 2 days, so when they reached to me, these are the things that people should try wearing it, when they came to my home, I tried wearing it but they were of different size and even shoes were not fit for me, so I tried to call customer care service but they did not pick up and so it was a very problem for me and I felt very awkward at that time that it is a very popular website and if your customer buys something different size then he should pick up, so I decided that I will not buy anything again in future from any online website.

    Band 6

    I recently bought a calligraphy pen from Deccan Pen Store in Abbots. It was a beautifully crafted Japanese made calligraphy pen. But the problem with the pen was it was not up to the mark because of the bad craftsmanship and quality of the materials used. Primarily I thought the pen was of high standard mark but due to the lack of maintenance in the departmental store, the pen had lost its quality. Because of it, the person who sold the pen, the Japanese manufacturer who sold the pen was at the stake. So I went to Deccan Pen Store to return it but their attitude was very bad and afterward it felt like a big scam which has happened to me. So then I went to consumer forum to report that issue. So after I went to consumer forum to report it.

    Band 6

    Okay, so recently when I had to travel for a business party in Mumbai, I went to a shop and bought a perfect black gown for me that was as per the theme, even though I have like literally done my research and went to multiple stores offline and online and then decided to buy that particular dress for the event. But after the event, I didn't feel like it is a perfect decision or it was a good call to go ahead with that. And I wanted to return it. But what happened when I tried to convince them to return for it, they literally denied they said they do not exchange or return the party wear dresses, because these are quite expensive and what people do is like they literally buy the dress, go for the parties and then return it. So they have do not exchange or return policy for particular these kind of dresses. But I was not really happy with that experience. So what happened basically is when I entered in the party, there was a slit in my dress. And because it was a business trip, the HRs were there who mentioned me twice, thrice and I cannot even count on how many times they have just interrupted me and asked to fix that thing. And the whole time rather than enjoying the party, I was just into that fixing that part of the dress, which made me really uncomfortable for the event also totally spoiled my mood because of the comments I was hearing about that. And because of this bad experience, I really have zero interest to take this dress with me for lifelong and I really wanted to return it.
    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