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Returning a DVD Player

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 101: Returning a DVD Player.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 101. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

On this podcast, we’re going to talk about returning a DVD player to a store. Let’s get started!

[start of dialogue]

I bought a new DVD player last weekend. When I got home and hooked it up, I realized that it was defective. I trudged back to the store to return it.

Clerk: Next, please.

Jeff: Hi, I bought this DVD player last Saturday and I’d like to return it.

Clerk: What’s the reason for the return?

Jeff: It’s not working properly.

Clerk: What’s the matter with it?

Jeff: Well, several things. First of all, the remote doesn’t work.

Clerk: Did you put batteries in it?

Jeff: Yes, of course, but it still didn’t work. I couldn’t change any of the functions on the display. It also doesn’t fast forward when I’m playing a DVD. It rewinds but it won’t fast forward while the picture is playing. On top of that, I couldn’t get the closed caption feature to work.

Clerk: Okay, I see. Anything else?

Jeff: Yes, as you can see, the casing scratches very easily. I just took it out of the box and put it on my entertainment unit and I got all of these scratches.

Clerk: Oh, are you sure you didn’t scratch it with your keys or set some things on top of it?

Jeff: No, I’m sure.

Clerk: Well, I’m sure that it’s just a problem with this one player. I’ve never seen this with any of the models made by this brand. Do you have the receipt?

Jeff: Yes, here it is.

Clerk: Do you want to exchange it or return it?

Jeff: I’d like to return it.

Clerk: Okay, how did you pay for it?

Jeff: With a credit card.

Clerk: Can I see your card? Okay, I’ll credit it back to your credit card. Can you fill out this form with your name and phone number, and sign at the bottom?

Jeff: Sure.

Clerk: Great. Here’s your credit card back and $95 has been credited to your credit card. Anything else I can help you with?

Jeff: Oh, there is one more thing. Can you tell me if you carry iPod Nanos?

[end of dialogue]

In this podcast, we are returning a DVD, or Digital Video Disc, player and the reason we’re returning it is that when I came home with it from the store and I “hooked it up,” I realized that it was “defective.” “To hook something up” means, in this case, to plug it in, to connect it to my television. We usually talk about “hooking up” a TV or, “I need to hook up my cable television,” where you have to connect something, two pieces of machinery or two pieces of electronics, together. You need to be a little careful about this expression. The expression is to “hook up something” or “to hook something up.” If you say, “I’m going to hook up with a person,” that means that you’re going to get romantically involved with that person, so if you say, “I saw a beautiful girl last night and I want to hook up with her,” that’s a very different, sort of connection. The word, “defective,” means broken, or something is wrong with it, so when I realized the DVD player was “defective” – means I realize there was a problem with the machine. And “defective” is an adjective (defective) we use with a machine, electronic or mechanical.

I “trudged back” to the store to return it. The verb “to trudge” (trudge) means I went back, I traveled back, but the idea is that it was very difficult that I did it perhaps, unwillingly or reluctantly. You can use this verb, for example, if you’re talking about going through, walking through three feet of snow. “I trudged through the snow,” or “I trudged through the mud. It was difficult doing the walk.” That’s one way of using it. Here, we’re using it because we’re saying it was difficult. It was inconvenient for me to do that.

When I got to the store, the Clerk – I waited in line and the Clerk, the person working at the return or the customer service desk said, “Next please,” meaning next person. And that’s very common when you walk into a bank or if you’re standing in line for something, waiting for someone at an office, a government office. The person working there, in order to call the next person, will say simply, “Next please.” I said I wanted to return or bring back, get my money back for the DVD player. The Clerk asked me what the reason. “What’s the reason for the return?” And that expression, “What’s the reason for,” is followed by a noun. So, “What’s the reason for you returning here?” Notice that “returning” is a gerund, and that is essentially a verb that serves as a noun, so you can put an “ing” verb after this expression. For example, “What’s the reason for going to the store?” means why are you going to the store.

I said that the DVD player was “not working properly,” meaning it wasn’t functioning properly. You probably know that we use the verb “to work” when we talk about a machine to mean that it’s functioning. It is doing what it is supposed to do. The opposite of not working – or the opposite of working would be “broken,” not working. The Clerk then asks, “What’s the matter with it?” “What’s the matter with it?” means what’s the problem with it. Again, this is a very common expression. You’ll hear people say, “What’s the matter with this television?” – means what’s wrong with it, what’s the problem with it. You can also use this expression for people. “What’s the matter with you? Aren’t you happy?” meaning what’s your problem.

I say that there are several problems. One of which is that the “remote” doesn’t work. The “remote” (remote) is the thing – that little thing that you use to change the channels or to increase the volume or to turn it on and off. It allows you to sit in your chair and control a machine that’s far away. “To be remote” means to be away from, detached, separate from. Here, it’s used as a noun, “the remote,” meaning that little thing that you can change the channel with. The Clerk asks if I put batteries in it, which, of course, I said I did. I said that I couldn’t change any of the functions on the “display.” When we talk about a DVD or a VCR, they often have “displays,” and the “display” is the little electronic screen that you see that shows whether what channel it’s on or whether it’s recording or not. Those are all part of the display.

I said that the DVD didn’t “fast forward.” “To fast forward” means, of course, to advance, to go forward. It didn’t “rewind” – I’m sorry, it did rewind,” meaning go backwards, so it could go backwards on the DVD but it won’t fast forward while the “picture is playing.” When we say, “the picture is playing,” you mean here the DVD is playing on the screen. I also said there was a problem with the “closed caption” feature. “Closed caption,” two words – “caption” is (caption) – is what many television stations put on their programming, their shows, so that people who are deaf, people who cannot hear, who are hearing impaired, we would say, can still read what’s going on, what the people are saying on the television, and so most televisions in the United States, you can turn on the closed caption and see the actual words underneath. This by the way, is a good way to follow American television if you have problems understanding it. If you have closed caption, sometimes it‘s easier. It’s basically subtitles.

I said that the “casing” scratches very easily. The “casing” is another word for the case or the cover or outside of a machine. “To scratch” means that it has little marks on it so that of you put something on top of it, it will leave marks on the metal or the wood or whatever the material is. That’s a scratch. There’s also a verb “to scratch” and that means to take your hand, usually, and to rub it against, for example, your skin. “I have to scratch my arm.” And we “scratch” when something “itches” and “to itch” means that it’s like tickling. It’s something that bothers you, usually on your skin, so it can be a verb or a noun. Here, it’s a noun and I say that I put the DVD on my “entertainment unit” and I got all these scratches. Your “entertainment unit” is a big cabinet where usually you have a television and a video player and a DVD player. It’s a place where – perhaps a radio – where you keep all these things in one big cabinet or – usually – sometimes with doors, sometimes without doors. The Clerk said she had not seen any problems with models by this “brand.” A “brand” (brand) is a type of product that a company makes. For example, Apple Computer makes an iPod. That’s one of its “brands.” The “model” of a brand is the particular version or type of that piece of equipment so a video iPod or 5th generation iPod is one model in the iPod brand. There are many other types of iPods. The Clerk asked me if I have the “receipt” and, of course, which is what they give you when you buy something to show that you bought it. He asked if I want to “exchange it or return it” and I tell him I want to return in. If I said I wanted to “exchange it,” that means they would give me another DVD player in place of the one that I am returning.

I give him my credit card and he says that he will “credit it back” to my credit card, meaning he will put the money back onto my credit. We can use the verb – or the word “credit” as a verb. “To credit someone” means to give them money or give them money back. The Clerk then asked if there’s “anything else he can help me with,” and that’s a common expression you hear in the store at the end, after you’ve done everything that you plan on doing. The Clerk may ask you, or the sales person, “Is there anything else I can help you with?” And I said, “Oh, there is one more thing,” meaning there’s something else. “There’s one more thing.” I ask if they “carry” the iPod Nano. “To carry,” for a store, means that they have it in their store, they sell it.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue this time at native rate of speech.

[start of dialogue]

I bought a new DVD player last weekend. When I got home and hooked it up, I realized that it was defective. I trudged back to the store to return it.

Clerk: Next, please.

Jeff: Hi, I bought this DVD player last Saturday and I’d like to return it.

Clerk: What’s the reason for the return?

Jeff: It’s not working properly.

Clerk: What’s the matter with it?

Jeff: Well, several things. First of all, the remote doesn’t work.

Clerk: Did you put batteries in it?

Jeff: Yes, of course, but it still didn’t work. I couldn’t change any of the functions on the display. It also doesn’t fast forward when I’m playing a DVD. It rewinds but it won’t fast forward while the picture is playing. On top of that, I couldn’t get the closed caption feature to work.

Clerk: Okay, I see. Anything else?

Jeff: Yes, as you can see, the casing scratches very easily. I just took it out of the box and put it on my entertainment unit and I got all of these scratches.

Clerk: Oh, are you sure you didn’t scratch it with your keys or set some things on top of it?

Jeff: No, I’m sure.

Clerk: Well, I’m sure that it’s just a problem with this one player. I’ve never seen this with any of the models made by this brand. Do you have the receipt?

Jeff: Yes, here it is.

Clerk: Do you want to exchange it or return it?

Jeff: I’d like to return it.

Clerk: Okay, how did you pay for it?

Jeff: With a credit card.

Clerk: Can I see you card? Okay, I’ll credit it back to your credit card. Can you fill out this form with your name and phone number, and sign at the bottom?

Jeff: Sure.

Clerk: Great. Here’s your credit card back and $95 has been credited to your credit card. Anything else I can help you with?

Jeff: Oh, there is one more thing. Can you tell me if you carry iPod Nanos?

[end of dialogue]

That’s going to do it for today. Thanks for listening. From Los Angeles, California, we’ll see you next time on ESL Podcast.

ESL Podcast is a production of the Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright 2005. No part of this podcast may be sold or redistributed without the expressed written permission of the Center for Educational Development.