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When I was studying in the Dominican Republic, one of my worst fears was talking on the phone.

It’s so hard to talk on the phone in a foreign language. Things just aren’t as clear.

In today’s video, we’re going to study a phone conversation

that I had with a customer service representative.

We’re going to study the phrases you might use in a phone call like this,

and we’re going to test your listening comprehension.

We’re also going to talk about how we write and say dates.

There’s a lot to learn about phone conversations in this American English video.

In this phone conversation, I’m calling into my dental insurance company.

I talked to a man, Chris, who helps answer my questions.

Let’s look at the first thing he said when he answered the phone.

Good afternoon, Chris speaking, how can I help you today?

When you’re calling in to a company to get help with something, you’re going to hear a similar greeting to this.

Good afternoon, Chris speaking, how can I help you today?

A greeting, good afternoon, he introduces himself, Chris speaking, then he invites me to share my issue. How can I help you today?

Now, I’m gonna say the problem I’m having. Let’s see if you can understand what’s said.

I’m calling because I’m not sure what the status of my account is.

I know I was late on payments at one point because I hadn’t received the bill.

Um, I don’t know. Do I give you my Social Security or how can you look me up?

Did you understand that? What’s the problem I’m having?

Am I unsure of the status of my account,

having problems with my social security number, cannot pay my bill?

Listen again.

I’m calling because I’m not sure what the status of my account is.

I know I was late on payments at one point because I hadn’t received the bill.

Um, I don’t know. Do I give you my Social Security or how can you look me up?

I do mention my social security number but I’m not having problems with it.

I wonder if that’s what he should use to look at my account, so number two is not right.

I do say that I’m late on paying my bill, but I don’t ever say I can’t pay it.

Right at the beginning, I state my problem.

I’m calling because I’m not sure what the status of my account is.

So he asks for important information.

Um, well, do you happen to have your account number or your group ID number?

So this is something that will happen if you’re calling in somewhere where you have an account, where they have information stored on you.

They’re going to want to ‘pull up’ your information, that’s a phrasal verb, on their computer. They might do this by searching on your account number or some other number, some other ID, for example, your name, your address, your phone number, and so on.

So, you’re calling in for customer support somewhere, after you state your issue, be prepared to answer a question. That’s going to allow them to look you up in their system.

So I give him my name and he has me confirm with my address.

Then he’s able to look at that status of my account.

Okay, so he’s looking at the status of my account.

Alright. Let’s take a look Rachel. One moment, please. Looks like your policy is active.

Okay.

He has good news for me. My account is active. I haven’t been cancelled due to that late payment.

But there is an issue with my account. I’m going to play the next section of that phone call and see if you can figure out what that problem is.

Um, I see we’ve received the first two months payment. We received the, uh, let’s take a look.

We got you, uh, affective 9-1.

And it looks like we received the payments for September and October.

Uh, so we are past due for November, which was due November first, but, um.

Did you catch the problem? I am past due. What does that mean?

I have to pay my dental premium on the first of each month in order to have dental insurance to have that coverage. I didn’t pay my November invoice which was due November 1.

This phone call was mid-November. Luckily, he already said my account was active, so I know it hasn’t been cancelled.

But if you get too far behind on payments, at some point, your account will get cancelled. I still have time to send in my November payment.

I do not want to be past due because I don’t want to risk being cancelled.

Listen to this part again. I have two questions for you to answer.

When was my plan effective? That means what was the start date of my dental insurance?

And what payments have already been received?

Um, I see we’ve received the first two months payment. We received the, uh,

let’s take a look.

We got you, uh, effective 9-1.

And it looks like we received the payments for September and October.

Uh, so we are past due for November, which was due November first, but, um.

Did you catch the date?

Uh, effective 9-1.

He said ‘nine one’, not September first.

Of course, we can use the month number when talking dates. So if you’re hearing numbers, keep this in mind it could be a date. My policy was effective 9-1, September first.

Uh, effective 9-1. And it looks like we received the payments for September and October.

Did you hear that? He just answered the second question.

What payments have they already received? September and October.

Effective 9-1. And it looks like we received the payments for September and October.

Okay, I know I’m late on my payment for November.

Take a listen to the rest of the conversation. How do I want to pay?

Do I want to pay by cheque, credit card, automatic withdrawal, or automatic payment?

Can I set up automatic payment over the phone?

So, we don’t take payments over the phone.

The only other option, other than sending a check is automatic withdrawal.

How do I set that up?

Yeah. I can email you our form. You just fill out the form and email or fax it back to us.

We can automatically withdraw the premium on the first of every month.

This was sort of a trick question, I said I want to pay by automatic withdrawal, and then later he called that an automatic payment, it’s the same thing.

I give them my bank information and every month, they take the money they need for my dental insurance premium, and I don’t have to remember to mail a check every month.

One other option we talked about is paying over the phone.

He said:

We don’t take payment over this phone.

No, I can’t take care of this over the phone. Okay, so how do I set up automatic payments? Let’s listen.

Yeah. I can email you our form. You just fill out the form and email or fax it back to us.

We can automatically withdraw the premium on the first of every month.

I have to fill out a form and send it back to them. He said I could email it ,or fax it.

Now, fax used to be a major mode of communication, it’s not so much anymore.

I emailed it back.

But how do I take care of this November invoice, my past due notice?

And would that, would you guys be able to do that for November, or do I have to send in a check for November?

No, not for, yeah, for November, we’ll need a check. Uh, for anything past due, we’ll need a check. But um, yeah. At this point, probably, can you get in…

It might even be too close to get it done for, for December, to be honest with you at this point.

Okay. So..

We can get you set up for, say, 1-1.

Okay.

I have to send in a check because, there’s that phrase again: it’s past due.

What’s the earliest we can set up the automatic withdrawal for? Listen to this clip again.

And would that, would you guys be able to do that for November, or do I have to send in a check for November?

No, not for, yeah, for November, we’ll need a check. Uh, for anything past due, we’ll need a check.

But um, yeah. At this point, probably, can you get in…

It might even be too close to get it done for, for December, to be honest with you at this point.

Okay. So..

We can get you set up for, say, 1-1.

Okay.

Again, he’s giving a date by the numbers. He didn’t say January first, he said 1-1.

We can get you set up for, say, 1-1.

Okay.

So I can start automatic payments on January first if I send in the paperwork.

I have to send a check for November and December.

Listen to the rest of this phone conversation.

Okay. What is the amount that I have to send in for November and December?

Okay. So, that would be…It’s $119.32.

And then you’ll send me some documents that I can fill out to have it start January 1. Okay.

That’s correct. You got it.

Did you notice the verb I used for the forms? I used the phrasal verb ‘fill out’.

This is another way to say ‘complete’.

And then you’ll send me some documents that I can fill out to have it start January 1? Okay.

His response to me, when I stated what I though I needed to do, was “That’s correct. You got it.”

These two phrases mean the same thing. “That’s correct” is a little more formal, and “you got it” a little more casual.

That’s correct. You got it.

Now, let’s talk about dates. We’ve already heard him say 1-1.

Listen to the two other ways we can say this date.

And then you’ll send me some documents that I can fill out to have it start January 1? Okay.

That’s correct. You got it.

Okay.

Okay. You’ll receive it before the end of the day, and all’s you have to do is email or fax it back to us, and January first, we’ll get you, um. On the automatic.

Okay, thank you.

I said “January one”. Then he said “January first”.

One is a cardinal number, and first is an ordinal number.

The cardinal numbers are one, two, three and so on.

And ordinal numbers are first, second, third, and so on.

When you write a date, you write the cardinal number, so that would be this, not this.

When you say the date, you are supposed to say the ordinal number. You are supposed to say ‘January first’.

But I’ve noticed lots of people say cardinal numbers in dates, just like I did, when I said January one.

Now, earlier, we were referring to this date as 1-1.

When you’re calling the month by its number, never use the ordinal number for the day. That would be one-first, and that would sound totally strange. I’ve never heard someone do that.

So, with dates. When you’re writing, use the cardinal number, one.

When you’re speaking, use the ordinal number, first, October first, or October 15th.

But also, it’s not uncommon to hear native speakers use the cardinal number, when saying these dates like October 15 or October 1. But if you’re using all numbers, then just use cardinal numbers, like 1-1, or ‘your coverage ends 9-30’, not 9-30th. Let’s listen to that last part again.

And then you’ll send me some documents that I can fill out to have it start January 1? Okay.

That’s correct. You got it.

Okay.

You’ll receive it before the end of the day, and all’s you have to do is email or fax it back to us, and January first, we’ll get you, um. On the automatic.

Okay, thank you.

How did the phone call end?

Not a problem, Rachel. Thanks for calling My Benefit Advisor.

Alright, buh-bye.

Buh-bye.

He thanks me for calling. Often at the end of a call, someone in customer support will ask you,

is there anything else I can help you with?

He didn’t do that, but it is common. Is there anything else I can help you with?

And then we both say buh-bye.

This is bye-bye, but we reduce the first word so it has the schwa. Buh-bye.

Bye-bye would sound very weird. But buh-bye sounds great.

Of course, you can also just say ‘bye’.

Now, we talked about the content of this call, the important information that was exchanged.

But did you catch every single word spoken? Probably not. There were some mumbled words, some words said very quickly. I’m going to play the whole conversation now.

If you have the subtitles on, you’ll be able to see everything said.

If you want to see how much you can understand without the subtitles, make sure they’re off.

Good afternoon, Chris speaking. How can I help you today?

I’m calling because I’m not sure what the status of my account is.

I know I was late on payment at one point because I hadn’t received the bill, um.

I don’t know, do I give you my social security, or, how can you look me up?

Um, well, do you happen to have your account number or your group ID number? And what’s your name?

It’s Rachel Smith. R-A-C-H-E-L, S-M-I-T-H.

Alright. Let’s take a look Rachel. One moment, please. Looks like your policy is active.

Okay.

Um, I see we’ve received the first two months payment. We received the, uh,

let’s take a look.

We got you, uh, affective 9-1.

And it looks like we received the payments for September and October.

Uh, so we are past due for November, which was due November first, but, um.

Okay.

Can I set up automatic payment over the phone?

So, we don’t take payments over the phone.

The only other option, other than sending a check is automatic withdrawal.

How do I set that up?

Yeah. I can email you our form. You just fill out the form and email or fax it back to us.

We can automatically withdraw the premium on the first of every month.

And would that, would you guys be able to do that for November, or do I have to send in a check for November?

No, not for, yeah, for November, we’ll need a check. Uh, for anything past due, we’ll need a check.

But um, yeah. At this point, probably, can you get in…

It might even be too close to get it done for, for December, to be honest with you at this point.

Okay. What is the amount that I have to send in for November and December?

Okay. So, that would be…It’s $119.32.

And then you’ll send me some documents that I can fill out to have it start January 1 Okay.

That’s correct. You got it.

Okay.

You’ll receive it before the end of the day, and all’s you have to do is email or fax it back to us, and January first, we’ll get you, um. On the automatic.

Okay. Thank you.

Not a problem, Rachel. Thanks for calling My Benefit Advisor.

Alright. Buh-bye.

Buh-bye

How did you do? I hope this video helps you the next time you have to have a conversation in English on the phone. The next video to watch is this one: