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Dialogue: Making a Complaint

An effective complaint in Serbian identifies a verifiable problem, separates what the system says from what the customer experiences, and asks for a specific remedy. Politeness does not require vagueness: passive and impersonal phrasing can keep the focus on the failed result, while perfective verbs make the desired outcome precise.

Text status: This original instructional dialogue models a telephone call to an internet provider. It uses contemporary standard Serbian and consistent polite singular Ви between a customer and an agent.

The complete dialogue

Корисница:

Добар дан. Зовем због квара који сам пријавила у понедељак. Интернет ми и даље не ради.

Good afternoon. I'm calling about an outage I reported on Monday. My internet still isn't working.

Службеница:

Добар дан. Можете ли да ми кажете број пријаве?

Good afternoon. Could you give me the ticket number?

Корисница:

Број је 5842. Јуче ми је речено да је квар отклоњен, али веза се и даље прекида.

The number is 5842. Yesterday I was told that the fault had been fixed, but the connection is still dropping.

Службеница:

Видим да је пријава затворена. Жао ми је што проблем није решен.

I can see that the ticket has been closed. I'm sorry the problem hasn't been resolved.

Корисница:

Разумем, али услугу плаћам у пуном износу. Молим Вас да проверите зашто је пријава затворена пре него што је веза поправљена.

I understand, but I'm paying the full price for the service. Please check why the ticket was closed before the connection was repaired.

Службеница:

Одмах ћу отворити нову пријаву и проследити је техничкој служби као хитну.

I'll open a new ticket immediately and forward it to technical support as urgent.

Корисница:

Хвала. Можете ли да ми кажете у ком року могу да очекујем одговор?

Thank you. Could you tell me how soon I can expect a response?

Службеница:

Техничар ће Вас позвати најкасније сутра до подне. Послаћемо Вам и потврду поруком.

A technician will call you by noon tomorrow at the latest. We'll also send you confirmation by text message.

Корисница:

У реду. Ако ме нико не позове до тада, желела бих да разговарам са руководиоцем смене.

All right. If no one calls me by then, I would like to speak to the shift supervisor.

Службеница:

Наравно. Забележила сам захтев и послаћу Вам број нове пријаве чим завршимо разговор.

Of course. I've recorded the request, and I'll send you the new ticket number as soon as we finish the call.

The English translation uses active phrases where Serbian deliberately suppresses an agent. Речено ми је does not say who supplied the information; пријава је затворена foregrounds the status of the ticket. That is not evasive by itself. It becomes useful complaint language because the customer contrasts the recorded result with observable reality.

Line-by-line annotation

LineGrammarComplaint strategy
1Звати због + genitive gives због квара. Feminine пријавила agrees with the caller; dative ми marks whose service is affected.The caller gives the prior action, date, and continuing failure before evaluating anyone's behavior.
2Можете ли да... is a conventional polite request. Dative ми is the recipient of the information.The agent requests the identifier needed to locate the case.
3Impersonal passive речено ми је takes dative experiencer. Perfective passive је отклоњен claims a completed result; imperfective се прекида reports recurring failure.The core contradiction is explicit: the promised result and the current evidence do not match.
4Resultative passive forms пријава је затворена and проблем није решен agree respectively with a feminine and a masculine subject.The agent acknowledges both the administrative state and the unresolved real-world problem.
5Молим Вас да + present makes a firm polite request. Passive clauses contrast perfective затворена and поправљена.Разумем, али... acknowledges the reply without surrendering the complaint.
6Future ћу отворити ... и проследити has one expressed auxiliary and two coordinated perfective infinitives. Accusative clitic је resumes feminine пријаву.The remedy becomes concrete: a new ticket, a destination, and urgent status.
7У ком року is locative after static у. Очекујем remains present after modal могу да.The customer asks for a measurable deadline instead of accepting “soon.”
8Future ће позвати takes polite accusative Вас. Најкасније сутра до подне sets the latest boundary; dative Вам marks the message recipient.Two promised follow-ups create a record the customer can later reference.
9After real-condition ако, Serbian uses present не позове, not future. Conditional желела бих softens a clear escalation request.Escalation is conditional and procedural, not personal or aggressive.
10Feminine забележила сам agrees with the agent. Чим + present refers to a future event: чим завршимо.The closing confirms what has been recorded and what will happen next.

State the failed result, not only the emotion

English complaints often begin with I'm unhappy with.... Serbian certainly permits незадовољна сам, but a service complaint is stronger when it names the result that has not occurred:

Пакет је означен као испоручен, али га нисам примила.

The parcel is marked as delivered, but I haven't received it. (female speaker)

Рачун је плаћен на време, а приступ налогу још није омогућен.

The bill was paid on time, but access to the account still hasn't been enabled.

The passive participles означен, плаћен, омогућен describe recorded or expected results. Negative perfect нисам примила supplies the customer's evidence. This evidence–result structure is harder to dismiss than an insult and easier for an employee to act on.

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Perfective participles such as решен, поправљен, испоручен imply a completed result. If the failure continues, и даље or још није exposes the gap between that result and reality.

Impersonal wording and responsibility

Речено ми је, наплаћено ми је, and у систему је забележено omit the agent because that person may be unknown or irrelevant. They are ordinary passive/impersonal strategies, not inherently bureaucratic. Compare a useful neutral report with an explicit claim:

Приликом куповине ми је речено да повраћај траје пет радних дана.

When I made the purchase, I was told that the refund takes five working days.

Ваш колега ми је у уторак потврдио да је захтев прихваћен.

Your colleague confirmed to me on Tuesday that the request had been accepted.

Name a responsible person only when their identity matters and the claim is supported. See passive strategies for the formal system.

Ask for a remedy in steps

A workable sequence is: проверите the cause, исправите/поправите the problem, потврдите the action, then give a рок. The perfective verb presents each step as an outcome rather than an open-ended activity.

Молим Вас да сторнирате погрешно задужење и писмено потврдите исправку.

Please reverse the incorrect charge and confirm the correction in writing.

If the first response fails, a conditional escalation remains courteous and unambiguous:

Ако захтев не буде решен до петка, замолићу Вас да га проследите надлежној служби.

If the request is not resolved by Friday, I'll ask you to forward it to the appropriate department.

The future passive не буде решен is appropriate in this explicit future condition. In the dialogue, simple present ако ме нико не позове is natural because the verb itself presents a bounded future event.

Register and cultural pragmatics

The dialogue is polite professional speech. Молим Вас да... can be firm; piling on apologies may obscure the remedy. Conversely, bare imperatives such as Дајте ми руководиоца! can sound needlessly confrontational unless the situation is urgent.

Capital Вас/Вам marks respectful address to one person in this written presentation. In transcripts and everyday messages, lowercase is common. A complaint should not imitate administrative jargon merely to sound serious: plain проблем није решен is often clearer than an inflated nominal phrase.

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Escalate the process, not the hostility: condition + deadline + requested person or department. Ако... желела бих да разговарам са... preserves both clarity and face.

Reuse the passage

Task 1: Change the service problem

Replace the internet outage with a parcel marked as delivered. Include the date of the first report, one passive result, one piece of contrary evidence, and a requested deadline.

Task 2: Build a remedy ladder

Write three turns that ask first for checking, then correction, then escalation. Use three different perfective verbs and keep Ви forms consistent.

Task 3: Recover the reference

Identify what је refers to in проследити је, who Вас refers to in техничар ће Вас позвати, and what time до тада resumes.

Common Mistakes

Using the wrong case after жалити се

❌ Желим да се жалим због Вашу услугу.

Incorrect—због takes genitive; жалити се на would take accusative.

✅ Желим да се жалим на двоструко наплаћену услугу.

I want to complain about a service that was charged twice.

Demanding an activity instead of a result

❌ Молим Вас да поправљате везу до сутра.

Wrong aspect for the intended remedy—imperfective поправљати presents ongoing work, not a completed repair.

✅ Молим Вас да квар отклоните најкасније до сутра увече.

Please fix the fault by tomorrow evening at the latest.

Misplacing the dative recipient

❌ Речено је ме да чекам још два дана.

Incorrect—the dative clitic ми belongs in the early clitic cluster.

✅ Јутрос ми је речено да сачекам још два радна дана.

This morning I was told to wait another two working days.

Escalating with inconsistent address

❌ Дај ми руководиоца, молим Вас.

Incorrect register mixture—familiar дај ми conflicts with polite Вас.

✅ Молим Вас да ме повежете са руководиоцем службе.

Please put me through to the department manager.

Key Takeaways

  • Contrast an alleged completed result with current evidence: речено ми је да је решено, али...
  • Passive and impersonal wording can foreground the problem without making unsupported accusations.
  • Perfective verbs define remedies as completed outcomes; deadlines make them measurable.
  • A conditional request for a supervisor is firm escalation without aggression.

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