Trayectos HAZMAT Customer Service · Topic 3 of 6

Incidents: Delays & Accidents

Give bad news the right way: report a delayed delivery, inform the customer about a road accident with a hazardous load, and answer a complaint about missed loads with a recovery plan. Designed for 15-minute sessions.

Level B13 dialoguesMeetings & negotiation15-minute sessions

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Key Vocabulary

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Vocabulary warm-up

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    My Script: Handling Incidents

    Your key lines for meetings and emails with customers. Build each sentence from the end, one piece at a time, then say the full line.

    Let's talk

    Answer with your teacher. Use the vocabulary and grammar from this topic.

    Spanglish check

    Words that Mexican logistics teams use every day, and what U.S. customers actually say.

    In a Mexican officeWith a U.S. customer
    “Hubo un percance”There was an incident on the road
    “La unidad viene retrasada”The truck is running late / delayed
    “La hora estimada de llegada”the ETA (estimated time of arrival)
    “No cumplimos el programa”We missed two loads / we didn't meet the schedule
    “Plan de recuperación”a recovery plan

    False friends

    These words look like Spanish words, but they mean something different.

    EnglishLooks like…Actually means…
    molestarmolestbother or inconvenience = molestar; molest = abusar
    accidentaccidentesame meaning, but for minor road events many people say incident or fender bender
    spillespiarderrame (spy = espiar)
    reportreportar a alguieninformar; report a driver sounds like a complaint to authorities

    Cultural note

    When something goes wrong, U.S. customers expect three things fast: what happened, the impact (new ETA, risk) and what you're doing about it. Call first, then confirm by email.

    Take responsibility without blaming others: We should have caught that earlier. Here's what we're doing to fix it. It builds trust much more than excuses.

      Read and pronounce

      Read and pronounce

      Listen to the model, tap Say it and say each sentence out loud. Bold words are the strong ones, gray words are soft and quick, and the underlined word carries the main stress. The app checks your pronunciation and marks any word it did not hear clearly.

      Practiced: 0/8Correct: 0/8Works best in Chrome or Edge. The browser asks for the microphone the first time.
      1

      I'm calling to let you know that today's load will arrive later than planned.

      2

      The new ETA is 3 p.m. instead of 11 a.m.

      3

      The driver is fine, and nobody was hurt.

      4

      You're right, and I apologize. We should have warned you earlier.

      5

      From now on, dispatch will confirm all your trucks 48 hours in advance.

      6

      Hi, Rodrigo. What's up?

      7

      How long is the delay?

      8

      Thanks for the heads-up. I really appreciate you calling before I had to ask.

      Playing audio