When Customer Service Says ‘We’ll Get Back to You’, What Happens Next?

Geoffrey Chen

Why Do Australians Say It This Way? · Season Three: Making It Clear · Article 36

Customer service listens to the problem and says, We’ll get back to you. The call ends politely. Days pass without an email or phone call. When you contact the organisation again, another staff member asks, Do you have a reference number? Only then do you discover that the earlier conversation may have produced an internal note but not a matter you can track.

We’ll get back to you commits the speaker to contact you again after obtaining information or taking some action. It goes further than We’ll look into it by pointing towards a response. It still does not identify the team responsible, the channel of reply or the point at which silence becomes delay.

Before the conversation closes, ask naturally:

Could I have the reference number, please?
When should I expect an update?
Will you contact me by phone or email?
If I haven’t heard by then, which team should I contact?

There is no need to recite all four every time. The aim is to give the promise an identity, a time and a return path.

An acknowledgement is not an outcome

Complaint processes commonly produce three kinds of message: We have received your complaint, Your complaint has been assigned, and We have completed our review. The first acknowledges receipt. The second indicates that handling has begun. Only the third announces an outcome. An automatic email saying Your case is important to us does not establish that someone owns it or when a decision will be made.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman advises complainants to record the complaint reference number and lodgement date, then follow up if an agency does not respond within its published timeframe. Its Better Practice Complaint Handling Guide also distinguishes an outcome from a simple acknowledgement. An outcome communication should summarise the complaint, explain the action taken to assess it, identify the information and evidence considered, give reasons for the conclusion, describe any remedy and state available review options.

An ordinary consumer complaint may not require the full administrative structure, but the distinction remains useful. If someone says Your complaint has been resolved, ask: Could you tell me the outcome and what action will now be taken? A system status of closed does not mean the customer received the result they wanted. It may mean only that the organisation has completed the action it considers available.

What a reference number does—and does not do

A reference number connects calls, messages and different staff members to the same record. On the next contact, providing the number, your name and the relevant date is usually quicker than retelling the entire history. Retain a screenshot or acknowledgement email and note the promised update date.

The number itself is not progress. Your reference is 84721 proves that some record exists; it does not prove that the issue was recorded accurately or promise a favourable result. Check the substance early:

Could you read back how the issue has been recorded? The main point is that I was charged twice, not that the delivery was late.

If further material is requested, confirm the document, submission channel and deadline. Keep a receipt or upload confirmation. I sent it last week may be an accurate personal memory but insufficient to locate the document inside a large system.

Following up is not starting the complaint again each day

A useful follow-up refers to the agreed timeline:

I’m following up on complaint 84721, lodged on 12 August. I was told I would receive an update within five business days, but I haven’t received one. Could you confirm its current status and the next response date?

This confines the issue to the history and next action. You do not need to recreate all the anger first. If the investigation is incomplete, ask for a revised timeframe and the reason for delay. Complex matters can genuinely take longer. A delay is not automatically unreasonable; repeated delay without explanation is what makes the commitment difficult to test.

The ACCC recommends that a written consumer complaint identify the problem and outcome wanted, key dates, action already taken, supporting documents and a reasonable time for response. If the business still does not resolve the matter, look for the relevant state or territory consumer body, industry ombudsman, tribunal or other avenue. The ACCC accepts reports about broader consumer problems but generally does not resolve individual disputes. I reported it to the ACCC should not be heard as a promise that the ACCC will take over a personal refund claim.

Escalation does not mean raising your volume. Ask: Is there an internal review or complaints team that can reconsider this outcome? If a written decision has arrived, read the reasons and review instructions. Many external ombudsman schemes expect you to use the organisation’s own complaint process first. Check the current requirements of the particular scheme.

Why the season ends with this sentence

The season began with a GP asking What can I do for you today? The patient had to organise an experience into information that a clinician could investigate. In a Triple Zero call, the operator supplied the structure and the caller followed it so that help could find the location. A condition report preserved observations for the future. Roster and performance conversations required a distinction between a friendly request, a formal process and the rules actually applying. Consumer complaints showed that dissatisfaction changes an outcome only when it enters a record, responsibility and remedy.

There is no universal set of “Australian sentences” for these scenes. Everyday language relies on shared context and leaves many things unsaid. The more consequential the matter, the less safely the omission can carry the result alone. Clarity does not mean writing every sentence as a contract. It means recognising when an object, date, evidence, owner or review path must be supplied.

We’ll get back to you is not a bad expression. A great deal of service work cannot be completed during the first contact. The problem is that an untrackable promise can gradually change from a shared next step into a sentence remembered only by the caller. Ask for a reference number, establish the expected response and know where to return if it does not arrive. The English can remain relaxed without allowing responsibility to disappear.

Primary sources and further reading

Continue reading: Why Do Australians Say It This Way? — series page

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