Rain check

[Alfonso]

I received this e-mail, and I don't understand what a rain check is:

I´m sorry but I´ll have to cancel lunch on Friday, can I take a rain check please?
Kisses.
-------

Can anyone help me?

[Iris]

Can I have a rain check? means can we do it another day? Can we put it off? It's a very common expression. By the way, should I be jealous?

[Iris]

Originally Posted by Alfonso

I received this e-mail, and I don't understand what a rain check is:

I´m sorry but I´ll have to cancel lunch on Friday, can I take a rain check please?
Kisses.
-------

Can anyone help me?

Just two tiny corrections.

[Rusty]

What Iris said is completely correct. That is what the saying means, even in the 'can I take a rain check' form.

A rain check itself is a vale in Spanish. Here in the states a rain check can be given to a customer when he comes to buy something on sale in a store, but the store has run out of the item. The rain check is a voucher or a promissory note that allows the customer to get the item at the sales price when it is back in stock.

[Alfonso]

Thanks a lot, Rusty and Iris. I see this lady thinks I'm a store. Next will be to ask for a complaint form.

Sure, Iris, you got it. But, remember, each week has got seven days and seven nights.

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by Alfonso

Thanks a lot, Rusty and Iris. I see this lady thinks I'm a store.

That phrase is actually really common, and it's used in a figurative sense all the time like in the email you got.

I´m sorry but I´ll have to cancel lunch on Friday, can I take a rain check please?

Me da pena pero tendré que cancelar [nuestra cita/la comida] el viernes, [pero vamos a planear hacerlo en otra ocación/pero vamos a ver cuándo podemos hacerlo].

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by Alfonso

Next will be to ask for a complaining sheet.

I suspect you're referring to the little form that many stores have, where you can fill out your complaints, comments etc for the store and either deposit it in a box or send it back in the mail. If that is the case, I think it would be called a complaint form, suggestion form, feedback form, evaluation form, or something of the like. Does anyone know what those forms are really called?

[Rusty]

All the above. Son encuestas, ¿no?

[Alfonso]

En español son hojas de reclamaciones. I've seen hundreds of times these at bars, restaurants, hotels... As Spain is a very touristic country, it's obligatory to have these hojas de reclamaciones or complaint forms in every bussiness, although it's not always so.
I think the word is complaint form, can anyone confirm it? Thanks a lot.

[Rusty]

Yes, complaint forms is correct.
A little nicer way to say it is 'suggestion form'.

[poli]

I know complaint forms are standard and used all over Europe. We definitely do not have a standard system of complaints in the US. Many times, if you have a real complaint, will have to speak to the manager.

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by Alfonso

En español son hojas de reclamaciones. I've seen hundreds of times these on bars, restaurants, hotels... As Spain is a very touristic country, it's obligatory to have these hojas de reclamaciones or complaint forms in every local, although it's not always so.
I think the word is complaint form, can anyone confirm it. Thanks a lot.

I think complaint form, evaluation form or feedback form works just fine to translate hoja de reclamaciones. Evaluation & feedback encompass more-- you could put both complaints and suggestions.

... it's obligatory to have these complaint forms in every local, although....
... it's obligatory to have these complaint forms in every business, although....

Local doesn't work the same in English as it does in Spanish.

Originally Posted by Alfonso

I've seen hundreds of times these on bars, restaurants, hotels...

I've seen these hundreds of times at bars, restaurants, hotels...

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by poli

I know complaint forms are used all over Europe. We definitely do not this system in the US. If you have a real complaint, will have to speak to the manager.

Complaint forms do exist in the US, but they're normally labeled 'suggestion form'. You can offer praise, but most people offer complaints in these forms.

[poli]

Rusty, you are too fast for me. I ammended my note prior to reading yours

[Iris]

Jealousy is a noun, Alfonso. The adjective is jealous.Anyway, I think I like sweetheart better.

[Alfonso]

Voy a explicar cómo funcionan las hojas de reclamaciones en España, por si os puede interesar y comparar con otros países.

Las reclamaciones en locales comerciales y de servicios dependen de las Comunidades Autónomas, de modo que en cada Comunidad española es algo diferente. En todas ellas es obligatorio tener hojas de reclamaciones. Normalmente, cuando rellenas una hoja, hay tres copias (el papel es autocopiativo). Una copia es para el establecimiento, otra para ti (el cliente) y otra para la Consejería de consumo/salud (o la que corresponda) de la Comunidad Autónoma.

No te pueden negar la entrega de la hoja de reclamaciones. Si se niegan, puedes llamar a la policía local y poner una denuncia.

Un vez rellenada la hoja, dejas en el local la que corresponde y te haces cargo de las otras dos. Una es para ti, la otra debes enviarla tú al lugar correspondiente para que surta efecto. Si la dejas en el local, lo que suele ocurrir es que éste no la tramita, y todo queda en agua de borrajas.

Una vez tramitada, la Consejería correspondiente te contestará con la resolución oportuna.

Todo esto es muy bonito. La realidad es que los españoles reclamamos poco. No nos gusta mucho meternos en líos de papeles ni de ningún tipo, así que tragamos con cualquier cosa.

Las hojas de sugerencias son distintas, puesto que, en este caso, no hay una tercera parte que actúe de mediadora o juez, sino que tú sugieres que algún servicio que te han dado podría cambiar. En este caso, no estás reclamando, y aquellos que reciben tu sugerencia son, al mismo tiempo, juez y parte.

[Rusty]

Gracias, Alfonso, por habernos explicado la hoja de reclamaciones. No hay un sistema igual en EEUU. We have suggestion boxes (for suggestion forms) at some establishments. The owners of those establishments decide how to handle the complaints.

[Tomisimo]

Thanks Alfonso, that explains it a lot better. So, filing the hoja de reclamaciones is more akin to filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in the United States. As for the system you've described, there is nothing "official" like that in the US. I don't know about other countries. In Mexico there's something called the Profeco, which is the Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor, un organismo que supuestamente defiende los derechos del consumidor o cliente.

[silopanna]

People,

How about "en otra ocasion."

Dean

[Alfonso]

En otra ocasión es puro español. Creo que expresa bien el inglés: rain check.