"Sorry for any inconvenience caused". The most overused phrase

Didn't want to clog up any of the rail disruption threads with this.

Am I alone in really hating the phrase 'sorry for any inconvenience caused"? I find it utterly meaningless filler-speak when an organisation is compelled to say something to its customers/users.

It seems to be a catch all, and doesn't really apply to anything.

On public transport, there's no "any" about it. "Sorry for the obvious inconvenience" would be more appropriate.

If an event is cancelled, for example a concert, it's not inconvenient, it's disappointing. Perhaps "Sorry for the disappointment the cancellation brings".

Thoughts?

It's just one of those meaningless expressions from PR departments that we now hear so often. It's rather like the "Lessons will be learnt" that we get from the NHS / Social Work every time there's been some sort of major failure, when we all know that when the same sort of thing happens again a little later and another highly critical report comes out, exactly the same formula will be trotted out again and no-one will actually take responsibility.

I just wonder who the people who utter these formulae think they are taking in? Don't most people simply ignore them for the empty words they are?

I work in call cntres and have done for just short of 5 years.

I definitely agree it's a empty soundbite phrase that mostly means not a lot.

The problem is you are very limited in that let's say customer A's train is cancelled and the next one is running but due to delays on that train they wont depart the station for 2 hours.

Yes you have to acknowledge that this situation sucks, but at the same time realising that ultimately you have no actual power to do anything about it. Even if they ask to speak to a manager, they also cannot do anything about it either.

In this scenario let's say there's one train per hour doing that route.

Either way call centre agents and customer facing staff like platform staff or shop assistants are in a catch 22 situation.

If you dont say it, you look uncaring and that you haven't at least acknowledged the situation the customer is in, and if you do, it's mostly taken as a hollow meaningless phrase. Can't win.

I gave given a railway example but there are countless daily examples where a situation happens that completely sucks for the customer. Yet for xyz reason there is no fix that can be applied then and there.


I mention my time in call centres as it brings a unique perspective in my eyes. All call centre and customer service employees of any variety have had to deal with customer dissatisfaction and all of us have been a customer somewhere as well, so we see both perspectives and have been on both sides of the fence.

If someone says sorry for your inconvenience to me when im a paying customer, I do two things.

A) in my head I recognise that it's an empty phrase with little to no meaning and little to no warmth

B) as someone who has worked with the general public, I recognise that in some situations a fix might not be available and they are powerless to do anything meaningful. Ultimately I might have to wait for two hours for my next train to (insert destination here)

The problem is the passive voice, I suggest. It implies that the speaker doesn't accept responsibility. A similar phrase is "I apologise if people were offended by what I said".

Henffordd said:

The problem is the passive voice, I suggest. It implies that the speaker doesn't accept responsibility. A similar phrase is "I apologise if people were offended by what I said".

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I can see how the passive voice makes it sound distant.

At the same time, customer service people would be effectively taking personal responsibility for something they are not responsible for if they were to speak differently.

Its a difficult situation and I am not sure there is a fix for this.

I dont mind the phrase "Sorry for the inconvenience". The one I really detest is "we thank you for your patience" which seems to be getting more frequently announced.