Describe an expensive item that you bought and regretted.
You should say:
- what expensive item it was
- when you bought it
- why you bought it
and explain why you regretted buying this expensive item.
[Instruction: You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
Sample Answer
Depending on how one defines “expensive,” I am not exactly in favor of buying many expensive items unless I am thoroughly convinced about their usage and benefits. After all, I don’t really like to regret buying such an expensive item.
But, that’s precisely what happened to me when I bought my last pair of “expensive” shoes from a “so-called” world-famous brand. Of course, the problem is, I never really thought that I would need to worry about regretting my decision after buying that item because the products, made by this world-famous brand, generally maintain very high quality from start to finish. Besides, a couple of my friends had also purchased their products in the past from the same company but never really complained about it.
But, when I bought my shoes from the same brand about a year ago, I felt like I had been “cheated,” to say the least, as those expensive shoes of mine started to lose their shine and look only after wearing them for a few weeks.
By the way, I decided to buy those shoes, mainly because I heard they were very comfortable to wear and could be used in all kinds of weather conditions. Besides, I must also say that those shoes had such a nice and unique design and appealing leather finish that they could easily attract an average customer like me. So, I guess, I had more than enough arguments or reasons in my defense to buy that pair of expensive shoes.
But, the truth is, I was really very disappointed after buying those shoes, primarily because they looked very “ordinary” to me at the end of the day. I also regret the decision because I didn’t really use my common sense or common wisdom to check the overall quality of that expensive item before buying it. But, hey, at least I learned that it doesn’t necessarily mean that something has to be good just because it is expensive!