Poor customer service behavior of employees at joint stock commercial bank for foreign trade of vietnam – ho chi minh city branch

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Cao Huu Thuy Linh POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE BEHAVIOR OF EMPLOYEES AT JOINT STOCK COMMERCIAL BANK FOR FOREIGN TRADE OF VIETNAM – HO CHI MINH CITY BRANCH MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018 UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Cao Huu Thuy Linh POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE BEHAVIOR OF EMPLOYEES AT JOINT STOCK COMMERCIAL BANK FOR FOREIGN TRADE OF VIETNAM – HO CHI MINH CITY BRANCH MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SUPERVISOR: DR TRAN PHUONG THAO Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER 1: PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION 1.1 Company Overview 1.2 Background of the problem 1.2.1 Individual customers’ complaints about VCB customer service at the counters 1.2.2 Evaluation of Vietcombank’s customer service quality compared to its competitors in the banking industry 1.3 Problem analysis 1.3.1 Low quality of service space and facility 1.3.2 Low interaction quality 10 1.3.3 Lack of reliability 11 1.4 Problem justification 13 1.4.1 Possible problems 13 1.4.2 Main problem 18 1.5 Cause validation 19 1.5.1 Training 19 1.5.2 Motivation 21 1.5.3 Design of customer service job 21 CHAPTER 2: SOLUTION 23 2.1 Alternative solutions 23 2.1.1 Contents of training 23 2.1.2 Methods of training 24 2.1.3 Training sources: 25 2.2 Selected solution for Vietcombank HCMC branch 27 2.3 Action plan 29 2.4 Conclusion 31 CHAPTER 3: SUPPORTING INFORMATION 33 3.1 Summary of methodology 33 3.2 Information of in-depth interviews conducted 33 3.2.1 In-depth Interview - Section 33 3.2.2 In-depth Interview - Section 39 3.2.3 In-depth Interview - Section 46 3.3 REFERENCES 48 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Organization’s structure of Vietcombank Ho Chi Minh City Branch Figure 2: Evaluation of customer service at transaction counters of six commercial banks Figure 3: Customers’ evaluation scores for service provider and service environment of six commercial banks Figure 4: Initial cause-effect map Figure 5: Final cause-effect map Figure 6: Updated cause-effect map (alternative solutions added) LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Popular problems customers complain about Vietcombank HCMC branch Table 2: Result of evaluating quality of service provided by Vietcombank’s tellers Table 3: Demographic of customers chosen for interview Table 4: Demographic of staffs chosen for interview Table 5: Estimated cost for training program Table 6: Action plan EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The banking industry in Vietnam is becoming more comparative in recent years Big state-owned banks such as Vietcombank, BIDV and Vietinbanks now have to compete with various private banks which are rising quickly All the banks attempt to retain loyal customers and increase their market share, so they have to pay attention on improving the quality of customer service It is not a stretch to say that customer retention in the banking sector depends primarily on customer service Today’s customers are more knowledgeable of their options So once they have chosen a bank, they expect a high level of customer service The importance of customer retention in banks depends on these institutions stepping up to the plate and delivering on the quality of service that is expected The purpose of this thesis is to explore the causes of poor customer service behavior problem at Joint Stock Commercial bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City branch (Vietcombank HCMC branch) This problem is viewed through the symptom of low customer’s satisfaction about service quality at Vietcombank counters The findings of the study reveals that the main cause of this problem is the lack of a formal training program on customer service for all employees working at this field of the bank The findings are discussed in details in the research along with some recommendations for the company and management board to increase the level of individual customer service quality in order to improve customer satisfaction of Vietcombank HCMC branch Page | CHAPTER 1: PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION 1.1 Company Overview Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) was established on 01/04/1963 from the Foreign Exchange Bureau (of the State Bank of Vietnam) From 02/06/2008, Vietcombank successfully implemented the equitization plan through IPO During more than 50 years of growth and development, Vietcombank has contributed significantly to the stability and growth of national economy, upholding the role of a major foreign trade bank in facilitating efficient domestic economic growth as well as influencing considerably on regional and global financial community Originated founded as a specialized bank for foreign trade, Vietcombank nowadays has become a versatile bank that provides customers with a wide range of leading financial services in international trade, including traditional services such as capital trading, capital mobilization, credit, project financing…etc., and modern banking segment such as forex trading and derivatives, card services, e-banking and so on Vietcomabank Ho Chi Minh City Branch (VCB HCM) was established in 1976 After more than 40 years of growth and development, VCB HCM has now become the largest branch in VCB system which contributes more than 30% of total profit before tax of Vietcombank in recent years Total asset of VCB HCM at 31/12/2016 was 102.808 billion VND, total deposit was 99.851 billion VND and total loan was 76.258 billion VND Board of Directors Accounting department Trade offices Service departments Individials service department Credit departments Corporate service department Individuals Technical department Human resources Corporate Figure 1: Organization’s structure of Vietcombank Ho Chi Minh City Branch (Source: Human Resources Department of Vietcombank HCMC Branch) 1.2 Background of the problem Page | This part discusses the problem of low evaluation of individual customer service quality at Vietcombank’s service department Service department (or front office) of Vietcombank includes customer service departments and trade offices that serve customers directly at counter with most of the basic services of the banks, such as depositing, withdrawing or transfering money, etc Vietcombank HCMC branch has eleven trade offices and two customer service departments which are front offices and serve both individual and organizational customers directly through transaction counters Tellers working at these trade offices are the face of the bank, thus they should be prepared with high skills of customer service Service quality for individual and organizational customers are both important, but individual customer service is more essential to the bank since Vietcombank wants to develop its market share in retail banking sector with the target to become “The Vietnamese number-one bank in retail banking sector” Besides that, number of individual customers are much higher than organizational customers for a bank Therefore, a report by VCB showing increasing number of complaints of individual customers in recent time (discussed in part 1.2.1) is a threat for this bank’s development Thus, this thesis wil focus on analyzing service quality for individual customers only, instead of both individual and organizational customers, through two main symtoms mentioned in this part as following: Increasing customer complaints and low customer evaluation compaired to competitors 1.2.1 Individual customers’ complaints about VCB customer service at the counters In recent years, Vietcombank has focused on developing its market share in retail banking sector with the target to become “The Vietnamese first ranked bank in retail banking sector” However, Vietcombank often receives complaints about customer service quality by individual customers who have experienced customer service at the bank’s transaction counters Being the largest branch of Vietcombank, HCMC branch is also the branch that receives most complaints from customers According to figures provided by Vietcombank’s Retail Banking Product Management Department in monthly Customer Service Report, which is sent to all employees by email, number of complaints about customer service quality at Vietcombank hotline Page | has always accounted for more than 60% in recent months in 2017, in which HCMC branch often accounts for the highest percentage (about 20%) since its scale is much larger than others The below table shows the sectors of complaints and popular problems customers are not satisfied with after they experienced service at Vietcombank HCMC branch’s counters Table 1: Popular problems customers complain about Vietcombank HCMC branch Sector of complaints Customer service at VCB transaction counters (61%) Popular problems - Tellers take long time to get the transaction done - Tellers make errors during making the transactions - Low consulting quality - Tellers show bad attitude towards customers - Card has not been activated - Customers' information has not been updated - Debit/Credit card is stuck in the ATM (Source: Vietcombank’s Retail Banking Product Management Department) Product problems (card, ATM, ) (39%) It can be seen from the table that 61% of the complaints for service at Vietcombank HCMC branch is about customer service, including bad service and attitude of employees Not only receiving lots of complaints at hotline number, it is also recorded that Vietcombank are often complained about bad customer service by individual customers on social media Through a survey done in 2016 by BuzzMetrics - a local research company in Vietnam, Vietcombank is one of the local commercial banks that received most complaints about customer service quality through discussions and comments of customers on social networking sites like Facebook and forums, stated by Kim1 Service quality of Vietcombank and other state-owned banks are always evaluated to be not as good as services at private banks such as Techcombank, Sacombank, ACB and so on Especially, bad staffs’ attitude towards customers is the most serious problem of Vietcombank’s service quality when it accounts for 21% of comments on social media1 Page | 1.2.2 Evaluation of Vietcombank’s customer service quality compared to its competitors in the banking industry Planning to enlarge the market share of individual customers, Vietcombank defines that customer service is one of the key factors that attract individual customers and keep them stay with the bank as royal customers Acknowledging that individual customers are not satisfied with service they provide, Vietcombank HCMC branch has investigated this weakness by comparing customer service quality evaluated by individual customers between Vietcombank and five other popular commercial banks including Vietinbank, BIDV, Sacombank, Techcombank and ACB This program was conducted in July 2017 for all 11 trade offices and Individual Customer Service Department of Vietcombank HCMC Branches in Vietnam and a number of transaction counters of other five banks mentioned above A market research company was hired by Vietcombank to send their staffs playing as secret customers These secret customers visited all the trade offices of Vietcombank HCMC and one trade office of each other five banks They played as normal customers and experienced the bank’s customer service, and then give score to criterias which were listed in advance The overal evaluation score for the six banks are as follow: 98 97.4 96.7 97 96.4 96 95 93.8 94 93 92.9 92.9 92 91 90 Customer service quality evaluation Vietcombank Vietinbank BIDV Sacombank Techcombank ACB Figure 2: Evaluation of customer service at transaction counters of six commercial banks (Source: Vietcombank’s Retail Banking Product Management Department) Page | Figure illustrates result of Vietcombank’s evaluation program, which scored and compared customer service quality at counters of six commercial banks It is concerning that Vietcombank has the lowest score of 92,9 over 100 points together with Vietinbank, while the group of private banks have extremely high score, especially Techcombank ranked first in customer service quality with 97,4 points The evaluation was based on two factors, which are the quality of transaction offices and tellers/officers While Vietcombank’s transaction offices were rated with medium score that was in the middle range compared to other banks, Vietcombank’s tellers were not highly evaluated since the score given was almost the lowest one among six banks, as shown in Figure below: Vietinbank BIDV Sacombank Techcombank ACB 95.5 96.8 97.3 94.9 97 96.3 96.8 91.1 91.4 93.3 96.5 98.8 Vietcombank SERVICE PROVIDER (TELLERS) SERVICE ENVIRONMENT Figure 3: Customers’ evaluation scores for service provider and service environment of six commercial banks (Source: Vietcombank’s Retail Banking Product Management Department) The program evaluated customer service quality of the tellers based on five main criterias, and the scores for each factor are as following: Table 2: Result of evaluating quality of service provided by Vietcombank’s tellers Criterias to evaluate tellers Average Score 90 96 73 82 95 Customs Focusing on working tasks Attitude towards customers Professional knowledge and skills Receiving and dealing with customers’ complaint timely and responsibly (Source: Vietcombank’s Retail Banking Product Management Department) Page | customers for service providing at VCB’s counters So could I interview you in a few minutes? Le Van Ba: Yes, but I need to leave here in 15 minutes Could you interview shortly? Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you, sir! Our interview will not take much time Firstly, could you introduce your name, age and how often you go to Vietcombank’s trade offices? Le Van Ba: My name is Le Van Ba I’m 28 years old I am a business man so I need to go to Vietcombank’s office regularly to transactions with my customers, often once or twice a week Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Did you have any bad experience with service at VCB’s transaction counters? What were they? Le Van Ba: Hmm Most of the time, the service was ok However, at Le Thi Rieng trade office where I visited more frequently than other offices, it was often crowed so I have to wait for a long time to be served Sometimes the tellers were not so friendly and they let me wait long time without explaining the reason and also did not inform me the time my transaction would be completed Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Well, so how many times did you suffer that situation? Le Van Ba: As I remember, I faced that problem three times at Le Thi Rieng trade office Cao Huu Thuy Linh: That is a valuable comment to help us improving our service What other problems did you suffer at Vietcombank? How about the employees’ appearance and the bank appearance? Le Van Ba: Le Thi Rieng trade office where I often go to is quite messy I often see trash on the floor outside the front door of the bank, and sometimes they even put a broom and a mop on the way in There is one time when I visit, I saw that inside the office was also quite messy and unprofessional when they put a folding chair behind the transaction counter, which I guess is used for lunch break I think Vietcombank should concern more about the appearance of the office Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you so much for your comments Would you like to share anything else? Le Van Ba: No, that’s all Page | 37 Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you Have a nice day! _ In-depth interview 4:  Interviewer: Cao Huu Thuy Linh  Interviewees: Mr Truong Dinh Khoi  Age: 40  Time: 09:00, 03 October 2017  Place: Ton Duc Thang Trade office, Vietcombank HCMC branch, 37 Ton Duc Thang, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Good morning, my name is Linh I am doing a research about Vietcombank’s customer service quality We want to know the evaluation of customers for service providing at VCB’s counters So could I interview you in a few minutes? Truong Dinh Khoi: Sure It is nice to meet you! My name is Khoi Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you! Nice to meet you, sir! How old are you? And how often you visit Vietcombank trade office? Truong Dinh Khoi: Well I’m 40 years old I visit Ton Duc Thang trade office about once a week for doing my transaction Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Did you have any bad experience with service at VCB’s transaction counters? What were they? Truong Dinh Khoi: I have a little bit uncomfortable feeling about Ton Duc Thang trade office because it is quite old The paint on the wall is sloughing and outside the bank, the sign plate and logo of the bank are faded Not all trade offices of Vietcombank are like that, but I go to this office frequently because it is located near my work place If the bank’s facility is newer and the space is more luxurious, I would feel that their service is more professional Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Well, I a gree that this office is quite old and it needs to be repaired to have a newer look What other bad experiences did you have at Vietcombank? How about Vietcombank’s staffs and service? Truong Dinh Khoi: There was one time I was not satisfied with the attitude of the teller here When I informed the teller that I could not activate my internet banking Page | 38 account when I registered for it for the first time because of the bank’s mistake of sending me the password late, her first reaction was to blame the fault to me when saying that the bank system always send password email immediately She said the reason was that I logged on the account later than 24 hours as the bank had informed in the email I was really angry and asked her to recheck, after that she found out that the fault is due to the bank e-system Cao Huu Thuy Linh: How did you feel when suffering that trouble? Truong Dinh Khoi: The bank’s staff should listen to customer and check if the mistake belonged to the bank before blaming it to customer It made me feel I am not respected Cao Huu Thuy Linh: How about reliability? Do you think Vietcombank service is reliable? Truong Dinh Khoi: Yes I also have faced a problem of reliability Yesterday I went to Ton Duc Thang trade office to close my bank account and withdraw money I received my money and thought that the transaction was smoothly completed However, this morning, the bank’s staff called me and informed that there was an amount of money transferred into my account yesterday but due to mistake of the bank system, that amount of money was not presented in my account at the time I closed it, so today the bank will transfer to me that amount of money From the customer’s point of view, I think that kind of mistake makes me feel lack of reliability on the precise and safety of the bank Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Ok, I see Do you have anything else to share with me? Truong Dinh Khoi: No, that’s all, I think Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you for your sharing You have provided us effective information for our research Have a nice day, sir! Truong Dinh Khoi: You are welcome Good bye! 3.2.2 In-depth Interview - Section  Interviewees: Vietcombank’s staffs and managers working at Individual Customer Service department, Ton Duc Thang and Le Thi Rieng trade office where problems that the four customers complained happened Page | 39  Objectives: After interviewing the customers, staffs and managers were interviewed to specify the problems customers complained in order to find out the potential problems and potential causes of low evaluation of individual customer service at Vietcombank  Interview guide: Q1 How you think about the complaint of customers (about the trade office appearance/ tellers attitude and uniform/ bank privacy)? Do these problems truly exist? Q2 In your opinion, what are reasons for these problems?  Transcripts: In-depth interview 1:  Interviewer: Cao Huu Thuy Linh  Interviewees: Ms Vu Thi Huyen - Tellers of Individual Customer Service Department of Vietcombank HCMC Branch  Time: 14:00, 03 October 2017  Place: Individual Service Customer department, Vietcombank HCMC branch, 05 Me Linh Square, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Hello, Ms Huyen! I am doing a research about Vietcombank’s service quality for individual customers visiting Vietcombank’s counters and I need some information for this project So could I interview you for a moment? Vu Thi Huyen: Yes, of course What you want to know? Cao Huu Thuy Linh: I have interviewed some individual customers who visited this office for feedback about what they were not satisfied with VCB’s customer service at counter And most of them complained about tellers’ unprofessional service attitude towards customers, including: unfriendly attitude, irresponsible feedback for customer’s complaints and unwillingness to solve customer’s problem So I want to clarify this issue Have you or any of your colleagues made any mistakes like that? Vu Thi Huyen: Well, I have to admit that sometimes I make mistakes like not showing happy and open-armed reception or not saying “Hello” and “Goodbye” to customers, but it was just unconsciously and I think customers not really matter about these tiny mistakes Page | 40 Cao Huu Thuy Linh: How about other tellers? Do you think your colleagues always show positive attitude to customers? Vu Thi Huyen: No because all of us often feel stressed and pressure in work At some peak hours of the day, we have to serve a large number of customers, so we may feel tired and unconsciously shows unfriendly attitude towards customers Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you for your sharing! In-depth interview 2:  Interviewer: Cao Huu Thuy Linh  Interviewees: Ms Vu Thi Van Ha - Manager of Individual Customer Service Department of Vietcombank HCMC Branch  Time: 15:00, 03 October 2017  Place: Individual Service Customer department, Vietcombank HCMC branch, 05 Me Linh Square, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Good afternoon, Ms Ha! I am Linh, staff at Accounting Department I am doing a research about Vietcombank’s service quality for individual customers visiting Vietcombank’s counters I have done interviews with some individual customers who visited Vietcombank HCMC branch in recent days There are some problems about customer service of VCB which are complained by most of the interviewers Thus, today I want to have a sort interview with you to clarify those problems Would you mind if I ask you a few questions about that? Vu Thi Van Ha: Of course not, go ahead Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you! Firstly, some of the customers complained about costumes of the tellers They said that sometimes staffs did not wear uniform in working hours such as lack of scarf, tie or name tag What is your point of view for this problem? Vu Thi Van Ha: Well, I see that most of the time, Vietcombank staffs wear uniform seriously in working hours Maybe there are some occasions in the early morning, when customers arrive sooner than the opening hour of the bank, some of the tellers have not finished dressing up uniforms in correct manner like wearing tie or scarf or Page | 41 put on the name tag However, that occasion rarely happens and most of the time their employees show up their neat appearance Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Customers also complained that the tables behind the counters are messy with documents and drinks on the table, which can make transaction documents get dirty if they are careless Vu Thi Van Ha: Yes, several times I saw the tellers put drinks on the counters I have reminded them about that problem and now they not repeat it anymore From now on, we would be more concern about the appearance of tellers and the office to be more professional in customers’ eyes Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Customers also have negative comments about the tellers’ attitude Most of them claimed that Vietcombank’s tellers are not friendly with customers, some tellers at this office had unprofession behaviours to customers like irresponsibly feedback to customers’ complaints and unwillingness to solve customers’ problem Do you think these claims are exact and how you feel about it? Vu Thi Van Ha: Yes, I admitted that tellers at Vietcombank are not as friendly and polite as many other private banks I don’t know why but maybe other banks concentrate more in training employees about customer service attitude Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you for your sharing! Now I want to ask a question about privacy problem of Vietcombank A customer complained that after she opened a credit card here, she received many calls from sales men of real-estate companies Thus she thought that Vietcombank has leak out her personal information How you respond to this information? Vu Thi Van Ha: I assure that keeping customer’s information confidential is compulsory at Vietcombank This bank has launched tight rules and regulations customer’s confidentiality and every staffs that break the rules would definitely receive punishment Especially in my department, we told our employees a lots about that, and we also have a strong technological privacy system so that the percentage of information leaking out is very low In the case of this customer, I think there might be something misunderstanding Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Well, I understand May I ask you a final question? Some customers also complained about system errors occurring at Vietcombank when they Page | 42 came to make transaction, which is referred to the inefficiency of the bank’s internal process According to you, what are possible reasons for this problem? Vu Thi Van Ha: It might because the technology system of Vietcombank is relatively old Vietcombank is one of the most long-standing bank in Vietnam, so its technology was developed before other banks Hence, nowadays this system is older than systems of banks which were founded later Vietcombank is now in the process of improving this system, but it takes several years to complete This kind of errors is objective and I think system errors like that are unavoidable for banks Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you for the information you provide! I think it would be very useful for my research Would you mind if I come back and interview more if I have any other questions? Vu Thi Van Ha: No, I don’t mind See you! Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you, see you later! In-depth interview 3:  Interviewer: Cao Huu Thuy Linh  Interviewees: Mr Phan Van Binh - Manager of Le Thi Rieng Trade office of Vietcombank HCMC Branch  Time: 16:30, 03 October 2017  Place: Vietcombank HCMC branch - Le Thi Rieng Trade office, 460 Cach Mang Thang 8, District 3, Ho Chi Minh city Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Good afternoon, Mr Binh! My name is Linh and I come from Accounting Department I am doing a research about Vietcombank’s service quality for individual customers visiting Vietcombank’s counters I need some information for my research, so would you mind if I ask you a few questions about that? Phan Van Binh: Yes, I am happy to help you Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Yesterday I had some interviews with individual customers who visited Vietcombank HCMC branch to make transaction A customer complained that Le Thi Rieng trade office is quite old with degradation of facilities Could you explain the reason why? Page | 43 Phan Van Binh: Well, I agree that our office has been old and it needs to be fixed soon We have planned to repaint the wall and replacing the sign plate and logo outside The reason why we have not fixed it until now is that the process of getting permission from the headquarters takes quite long time to be completed We will make the appearance of the trade office more attractive in short coming days Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Yes How about the problem of poor customer behavior to customers of VCB’s staffs? Many of them claimed that the tellers are not much friendly and polite as staffs of other banks Phan Van Binh: I think one of the reason comes from Vietcombank’s structure of employees The ratio of old employees in Vietcombank is higher than other private banks At my department, over 25 staffs at my department are over the age of 45, which is a relative high ratio These old officers often show bad attitude/behaviors towards customers more than the young generation, because they have that habit from the past when state-owned banks dominated the market and they did not have to provide good service to retain customers Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you for you sharing! Have a good day, Mr Binh! In-depth interview 4:  Interviewer: Cao Huu Thuy Linh  Interviewees: Ms Le Vi - Manager of Ton Duc Thang Trade office of Vietcombank HCMC Branch  Time: 17:00, 03 October 2017  Place: Vietcombank HCMC branch - Ton Duc Thang Trade office, 37 Ton Duc Thang, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Good afternoon, Ms Vy! My name is Linh and I come from Accounting Department I am doing a research about Vietcombank’s service quality for individual customers visiting Vietcombank’s counters I need some information for my research, so would you mind if I ask you a few questions about that? Le Vi: Yes, I think I can help you Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you! I had some interviews with customers of VCB about their satisfaction when being served at VCB’s trade office, and one of them Page | 44 shared that they were not happy with Ton Duc Thang’s transaction appearance This place was messy with unrelated items placed in the office such as broom and mop, folding chair and so on How you think about that? Le Vi: I am so sorry about that! Our office is quite old and cramped, so we sometimes place things in the office that makes it look messy and more narrow We have planned to change location to a newer and bigger office and it would be conducted soon Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Customers also complained that the tellers were not polite to customers and in addition, the counters were messy with too much documents and files, which reduce their professional look Le Vi: Each teller is aware of their appearance to be neat and polite About the problem of transaction counters, sometimes they place too many documents or files on their table, behind the counter, it might because there are too much customers to serve that day and with the high work load, they not have enough time to organize their stuffs correctly and tidily As a manager, I understand and not blame my employees for that However, the customers are right to feel bad about that problem, so I would remind the staffs to attempt to be neat all the time Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Yes, I understand Last but not least, how you think about customer’s complaint about the bank’s reliability in making transactions? A customer said that he went here to close account and withdraw money but due to system mistake, he received not enough money in his account and today your office contacted him to inform about that mistake Could you explain to me why this occasion happened? Le Vi: Ah, I remember this occasion Is that Mr Khoi, who came to our office yesterday? Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Yes, that’s him Le Vi: In this case, the money transferred in to the customer’s account after the account is closed In a logical way, we think that the correct procedure is that after she closes her account, money cannot be transferred to that account anymore However, the fact is the bank system only truly closes the account at the end of the day after all the transactions are done Therefore, there is a gap for mistake when the bank system Page | 45 let the customer withdraw money and close account already but after that it still received money into that account on the same day Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you a lot for your information! _ 3.2.3 In-depth Interview - Section  Interviewees: A staff (Ms Huyen) and a manager (Ms Ha) - who have been interviewed in previous part They are working at Individual Customer Service department  Objectives: After identifying main problem, which is poor CSB, based on alternative references, three depth interviews were conducted again with these three people in order to figure out main cause of the problem  Transcripts: In-depth interview 1:  Interviewer: Cao Huu Thuy Linh  Interviewees: Ms Vu Thi Huyen - Teller of Individual Customer Service Department of Vietcombank HCMC Branch  Time: 09:00, 04 October 2017  Place: Individual Service Customer department, Vietcombank HCMC branch, 05 Me Linh Square, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Hello Huyen! Could I interview you more to have a deeper understanding about the causes of customer service problem of VCB? Vu Thi Huyen: Of course I’m glad that I can help you! Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you so much! As we mentioned in the last interview, VCB’s tellers are complained not to be happy and friendly with customers Do you think that it is necessary to so? Vu Thi Huyen: Yes, I know enthusiasm is necessary in doing service However, I think that it is hard to be happy and smile all day with customers when I am stressed with my workload I have tried my best to fulfill customers’ requirements Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Some customers also shared that when they met some problems with the systems seach as internet banking and asked the staffs, they often blame the Page | 46 mistake to customers rather than considering that might be mistake of the bank first How you think about that? Vu Thi Huyen: I acknowledge that it was unprofessional attitude and behavior of staffs in banking service when they not stand on their customer’s point of view to access the problem and push the fault towards customers Sometimes several colleagues in my department make this type of mistake but I think it is unconscious because they are not truly trained how to react correctly to customers’ complaints Cao Huu Thuy Linh: What you mean when you say that you are not truely trained how to react correctly to customers’ complaints? Vu Thi Huyen: I mean that VCB did not provide us any official training about customer service behavior in the past Cao Huu Thuy Linh: So you have any official guide for customer service skills? Vu Thi Huyen: Uhm I think no We only have Vietcombank’s handbook of behavior which states common behaviors Vietcombank’s staffs should apply with their colleagues and customers However this handbook’s content is very general and it cannot be used as standard guide for customer service behavior Cao Huu Thuy Linh: How about your work life satisfaction? Do you have any other pressure in work that may affect your behavior to customers, such as benefits and regulations of the bank, or you have problem with your manager? Vu Thi Huyen: I think the benefits and regulation of the bank is good Our managers are also kind and take care of our work life We have a good working environment here so most of us not want to change job in the future Sometimes the work load is over because we have to serve too many customers in peak hours, it is our duty and we would try our best to finish the work Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Thank you for your sharing! In-depth interview 2:  Interviewer: Cao Huu Thuy Linh  Interviewees: Ms Vu Thi Van Ha - Manager of Individual Customer Service Department of Vietcombank HCMC Branch  Time: 10:00, 04 October 2017 Page | 47  Place: Individual Service Customer department, Vietcombank HCMC branch, 05 Me Linh Square, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Good morning, Ms Ha! I want to clarify some more about the cause of poor customer service behavior of Vietcombank’s staffs Could I have a short interview with you now? Vu Thi Van Ha: Uhm yes I also feel sad because of the fact that customer service behavior of our bank is evaluated lower than other banks Cao Huu Thuy Linh: A teller I interviewed before shared that there is no official training about customer service for employees Is that so? Do you think that it is the reason for poor customer service behavior? Vu Thi Van Ha: Yes, Vietcombank nowadays has invested more in customer service, but training for employees about good attitude for customers is still not concerned enough by the managers There is no official and methodical training course about standardized customer service behavior/attitude for new tellers working in my department Cao Huu Thuy Linh: So how does Vietcombank train its new employees? Vu Thi Van Ha: New employees learned their job only from experience of the older ones And it is the common method of training for new employees in all fields and departments By this method, they not have a standard of customer service behavior but just act by their habbit and guidance from the previous generation I think that is one of the biggest reasons leading to the poor customer service behavior of staffs Cao Huu Thuy Linh: Well, I understand Thank you so much for your sharing! This will help a lot for my project Good bye! Vu Thi Van Ha: You are welcome! 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[cited 2018 June 20] Available from: https://www.agencycentral.co.uk/articles/2016-04/benefitsof-internal-training.htm Page | 51 ... OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Cao Huu Thuy Linh POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE BEHAVIOR OF EMPLOYEES AT JOINT STOCK COMMERCIAL BANK FOR FOREIGN TRADE OF. .. to explore the causes of poor customer service behavior problem at Joint Stock Commercial bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City branch (Vietcombank HCMC branch) This problem is... LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Organization’s structure of Vietcombank Ho Chi Minh City Branch Figure 2: Evaluation of customer service at transaction counters of six commercial banks Figure 3: Customers’