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Vietnamese businesses dont have habit of apolgising
Low-quality products and bad services always annoy consumers. However, Vietnamese consumers, in many deserving cases, do not receive apologies from suppliers, simply because Vietnamese businesses do not have the habit of saying ‘sorry’.
Businesses hesitate to say ‘sorry’
Late last week, millions of subscribers of mobile service provider Viettel were discouraged after joining a big promotion campaign offered by the service provider. A lot of subscribers eagerly put money into their Viettel mobile phone accounts when they heard that they would get bonuses which allowed them to make phone calls and send messages for an extended period.
However, they later found out that the bonus was just valid for a certain time and that the money would be deleted if it was unused.
Millions of Viettel subscribers are waiting for an apology from the mobile service provider; however, none has been forthcoming.
In fact, customers have been told that it is their fault because they didn’t look into the programme carefully enough.
As a result, a lot of Viettel subscribers have threatened to ‘boycott’ Viettel and shift to use services of other service providers.
In fact, Vietnamese consumers have been frequently discontent in the recent past. In early June, hundreds of households in Hanoi got angry because of the sudden electricity cuts without notice in advance as required by the Power Law. A lot of people could not bear the 40oC heat in summer, and had to ‘evacuate’ to hotels and guest rooms. The operator of the Electricity of Vietnam every day received 2,000 calls from customers who called to complain about the electricity cuts.
Meanwhile, the Electricity of Vietnam just gave vague explanations for the electricity cuts, repeating the advice that people should turn off electric equipment in peak hours in order to economise electricity. People never actually heard the word ‘sorry’ from the electricity provider.
Pham Quoc The, a Vietnamese living in the US, who has returned to Vietnam after many years of living in the US, said that Vietnamese consumers are not treated well. They rarely see a smile from saleswomen when they purchase goods; they rarely get an apology when they receive bad services.
The related that his latest flight from HCM City to Hanoi was delayed by one hour, while passengers were not informed about why the flight was delayed. An apology was only given by the airline when passengers asked for the intervention of a ‘third party’.
Chairman of the Thai Ha Book Company Nguyen Manh Hung related that he has been to 39 countries in the world, and in every country he always hears ‘sorry’ and ‘thank you’.
“It is really difficult to say ‘sorry’ to someone. But why wouldn’t you apologise if you made a mistake?” he questioned.
And quite reasonably.
VietNamNet, VNE
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