Customer care in Vietnam

Thats no excuse to have such a bad customer service all over in Vietnam! It's a lack of good training and better education!

I had a doctor here tell me to F off because I questioned him. The bedside manner of some doctors is appalling.

I spent some time  in Dai Hoc Y Duoc in D5 and the service and staff were excellent, so they can do it, but government places are run the same way as the government, BADLY.

i use the  traditional markets - one of the reasons i like living in the provinces. i don't understand your project. you presumably appeal to the ex-pats around ho tay, for example, i have seen them on my once a month visit to hanoi. i wrote a humorous piece about the ex-pats in hanoi a few years  back [it mentioned their non-appearence at the market] but suspect you would not be interested.

trung thanh

frere

There's Dong Nai hospital I think biggest hospital in Biên Hoa but all my Vietnamese relatives go to Saigon especially Y Duc for treatment.

I noticed at Huong Vuong hospital there seems to be a lot of cesarean birth. I've also found out lots of regrets of Vietnamese having their tonsil removed when it wasn't necessary and using c-scans that cost $1.5 million dongs as revenue generaters not to mention hugely marked up medicine that is cheaper to purchase outside the hospital/clinic.

I always get a chuckle the doctors always prescribing multi colourful tablets even when there is no illness's. The locals immune system must be weak from the long term effect of taking these tablet. No wonder they are always sick.

siddharta wrote:

i use the  traditional markets - one of the reasons i like living in the provinces. i don't understand your project. you presumably appeal to the ex-pats around ho tay, for example, i have seen them on my once a month visit to hanoi. i wrote a humorous piece about the ex-pats in hanoi a few years  back [it mentioned their non-appearence at the market] but suspect you would not be interested.

trung thanh

frere

Incorrect.

   ..but then, I (claim to) understand we all suspect others of what we know
           ..about ourselves...     This removes the secrecy of your mystery

    ..and you...           

Caravan, Perko, 

I really regret to inform you that cutting in front of you, or any foreigner, is rewarded with a Medal of Honor here. If they're successful,  they go back to their buddies and crow about it. It's not just a case of them being rude, it is all a game for them. So the best thing to do is push them away as best as possible, because if you do so, they lose their little game. Yes, it's sick, but that's really the way it is.

I had my tonsils removed sometime in the mid 1950's after repeatedly having tonsil infections. At that time the American Doctors were starting to reduce tonsil removals and only remove them if their was a reason.

My youngest daughter had her appendix removed, while visiting us in HCM a couple of years ago, as it had become infected. Remove if needed seems appropriate to me.

The provision of good customer service is sporadic, and usually dependant upon the level of training which has been given to an individual.

That being said, the incidence of ''foreigner pricing' is still too high; whether downright thieves or opportunists, who knows!

Greetings,

OK, I pray to be understood here.

Where one is comfortable personally, financially, (in their situation here), customer service is a matter of understanding cultural norms here, Where you are doing business with say, JAL in HCMC, it's all good.

There is a big difference between going to a place to eat and negotiating at the bank. Night and day difference.

Where one is without family, friends, connections etc., (here),   ... then it becomes more of a novice expat nightmare that could send them scurrying.  Where a white guy without understanding of life here is trying to apply their home turf standards, good luck with that!
Vietnam is unique to Vietnam. Every encounter is an individual encounter. Understanding language, culture, keeping an open mind, tight fist on the wallet, along with an open heart will serve one best.

Mac

Too true!
                  ..just as it is for a great part of the planet...       

I am not a businessman and don't deal with stores and companies at that level. However, I go to market and to stores. I have always found the clerks and proprietors to be very helpful and eager to please. I have bought appliances at an appliance store and they were delivered at once. A refrigerator was being secured to the back of the delivery xe may  before I left the store and beat me home. A Washing machine I bought turned out to have a faulty lid and the delivery fellow, while setting it in place, noticed that and loaded it back up and took it back. He returned an hour later with another one. You can't get much more satisfactory than that.

Several years ago I got a round trip ticket from Atlanta GA to HCM and back to Atlanta. Because of mechanical problems I missed a flight and went from Tokyo to HCM on JAL instead of HKVN as I was supposed to. When I went back to the HKVN counter to go back to Atlanta the clerk looked at my paper and went on her computer. She said I was not in the computer and asked me had I changed airlines on the inbound trip? I explained that  I had  and she said she knew I belonged on the HKVN flight and spent almost an hour on the computer and on her cell phone until she finally got it fixed. She told me she could get me to Narita but at Narita, because I was no longer in the system, Delta would require me to buy a one way ticket to  Los Angeles. I asked her how much that would cost. She found that and told me $4000. I had only paid 1100 for the round trip and I had less than $50 cash and a Visa card with a $3000 limit. She said I could wait until the Delta office opened in the morning and go discuss it with them. I said no, just get me to Japan. At Narita the Delta clerk did, indeed, say I would have to buy that $4k ticket and was not willing to research my paperwork because I was not on her screen. I went to the HKVN counter and explained it to the clerk there. She, like the other one, got on the computer and phone. After almost 2 hours she printed me out a set of boarding passes for the flights I was supposed to be on anyway. She told me if they don't look past the first screen on the monitor, I would get my flight. The boarding passes were actually bogus even though they put me on the flights I had paid for already. At the Delta counter the clerk looked at my pass, looked at the monitor, and waved me on. I can't imagine an American airline doing that for me. That is premium 5 star customer service.