Commercial Banks’ Readiness to Provide After-Sales Customer Service

Abstract

The purpose of the article. The study aims to identify and assess the mechanisms shaping the quality of after-sales customer service in commercial banks, with particular emphasis on the accuracy and completeness of information, employee proactivity, and the practical usefulness of support provided to customers using banking services abroad.Methodology. The empirical analysis was based on mystery shopping studies conducted between 2024 and 2026 as part of the Institution of the Year project. The purposive sample comprised commercial banks with at least ten physical branches in Poland: 13 banks in 2024–2025 and 14 banks in 2026. At the end of 2025, the institutions included in the study accounted for 65.1% of the Polish banking sector’s total assets. The dataset comprised 800 standardized service interactions: 400 branch visits and 400 call-center interactions. Auditors posed as existing customers seeking assistance with euro transfers, card payments, cash withdrawals, currency conversion, Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC), and other costs associated with cross-border transactions. The analysis examined the factual accuracy of the information provided, whether relevant information was communicated without prompting, and recurring patterns across years and service channels.Results of the research. A high standard of after-sales service was not achieved consistently. Employees were more likely to provide correct information when directly asked than to communicate relevant information proactively. Transfer fees were discussed more frequently than delivery times, cut-off times, DCC, or costs not arising directly from the bank’s tariff. The findings reveal a recurring gap between product knowledge and its practical application in customer interactions. After-sales information readiness is conceptualized as an organizational capability to transform dispersed product and procedural knowledge into accurate, complete, proactive, and practically useful customer support.