In fact we often take such conveniences for granted, assuming they are “industry standard” … not quite.
Fast forward to last year, when I flew to Boston for an interview – the company’s standard agency was Avis, so they booked me there … fine .. or so I thought.
After a horribly delayed flight I arrived at the Avis lot around 4am, trying to get directions to my hotel in Suburbia, a good 30 miles away. Wow, no Kiosk!!! (???). Well, you’d think the clerk can help you (like they do at Hertz). Apparently they are not supposed to, for liability reasons (???) – or so they say.
Oh, well, GPS will help – except the system I reserved was not in the car; the crew at the station had trouble first finding the key to the locker where they keep the GPS units ( a lousy Motorola phone), then they had no clue how to operate it. We ended up reading the user manual together, and I was faster in deciphering it than they were.
After this it should have come as no surprise when I was caught at the gate – apparently the paperwork and the car did not match, they parked the wrong car in the assigned lot. (Need I say this was the car the station manager and I spent 30 minutes in, trying to get the GPS installed?) Well, back to the office, station manager trying to call the gate, they don’t answer… he ended up running to the gate and order the guard to let me (finally) leave, saying he’ll fix the paperwork afterwards…
All in all, I spent 50 minutes at the Avis lot, despite being the only customer there.
Technorati Tags: Customer Service, Customer Disservice, Avis, Hertz
Zoli, thanks. Sounds like a nightmare -that Avis experience. My intention, of course, was not to beat up on Avis or the others. Avis, in fact, has pushed Hertz to innovate. In the marketing world Avis’s slogan “We try harder” has long being associated with how a number 2 in a market should behave. Also, Enterprise innovated the concept of locations away from airports which prompted Hertz to introduce Local Edition.
Hertz is usually – not always – premium priced, so there is a cost for their innovations. Also, they are not fail proof. Last year in Rome, I had to wait an hour to get a car, even though I am one of their Number 1 (frequent renter) members.
But overall, I like to write about companies like Hertz, Jetblue and others which make our customer, employee and other experiences richer through technology…I hope to profile 2-3 such companies each month…if you have suggestions on such companies, love to hear about them
You’re right, Vinnie. My bad experience could have been specific to that night, that crew, and not typical of Avis, and I did not mean to write an Avis-bashing piece.
What came to my mind reading your post was how easily we take certain things for granted – like the Hertz environment was the only one I experienced for years, so I simply thought this was “THE car rental experience” as such, and was in for a shock to live through the difference:-)
I think it’s something peculiar with car rental agencies that they attract (or create?) bad service opportunities. My good experience with Hertz was solely the result of a failed experience with Budget. Hertz was staffed with nice, pleasant people who took time to explain things when Budget decided to not honour my reservation (given, I didn’t see one line in the Terms and Conditions, so it’s my fault for the goof, but I shouldn’t be punished for this….
http://foo.ca/wp/2005/07/26/budget-post-the-third
I’m trying to spread the word, though, so any suggestions, help, or linkage would be appreciated.
Thanks.