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Our story of not outstanding customer service is from QBQ! book reader, Christina. Enjoy!
My husband, a car mechanic, and I flew from Florida to Louisiana to pick up a truck he bought online. It was in worse shape than he was told, so as we were driving home, it died at a gas station and wouldn’t restart.
I searched for rental car companies and called one — a completely reputable, well-known, world-famous brand — only 0.8 miles away.
After listening to a long recording, a guy answered at 5:32 pm. As we ticked closer to their 6 pm closing time, he asked for a bunch of information. Finally …
Me: “Any chance you can pick us up, please? We’re less than a mile away.”
The Guy: “Sorry, ma’am — we cannot pick you up.”
Me: “Okay, well, what if we are a few minutes late, will you wait for us?”
The Guy: “We close at 6.”
Me: “You can’t come to get us? It’s freezing, dark, and we’re just down the road.”
The Guy: “No.”
Huh, I thought.
Well, since I’m a better runner than my husband, in cold temps and strong winds, I began … jogging.
Along a highway, over a bridge, under an overpass, on slanted concrete shoulders, and across five lanes of traffic — being careful not to get hit by rush-hour traffic!
Breathless, I arrived just before 6 o’clock. What do I see through the window? Four desk people staring at their cellphones. I stand outside at the “WAIT HERE FOR SERVICE” sign but no one looks up. So I break COVID protocol by opening the door, only to hear, “You cannot come in! Someone will be with you.”
Keith came out. I asked why they couldn’t come get us.
“It’s our policy to not pick people up after 5:30. So it wouldn’t be fair to other customers if we’d come to get you.”
Um … okay.
When we got to the topic of renting, Keith said they only had a compact available. Yet I’d ordered a full-size sedan by phone minutes earlier.
“Someone else must have just rented it,” he stated.
Not very likely.
“It is $5/day cheaper, though.”
So my $461 one-way rental due to your exorbitant drop-off fee will now be $451 for a car I don’t want? Yay!
“Unless you want an SUV for $26 a day more.”
“I’ll pass.”
But then the keys for my compact were missing so I ended up with an SUV anyway at the compact price — but not the sedan I’d been promised.
Good news, though! We’ll be heading home tonight instead of walking to a motel.
The next morning Keith did call to check on us. That was nice. I chose to tell him I’d received extremely poor service by being forced to run in the cold. He said, “It’s our policy to not pick people up after 5 pm.”
Wait, is it 5:30 as I was told, or 5:00 when they cut off their pick-ups?
I wasn’t happy.
However, Lauren phoned an hour later to ask what she could do to help. I told her nothing since no one can undo the night before.
She then said, “I’m sorry you had to walk.”
I responded, “Thanks, but I didn’t have time to walk. I had to run.”
She then said they are supposed to pick people up till closing time at … 6pm.
What. The. Heck?
When Lauren offered to knock $90 off our bill, I accepted — and refrained from saying, “Please do better next time.”
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So, do you believe this “world-famous” rental car company made lots of errors — or were the customer’s expectations too high? Our conclusion is this: If the goal is to be outstanding, this organization did not get there on that day. And that’s what matters most to Christina.
Comments welcome!
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