EXTREME CUSTOMER SERVICE - NO!
I was traveling last week and had to pick up a car at Avis in Florida. The employees were all wrapped up in a guy who was a frequent flyer and really mad about his contract. I went through the normal questions, do you want insurance, what car would you like, 2 door or 4 door, etc. I arrived at the car and noticed a relatively big dent in the rear passenger bumper loaded with yellow paint. I thought that was odd, no one walked me out to the car, which they usually do but since they were all disheveled I thought someone forgot. I decided to take a picture of the car and the dent just in case they’d try to say it was in an accident .
Sure enough, when I returned the car that is exactly what happened. The agent said I would have to pay for this dent. I told them that I was not in an accident and I had a picture of the dent. He said he didn’t care and that a picture does not count. He also told me that he had 3 minutes until he went home. He told me that I had to sign an accident report, I said that I wouldn’t be signing anything. He called another agent over and she says, again, that once I sign the report I can give it to my lawyer to fight it but she also said that they are charging me with this accident and for the dent. I said, “I’m not paying for Avis’s mistake and I’m not signing the report.” I asked to see the manager. Coincidentally, two managers came walking out of the office and I started all over with the story. I told him what happened and he asked to see the picture. Well, iPhones mark photos with the date and time so it proved that we were not out of the parking lot when I took the picture. Quickly he said, “Ok, you’re right, you’re fine, go catch your plane.”
The first agent was argumentative, insisted he was right, (right fighter) and wanted to go home. The second agent was pulled in to get me to sign the accident report and back him up. This could have been handled so differently. Maybe I could have been given the benefit of the doubt. The moral of the story is stick up for yourself when you know you are right.
There is nothing more annoying than someone telling you that you did something you didn’t do. Bye-bye Avis. Their slogan is we try harder, I don't think so.
In this case the customer was right.
Carol serves as a featured writer for the Home News. Carol is an accomplished professional speaker, coach and educational consultant specializing in innovative leadership, outrageous fundraising, million dollar marketing, and building organizational alliances throughout the country. Carol’s creative leadership provides bullet proof ideas for recruiting MORE MEMBERS, MORE MONEY AND BETTER LEADERS to your team. www.caroltalks.com 610-442-4545 [email protected] . Carol S. Ritter, a Past President, National Speakers Association Philadelphia and past board chair for St. Luke’s University Hospital Visiting Nurses Association & Hospice.