Fill a Need and Do it Right

I sat in my Honda CRV for about an hour interviewing a woman about a trip that she had taken with a client of mine. As sometimes happens I had misread the time for our conference call and she caught me with a full basket at TJ Maxx.

As I sat in the car, I left the door slightly ajar and opened a few windows. It was hot. An hour later when we hung up it was already snowing south of us in Parker. Such is Colorado weather.

However when I tried to start my vehicle I got the death rattle. Didn't need to do it twice to know what was wrong.

Immediately I called AAA (never leave home without it here in high country). The woman responded swiftly, located me, and told me to expect someone in about forty minutes.

Oh well. I sat back and began scrolling Facebook.

About a minute later AAA called back to tell me that service was on the way and to expect the truck in about twelve minutes. Really?

Not what I had expected. Nor was the truck that swiftly pulled up a few minutes later: Pacesetter AAA Batteries.

Within seconds the AAA-uniformed young man had identified the problem: my battery was the original factory version and was just plain DEAD. He offered to replace it on the spot with a six-year warranty. $119.00, all told, fully installed on the spot.

I hesitated. I was a captive audience. Perhaps I should check. The young man smiled, nodded, and said "Be sure you get the installed price."

Hadn't thought of that.

I called the service facility where I'd bought my Honda. Their price? $185.00.

I rolled the window down and grinned at the young man. I told him the price and he laughed. "Happens all the time. Nobody can beat our prices."

Ten minutes later the new battery was installed, and he had done a series of diagnostics (for which I'd have had to pay extra at my service facility). And let's be clear: these are not WalMart batteries. They are good quality. Better be if they are warrantied for six years.

Meanwhile we got to talking about his steel-toed boots. "Ariats," he said. "I've worn the tread right off them but I love them."

"I have the answer to that," I said. As a rider, I also wear Ariats, and there's only one place in Denver that I would trust to retread beloved boots: Dardano's. I handed him a card with the store name, address and phone number. Problem solved for both of us.

This young man and I are both military vets. Part of the fun of this exchange was his excitement about working for this company. The battery division of AAA was started as a test program for multiple reasons. Imagine you're a single woman, out on a lonely road at 2 am, and you call AAA. Some guy drives up and gets out, scruffy, smoking, greasy.

How confident are you? How does this make you feel?

So AAA began this program. For every obvious reason it worked beautifully. Not only did I get immediate service, I got diagnostics and an excellent battery for sixty bucks less (at least) than I might have paid elsewhere. He gave me a copy of my diagnostics for my files and with the six-year warranty signed, admonished me to keep it in the glove compartment just in case.

As this young man was working, he regaled me with another story about a caddie driver. He offered the same service to the man who refused. Then my attendant suggested that the driver call a local caddie dealer and get a price. He did. By the time he found out that the dealer's price would have been nearly $150 more, my new buddy already had his new battery installed. The driver stuck his head out the window and said, "Do it."

It was already done. The caddie driver was delighted.

As this young man handed me my receipts I put a fresh tangerine in his hand. His smile nearly fended off the coming snow. We both made out this afternoon, and I was on my way home just as the first flakes began to fall.

AAA identified a very real issue in roadside assistance and filled it. If your battery dies you can expect a uniformed person to show up and fix the problem. If your battery needs to be replaced you can get it done on the spot for a whole lot less. What a great way to do business.

AAA has no repair facilities so that they don't compete with their service providers. There is just a fleet of trucks that just does batteries. This is a picture-perfect example of seeing a problem and coming up with a terrific solution.

It's a good thing that AAA notified me by letter last week that my membership fees had to be paid. Thanks to Equifax (which does not know how to do business and which causes massive headaches for its customers, like this) I had to replace my credit cards. This payment had slipped through. I paid up and six days later badly needed them in the TJ Maxx parking lot.

Thanks AAA. Great role model. I'm a customer for life.