Have you ever had an experience with a service provider that made you wonder how the person you dealt with survives in the customer service business. I’ve had a few recently and I’ve selected the best to share.
On the last day of our vacation this past August, the kids had tickets to see a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. We reserved a rental car online with one of the major car rental companies so Chris and I could drop our music loving children off in Hollywood. We would then venture over to Citywalk for a dinner and movie.
When we arrived to pick up the car, they had no record of our reservation and no cars left. After waiting for the rental agent and owner to text back and forth, we were upgraded to a van. Not what we wanted but it would get us to Hollywood.
Our journey was just minutes old when we experienced a tire blowout. I managed to maneuver the van off to the shoulder of the Freeway. As we waited for AAA to assist in changing the tire, we called and alerted the rental company to the tire damage. AAA responded quickly but the delay resulted in the kids missing the first act at their Concert.
We returned the car the next day. Their representative examined the car, we paid the bill and drove off. Several hours later, we received a message indicating that we owed $150 for the damaged tire. I called the credit card company to file a claim with their Car Insurance Damage Coverage. When I tried to give the car rental owner my insurance claim number, he adamantly refused to accept my valid insurance. He demanded immediate payment and threatened to sue me in small claims court and jack up the price if he did not receive it. He then berated me for not taking their insurance and scolded me for returning his van with only three good tires. When I pointed out that threatening a customer with litigation was a novel approach to customer service, he justified his aggressive behavior by saying, “people don’t want to pay their bills in this economy”.
We allowed him to charge our credit card. I did write to the company’s corporate office inquiring if the chain endorses this unique style of service. Their response did not contain any comments from the company, only the franchise owner’s comments.
I was and continue to be flabbergasted.. How does someone like this stay in business?
Have you ever experienced anything like this?
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