Car rental SCS

[bob the goat]

I read the guy posting here about working for a car rental place. It reminded me of my car rental experience about 2 years ago. I guess this is more a story of Sucky Customer Service.

The second car I bought was a very poor fit. I took it for a test drive, and liked it, but within a week of buying it I knew it had to go. That was an expensive oops. Before buying my third car I wanted to rent it for a week to see if I liked it. I went into the local rental place. I told them the situation. I lived close, and wanted to rent an Impala for a week as an extended test drive. Which week was not important, and which day of the week was not important. I wanted to drive it to work for a week, and drive it over a weekend so I can get some long distance on it. The manager told me that they had multiple Impalas and that would not be a problem. They were all booked at the moment, but two were due in the next week and I could have one of them.

Great!

4 days later I received a call, and just like you said, someone had extended their rental, so the manager pushed my rental back. Everything was on track, I was happy to see that I would get what I wanted.

I showed up, and the guy told me that I was going to get something else (I forget what). I explained the situation and that I had been assured that I would receive an Impala. I was told what you just said about how the rental was for “something Impala like”. I told him that I had a special arrangement, and that I would just come back later when an Impala was available. The guy had to do a bunch of paperwork, but finally he was done and told me to come back in 2 or 3 days. I did. I got my impala. I drove it for the week and was very happy. I returned it. When I returned it, I noticed that on the bill there was a $25 charge for a Cancellation fee. Apparently, if you cancel a reservation with less than 24 hours notice there is a fee. I fought the manager on the charge, because I had a special arrangement to rent an Impala, and ONLY an impala. The first reservation said right on it “Impala only, NO EXCEPTIONS. If Impala is not available, call (my phone number) to re-schedule rental.” I did not change the reservation, they did. He did not agree, and charged my credit card the extra charge.

I tried to fight the charge with my credit card company, but after researching it they sided with him.

I was at a loss for what to do. Then it dawned on me.

I parked outside their building. A customer pulled in. I jumped out of my car and said “let me tell you about my experience with this company…” and told them the story. They left without getting a rental!! I walked into the building and told the manager what I had done. He was outraged. I said “I bet that customer cost you more than $25. I wonder how many more I can drive away before you refund my $25?” and walked back out to my car. About 2 minutes later another customer. I jump out “Let me tell you about my experience with this company…” right then the manger comes out the door and says “I’m refunding your money right now.” I turned to the customer and said “I had a problem with scheduling my rental, and they took care of that problem.”

He refunded my money right away. 3 weeks later I get a letter from the division manager of the rental company. Apparently, the manager processed the credit card return wrong. When the division manager saw that on a report they called to find out what it was. The manager was not there, but the employee that answered the phone was the one that tried to give me the wrong car in the first place, and told the division manager the entire story. The division manager wrote me a personal letter thanking me for my business and apologizing for the screw up. He said that he was going to personally oversee the re-training of the manager. He apologized for overcharging me, and let me know that the manager is only allowed to charge my card for damage, not fees, without my signature, and that he violated policy by doing so. Included with the letter was a $100 gift certificate.

I have returned to using that rental company.

[JustaCashier]

I like the way that you handled this.

You requested a specific car, explained your reason for needing it, and that your time frame was quite flexible. You also did not raise hell, when you went in and was told that only a "comparable" was available.

I admit, I cringed, when I started reading about how you resolved it.

Whenever I hear or read of a dissatisfied customer using the tactic of describing their "terrible expereince" with other customers, I can't help but remember this customer we had for a time on my last job working for a film processor. Her pictures always seemed to have some problem, scratched negs, bad color, blurry, whatever.

Of course, it was never her "perfect" camera, "perfect" photography skills, or anything like that. It was always our inferior film and/or processing that ruined her life, and that of her "perfect" child. Poor kid, to have to have a mom like that.

On one occasion, can't remember if it ended up being her last visit to our store, she was complaining as usual, and may have even turned to some of the other customers in store telling them about, and showing them the "evidence" of our "incompitence". I do know for sure that she was doing so outside, in front of our store.

It pissed my co-worker and myself off, because it was embarrassing to us personally, and as representatives of our company. It would have been kind of fun to just laugh her off, and figure she would have no negative effect on our business, but what if a first time customer was coming in? Or some easily influenced person that might remember the one or two times their pics came back bad, whether from some problem with their camera or skills, or through the occasional problem on our end.

It fianlly got to a point where our supervisor talked to her (can't remember if it was face to face on one of our sup's occasional visits to the store, or by phone) but our sup pretty much convinced her that she should probably be taking her business elsewhere, if we couldn't meet her standards.

Anyway, as I said, I like the way you handled this, you only had to "dis" the rental co. to one person, and in the process of doing so to a second, you told that person that your issue had resolved, once the manger did so. Plus, you got the $100.00 GC out of it too, and the company has retained a loyal customer.

Mike

[Geek King]

You have to be very careful doing this. You are only allowed to state the clear facts of the situation, not opinion, and certainly not fiction. In the case of the film processing SC, the company could have sent someone with a hidden recorder over to listen to her spiel, then sued her silly(er) for slandering the business and costing them money. This is a fairly standard tactic by businesses being picketed (justly or unjustly), and anyone thinking of trying it should be aware that any person they talk to could be a shill for the company.

[wagegoth]

You can eject someone from private property, including a store, which is what should have happened to the woman with the camera issues.

You can't stop someone from sitting on the public sidewalk and complaining about you, unless you get the law (civil or criminal) involved.

[Andara Bledin]

You have to be very careful doing this. You are only allowed to state the clear facts of the situation, not opinion, and certainly not fiction. In the case of the film processing SC, the company could have sent someone with a hidden recorder over to listen to her spiel, then sued her silly(er) for slandering the business and costing them money. This is a fairly standard tactic by businesses being picketed (justly or unjustly), and anyone thinking of trying it should be aware that any person they talk to could be a shill for the company.

From what I understand about slander laws, you can make any statement of opinion you feel like as long as you don't try to represent it as fact.

Anything that is supposed to be factual must be true, however.

Ah, found some law site and it says that some places allow for opinion to be a defense against a defamation case, but others don't recognize a distinction (which is sucky and probably against the 1st Ammendment). Here's their take:

A defense recognized in most jurisdictions is "opinion". If the person makes a statement of opinion as opposed to fact, the statement may not support a cause of action for defamation. Whether a statement is viewed as an expression of fact or opinion can depend upon context - that is, whether or not the person making the statement would be perceived by the community as being in a position to know whether or not it is true. If your employer calls you a pathological liar, it is far less likely to be regarded as opinion than if such a statement is made by somebody you just met. Some jurisdictions have eliminated the distinction between fact and opinion, and instead hold that any statement that suggests a factual basis can support a cause of action for defamation.

^-.-^

[Sliceanddice]

i think as long as you wherent lying it was a smart movie.
Because well they where charging you for them backing out on a contract.
which is wrong.
and i cant believe the credit card company sided with them, well i can, but still it was a stupid thing