For
those of you who caught my first blog in a series of real customer experience
stories, allow me to provide a brief update. I recently recounted a chain of negative experiences I had
as a customer visiting Brooks Brothers.
Once
that post went live and was shared on my social channels, I received a direct
message from Brooks Brothers, via Twitter, asking me to take the conversation
offline. Fair enough. Once offline I was asked to fill out online forms to
clarify and explain the situation further. The communication back from Brooks
Brothers included two canned responses followed by contact from a district
manager. The manager was very respectful, inquisitive and specifically cited
the Michigan Avenue incidents and was looking to rectify the situation. She
explained that she was replacing the management in that store and we discussed
and agreed that a store manager can be the trigger point between a good and bad
customer experience. While I appreciated her reaching out about the Michigan
Avenue store experience, I explained that the problem went much deeper than
that and seemed to be ingrained in their overall consistency and customer
experience since this was not the only location I had issues with.
She
told me she would elevate our conversation and I am currently waiting to hear
back from a higher-up at Brooks Brothers. The proverbial ball is and has been in
their court for the past several weeks.
Now
let’s move on to another customer experience story. This one involves the
well-known car rental company, Hertz.
My
family and I made plans this past Memorial Day to leave the hustle & bustle
of our downtown Chicago digs and head to the suburbs for a Memorial Day picnic.
For city folk, venturing to the burbs can require renting a car. Since we
didn’t plan on an overnight stay, I wanted to rent a vehicle with a 24-hr
pick-up/drop-off window and pay for just one day of use.
This
proved to be difficult on a holiday weekend since many car rental companies
were not open on Memorial Day to actually take the car back. However, when I
called the Hertz 1-800 line they are able to find one Hertz location in Lakeview,
Chicago that would allow me to return the car on Memorial Day and stay within
the 24-hour window I wanted, in order to only pay for a 1-day rental. This
particular location is either a taxi ride or one-hour walk from our condo and
since it was a beautiful day, I chose the latter. I get the car the night
before our drive out, bring it back to my condo and park it in the garage and
then woke up the next morning to drive my family to a nice Memorial Day picnic.
The whole time, I was super conscious of the time restraints and the need to
get the car back within the 24-hour window. After a great day with my family at
our friend’s barbeque, I drop everyone off at home and head back to the Hertz Lakeview
location to return the car. When I arrived the office was dark and the door
displayed a “Closed for the Holiday” sign. There was no representative to
process the return, but there was an after hours kiosk. I filled out all of the
necessary information – fuel level, stall where I left the car, etc. – and
dropped the keys and accompanying paperwork in the lockbox provided.
My
24-hour rental plan was a success! At least I thought it was. Then I got the
bill that Tuesday and it was DOUBLE what it was supposed to be. They charged me
for two days even though I had confirmed I could drop off the car on Memorial
Day before I even rented it, and dotted all of my I’s and crossed all of my
T’s. What the heck happened??
I
immediately made a call to Hertz’s Lakeview location and they said “we don’t do
returns on Memorial Day.” However, I knew that was not the case since I had deliberately
and specifically confirmed that detail with the reservations agent at their
1800 reservations desk prior to rental. But the location wouldn’t budge and
told me to contact corporate. So I did. And guess what they told me? They DID
in fact take returns on Memorial Day through the kiosk and I needed to call the
location back. So I did. And it became the most frustrating back-and-forth with
neither side willing to call the other directly. I’m confused…aren’t you guys
on the same team? Aren’t I the customer?
I
was done being a human ping-pong ball and stopped calling Hertz and instead called
American Express, explained the situation and they immediately took the charge
off my bill and filed a dispute with Hertz. American Express resolved the issue
quickly and I was credited for ½ of the charge, THAT’S what should have
happened from Hertz on my first call instead of sending me to act as mediator
between Hertz corporate and the Hertz Lakeview location. Major fail chalked up
to internal disconnect.
I
want to add just a little bit of context to this story. You should know that I
had been a loyal Hertz member for 20+ years, even after my company switched to
National. I was literally the last to make the jump and it was the cost savings
to our business that eventually guilted me to part ways with Hertz. Why is this
so important? Because it shows that when someone is loyal to a brand, it’s difficult
for them to make a change. What I realized was that in my 20-year relationship
with Hertz, I was blind to the bevy of changes many other car rental companies
had made over the years as they evolved their respective customer experiences.
Everything at National showed an elevated customer experience - from the warm greeting
at National’s Emerald Club, the cold bottle of water waiting for me and the
ability to actually select my own vehicle. Once I realized how National had
upped their customer experience game, it wasn’t hard to be loyal.
My
choice to go back to Hertz for my Memorial Day plans was 100% about procuring
the most inexpensive transportation I could. However, they did have a chance to
gain my loyalty back and prove they were the better choice after all. But
frankly, they blew it and my loyalty remains with National. It is difficult for
customers to change once they are loyal to a brand. If they leave, you may
never have the opportunity to get them back and if you do, you better not blow
it.
You can also read more about my take on customer experience in my latest book, 720 Haircuts.
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