Another Casualty of Poor Service
A colleague of mine at Carlson Marketing recently sent me an email detailing a horrible customer experience she had with Budget Car Rentals while traveling in Costa Rica. During her trip, her rental car’s tire went flat. While changing it, she was robbed on the side of the road, losing her passport, cell phone, cash, and credit cards. But the way she describes it, the customer service experience that followed was almost as bad as the roadside robbery.
Because she had to obtain a new passport, she was forced to stay in Costa Rica an extra day. She was charged an extra day for the rental in addition to the new tire she paid out of her pocket for. After contacting Budget by phone and being told all complaints had to be in writing, she sent in the necessary paperwork to prove her story. She admits she didn’t expect to be compensated for something that could be described as bad luck, but the poorly-written form letter she received as a response just made things worse.
Budget responded to her complaint, in a letter addressed to her husband instead of her, by stating that “Repair of a tire is normal maintained on a vehicle” and “We apologize most sincerely for any inconvenience you may have been caused.” Setting aside the grammar, is this really the way she should have been treated? I’m confident she won’t be using Budget's services again, despite the vouchers that were enclosed in the letter.
When a conflict like this arises and a customer has a horrible experience that isn’t entirely your company’s fault, but is inseparably tied to your brand in a customer’s mind, what should you do? Shouldn’t retaining that customer be more important than following every company policy, from only accepting written complaints to not reimbursing for tire replacement? How do you handle similar situations with customers?
