Avis experiment: It's a shame about Ray

Yes, the title of this post is a reference to that Lemonheads song. Now it's stuck in your head too.

It's also a reference to the latest update with Ray, the person who contacted me because of my blog post on poor customer service at Avis. Ray had identified himself as an Avi customer service supervisor and offered to help me. At the time, I was excited to hear from Ray because I think it is a great way to respond to customers who are ranting about your company via social media. I was also guarded in my optimism since Ray represented Avis employee #6 to try handle this situation.

Here's what happened:

1. I emailed Ray to give him the run-down on the situation and my proposal: I'll try Avis again if I can get a free weekend and I get the Preferred experience on that weekend with no hassles.
2. He left me a voice message in response to my email and said he could help me out, but needed some more information so he could sort out the problem.
3. I called and left him a voice message last Tuesday (September 21) with the requested info.

Then I waited. And waited. And probably heard that Lemonheads song on the radio today which reminded me it had been a week and I hadn't heard back from Ray. "It's a shame about Ray." So, I emailed him back to ask for an update.

Ray did email me back today to say everything should be all set and he had mailed out coupons for two free days (the equivalent to a weekend). Again, I'm cautiouly optimistic, but I've also heard promises like this before so I'll wait to see how it goes.

Background: I started this blog experiment after I had unsuccessfully tried four times to resolve a problem with Avis. I signed up for "Preferred" status so I could bypass the rental counter, but I've had to go to the rental counter anyway. Now, I'm using my blog to chronicle my attempts to see if Avis will finally resolve the issue or cause me to find a new "Preferred" rental car company.

Avis experiment: I get contacted

On Friday, I received an email from someone named Ray who identifed himself as a Customer Service Supervisor with Avis/Budget. His message explained that he had been referred to my blog and he offered to discuss the issue with me and try to make it right. 

Today, I sent Ray an email detailing the situation. I also put my proposal on the table.  I'll rent again with Avis if they can provide two things:

1. A free weekend rental.
2. A hassle-free experience that includes me being on the Preferred list.

This is a bit of a surprising development because I honestly didn't expect to hear from someone at Avis. I'm now cautiously optimistic, but Ray's response will let me know if I really do have something to cheer about. I'll let you know how it goes!

Background: I started this blog experiment after I had unsuccessfully tried four times to resolve a problem with Avis. I signed up for "Preferred" status so I could bypass the rental counter, but I've had to go to the rental counter anyway. Now, I'm using my blog to chronicle my attempts to see if Avis will finally resolve the issue or cause me to find a new "Preferred" rental car company.

Avis experiment: the call to customer service that goes nowhere

I wish I could build a time machine so I could go back in time and reclaim the past 19 minutes that I just wasted on the phone with Carl at Avis customer service. Carl acknowledged their motto is "We try harder", but he definitely didn't.

Background: I've unsuccessfully tried four times to resolve a problem with Avis. I signed up for "Preferred" status so I could bypass the rental counter, but I've had to go to the rental counter anyway. Now, I'm using my blog to chronicle my attempts to see if Avis will finally resolve the issue or cause me to find a new "Preferred" rental car company.

Today's Update: Calling customer service

I called the Avis customer service line today. Their phone menu set-up should have been an indication of the type of service I was likely to receive. On menu #1 I had to press #5 for "all other inquiries" and on menu #2 I had to press #4 for "all other inquiries". The end result is I'm on the phone for 1 - 2 minutes before I even get dumped into the queue to wait for the next available agent.

After a few minutes, Carl answered the phone. I told him up front about my situation, admitted I was frustrated, and then told him I hoped he was the guy who could finally fix the situation. Carl's response, "Do you know why this is happening?"

**Crickets**

Uh, Carl?! That's why I'm calling.

It went downhill from there. Carl made the classic customer service mistake of trying to find an easy way to get me off the phone rather than taking the time to acknowledge the issue and then resolving the problem.

Here are just a few of tactics he used to get me to end the call without him having to solve the problem:

• He looked up my account and tried to tell me everything was fine and I should be OK the next time I rented.
• He put me on hold to "check with someone" and then came back to me and again said everything would be OK.
• He tried to blame me for the problem by saying I had changed my profile (I hadn't).

I finally ended the call with no resolution, no apology, and not much hope for Avis. Does the quest end here? No, simply because that wouldn't be fun and wouldn't make for interesting blogging material. What it does do is raise the stakes. I now require a service ransom before I rent with Avis again. I figure Avis owes me one hassle-free weekend rental on the house to prove they can get it right.

Avis Experiment: Will the survey trigger a response?

Background: I've unsuccessfully tried four times to resolve a problem with Avis. I signed up for "Preferred" status so I could bypass the rental counter, but I've had to go to the rental counter anyway. Now, I'm using my blog to chronicle my attempts to see if Avis will finally resolve the issue or cause me to find a new "Preferred" rental car company.

I received an email from Avis inviting me to take a short survey to let them know how they did on my recent rental in Honolulu. This is a great way to kick-off my experiment. I just had to remind myself to rate everything objectively.

It was a pretty decent survey overall. Here are some things I liked about it:

• It took me less than 5 minutes to complete.
• I had the opportunity to add specific comments.
• The survey asked me a follow-up question based on the poor rating of my pick-up experience.

My real question is whether or not I'll hear from Avis. Customer surveys can be very powerful if someone follows up with upset customers. Customers might get even more upset if you survey them but don't follow-up because the survey re-opens the wound. I'll keep you posted!

Live Experiment: Will Avis finally try hard enough?

I’ve been experiencing the same customer service issue with the Avis rental car company since last November.  It’s not a particularly outrageous issue, but the fact that it’s still unresolved after four attempts makes it worse and worse.  My options at this point are to choose another rental car company or to use my blog to chronicle my last ditch attempts to resolve the problem.  C’mon!  You know which option I choose!

I encourage you to follow this experiment like you would a favorite sports team or a soap opera. You can get email updates or follow along on Twitter.

Background

It all started last year when I had to rent a car in Portland, Oregon.  Avis has a program called “Avis Preferred” where you can skip the rental counter and go straight to the car.  On a previous trip, it had taken me awhile to get through the line and get my car rented, so I thought this would be a great perk.  Unfortunately, on my first 'Preferred' rental, my car wasn’t ready and waiting when I arrived and I had to go to the rental counter anyway.  What was worse was the rental agent did a fairly poor job of trying to resolve the problem.  (See my previous post: Avis service recovery.)

Since then, I’ve rented with Avis on three occasions.  Each time, I feel like I’m in that old Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day, where the same day keeps repeating over and over.  I arrive expecting my car to be ready and it’s not.  I go to the rental car counter and the agent tells me I had to go to the counter because it’s my first time renting a car as a Preferred member.  I explain it’s not the first time, but the agent shrugs and says, “It should be OK the next time.”  Of course it won’t be.  And on and on.

By now, I’ve rented four times and have been disappointed four times.  It’s not the end of the world, but it’s really annoying that this problem can’t be fixed. 

My Experiment

I’ve decided to use my blog as a platform to resolve this issue since face to face contact with company representatives hasn’t done the trick.  It will be fun to see how Avis responds.  I really hope they do find a way to resolve it.  Whatever happens, I'll be sure to shed some light on the types of trouble small issues can cause companies if they don’t have an effective way of identifying and resolving customer complaints when they happen.

I’ll start with the usual phone calls and emails and take it from there.  Of course, I’ll also leverage other platforms like Twitter to see what happens.  It should be fun!

Follow It

You can get email updates or follow along on Twitter. And, I definitely take suggestions, so please post a comment! 

Under pressure to do the wrong thing

We often feel pressure to make bad decisions, don't you think?

Most of the time when I blog I try to provide some insight into a particular challenge or situation. Not today. No, today I'm just going to put some situation on the table and invite you to share your insight by posting a comment. It could be that I'm trying to start some conversation on my blog or it could be that I have only a short amount of time to complete this post and I'm feeling a little pressure.

Examples

The other day I felt pressure to break the law and put myself in danger while stopped at a traffic light. I was at the front of a line of cars waiting to turn left. When the light turned green, the intersection wasn't clear, so I couldn't enter without stopping in the middle of the intersection. Unfortunately, the guy behind me didn't see it that way. He began honking, yelling, and gesturing at me to move forward.

I was engulfed with a strange sensation. Part of me felt the urge to enter the intersection to escape from this guy's incessant abuse, but I knew that would only put me in more danger. Part of me wanted to get out of my car and 'convince him' to knock it off, but I knew that idea was really unsafe.

Fortunately, the line of cars ahead of me soon moved forward and I was able to enter the intersection safely with no further incident.

It's strange how this happens in so many places, even at work.

This week I facilitated a two-day workshop at a large technology company. Most of the building where I worked was secured by electronically locked doors that required a key card to open them. Despite these obvious security precautions, most people were very willing to pause and hold the door open for me. Even though I was a complete stranger, the social awkwardness of demanding to see someone's credentials pressured people into an obvious security breach time and time again.

Examples like this abound at work. Employees disobey safety rules because they feel pressure to work faster or safety feels 'uncool' in front of their colleagues. Managers fail to properly train and supervise their employees because they feel pressure to spend most of their day in unproductive meetings or responding to hundreds of emails. Executives pressure their managers and employees to cut corners because they are under pressure from stockholders to maximize short-term profitability.

What can we do to overcome this pressure? I have a few ideas, but I'd much rather hear yours. Please leave your comments or share a resource.