Just make sure to come back here after to see what happened. Here's the link to that post: How To Lose A Customer… Fast.
Go ahead, I'll wait...
Hey, you're back. Good.
Onward.
Earlier this morning, at around 10am, I went to drop the car off, and give them a piece of my mind.
Here's what happened:
Matt wasn't there so I spoke with a guy called Nawasad (Nawi) Irshad. As it turned out, he's the branch manager but I didn't know that until near the end.
I didn't complain initally as I figured I'd do a little reconnaisance work and get my facts right first.
I asked Nawi how much the rental should have been for the previous week. He explained that, while the rate was a little higher, it shouldn't have been that much higher.
Plus the fact there was a promo going on which Matt didn't take into account.
He also said the price of the petrol, which showed £1.39 a litre was not the price I was charged. Basically, they need to change the way the price is printed on the contract as it's misleading.
Nawi couldn't explain why Matt booked me in for eight days when it should have been for seven, but he said he would speak with him about it.
That really left the most annoying complaint: The hard sell tactics on the insurance.
While prices could be explained away as human error, this could not.
Nawi said Matt was new and he needed to be trained further... and... to his credit, Nawi did not place the blame solely on Matt. He said as Matt's manager, he was responsible for his training, and he would ensure he gets it so this type of thing never happens again.
Anyway, without going into too much more detail for fear of boring you to sleep, here's what happened finally...
After I explained everything I asked Nawi, straight, what he was going to do to remedy the situation.
His reply?
"What would you like me to do?"
Good one.
I told him I just wanted what I should have got when I took the car last week. And I wasn't happy about the price of the petrol as I felt there wasn't as much in the tank as at first seemed.
So he said he would waive the petrol money (£7), adjust the price of the rental with the promo price which brought it down from £153 to £115.
Then he gave me an additional 10% discount on that price, which brought it down to just over £103. And, he said I would get a 15% discount on my next rental.
I wasn't looking for all that, but Nawi insisted as he felt I should not have had to go through all that hassle. That was a nice touch.
Now, here's another little thing I quite liked...
When I first went in and Nawi began checking my details on the computer, he received a phone call.
It was for me.
As you can imagine, I was little taken aback as I don't usually get people calling me at an Enterprise Rent-A-Car office. Especially a few minutes after I'd just walked in.
It was someone called Dave Meanwell. It turns out he's the City Manager for Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I'm assuming it means he's the manager for either Blackburn and the surrounding towns, or for Lancashire. Maybe he can shed some light on that one.
What surprised me even more was when he mentioned he'd read my blog post and was concerned I should have been treated so badly.
Why was I surprised?
Because I hadn't even promoted that post yet.
But then, I figured, if I was running a service business that size, I would monitor the internet for such things.
And then, having found such a serious article, I would monitor my computer system to see when my customer comes into the branch.
And then I would call him as soon as he's there.
I'm guessing that's exactly what Dave Meanwell did.
He apologised profusely and asked if there's anything he could do to resolve the situation.
Now, I'm all for giving everyone a chance to make up for mistakes, so I told him I'd like to give the local guys a chance. If there were still any issues after, I'd let him know.
After telling me how I could get in touch with him, he hung up and I carried on speaking with Nawi, who was a little lost as to what was going on. Until I explained.
Anyway, once the problem was sorted, later in the afternoon I received another call from Dave Meanwell asking if everything was dealt with to my satisfaction.
After I said it was, he asked if there was anything further he could do.
That was a nice little touch - overdelivering after it was all sorted.
He asked me, as did Nawi, if I would consider going back to them. I said yes. They dealth with the situation as well as I wanted, and more, so why wouldn't I go back to them?
After all, I thought my first experience, with Suzanne and Dmitri, was a good one. Why let one mistake ruin it?
Would I recommend Enterprise Rent-A-Car to you?
Absolutely. They're still better than a lot of others out there.
A little leasson here: On page 65 of Drayton Bird's book Commonsense Direct And Digital Marketing he explains why you should make it easier for your customers to complain about your products or service, and how you can use the process to get positive feedback.
Drayton mentions that research shows:
'...a customer who has complained and been satisfied is more loyal than if they had never complained in the first place.'
So it seems in this case.
I could have just let it go, and stopped using Enterprise Rent-A-Car, as I'm sure others might have done.
However, by complaining, I've ensured Enterprise Rent-A-Car remedy the existing problems so they don't happen again.
And, in the process, I've given them a little publicity.
How have I given them publicity?
Well, you're reading this, aren't you?
http://directanddigitalmarketing.com/2504/how-to-lose-a-customer-fast/
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