A few years ago, my wife and I needed to rent a truck to move our things to a new apartment. We made a reservation in advance and verified that the vehicle we needed would be available on the day of our move.
But, when it came time to pick up the truck, the rental company told us they had no such vehicle on hand and they couldn’t say when one would be available. The company offered no apology, nor did they lift a finger to help us resolve the problem. To this day, I have fiercely negative opinion of the company, as their customer support failure resulted in one of the most stressful moves on record. To give you an idea, we rolled in at midnight instead of noon as we had planned. In fact, we still recount the blunder with friends, family and anyone else who will listen.
Fast forward several years. Once again, my wife and I are in the process of moving and, once again, we need to rent a truck. Naturally, we choose a different company. Who could blame us, right? Like the last time, we make a reservation and verify the availability of the vehicle. But, on the day of the move, our worst fears are confirmed: just as before, the new company does not have a truck for us.
Unlike the previous episode, however, they do something totally unexpected. They apologize and immediately jump on the phone to see who among their other branches might have what we need. After a few phone calls, the woman tells us that the truck we need is on its way and will be available in 30 minutes. Sure enough, the truck arrives as planned and everything else falls into place.
I have an overwhelmingly positive view of the second rental company. Why? They acknowledged the problem, apologized for the inconvenience and immediately made things right. Sure we could be irritated that they didn’t have the truck that we had reserved, but the experience showed me, the customer, what lengths they were willing to go to ensure customer satisfaction and, to this day, I thank them for it. They will be my go-to company for car rentals from now on.
Saying “Sorry”
No matter how good your company is, it’s bound to have customer support issues from time to time. Products sometimes fail and services occasionally experience hiccups. No one is perfect. What distinguishes companies from one another is how they respond to their customers.
With the advent of new and social media, customers have more power than ever to discuss their customer support experiences with friends, family, acquaintances and strangers online. When companies respond quickly, apologize for hiccups and make things right, customers tend to be very forgiving. In fact, they might even become loyal supporters.
On the other hand, when companies ignore problems and hope they go away, seemingly small issues can explode into some very public embarrassments.
Photo Credit: ntr23
