Whenever someone asks me about my best and worst customer experience, the worst always comes to mind first. I never hesitate to share the brand name and explain why I refuse to rent from them, no matter how good their deals may seem.
Oh, and I also encourage everyone around me to avoid them.
You might think I hold grudges or take things too personally—especially since this happened over five years ago.
But I’m reminded of the following incident every time I travel…
It all started when I attended a music festival in California. Since I was camping, I thought storing my belongings in the rental car rather than the tent would be safer—yep. A huge mistake.
When my husband and I returned to the car, we found all our belongings had been stolen. There were no signs of forced entry—no broken windows, no scratches—yet everything was gone.
Material items can be replaced, but what do you do when your passport and visa are missing?
We had to call the police, file a report, and scramble to decide whether we could board our flight without proper identification. Since the festival was over a long weekend, the embassy was closed, adding even more stress to an already overwhelming situation.
After an exhausting night of dealing with the authorities, we had to wake up early to go to the police station, which meant we missed half of the festival’s final day.
But it gets worse.
How Can It Get Worse?
On Sunday, we returned to the campsite early, only to discover the car had been broken into a second time. Again, there were no signs of forced entry, but a cap and a bottle of water were missing this time.
Did I forget to lock the car? No—I checked both times.
Was the door malfunctioning? No—it automatically locked after five minutes of being closed.
The situation was beyond frustrating, but the real issue came when I returned the car.
I explained the entire situation to the employee at the rental desk, and all he asked was, “Is the car okay?”
Update: The Opportunity To Delight Has Been Dismissed
I get it. Your product is important, but your customer’s experience should be, too. He had a chance to show empathy and acknowledge our stress and inconvenience.
Instead, all he cared about was whether the car had any damage.
To make things worse, I later received a survey about my experience. After I indicated I was unsatisfied, the only response I got was, “Thanks for answering. Have a nice day.” It was a clear reminder that they didn’t value my experience. And no, no follow-ups after that.
I have no idea if their customer experience has improved or if their cars are more secure now because I haven’t rented from them—or recommended them—since 2016.
But, if they wanted to make an impression, they did. Every time I travel to the U.S. and have to explain this story to immigration, I end with: “Do not rent with this car company that starts with A and ends with S.”
In The End…
I felt compelled to share my story because it surprises me how many companies think customer experience is a luxury and not an ultimate need. It is the value differentiator between you and your competition. Having systems like closed-loop feedback ticketing in place can actually ensure that customer feedback gets to the right manager, at the right location, and, more importantly, at the right time.
If the front-desk employee would’ve seen my survey or link it to their system so they knew what I had lived, probably they would have improved their service. And I say probably because this all starts with caring.
Assuming this car company wants more customers and wants to retain its current ones, it should be more wary about providing the best customer experience possible. That can only be achieved by caring and investing in technology that will help it drive its business forward and avoid less happy customers and terrible word of mouth!
