To modify the line from the old Dragnet show: "The story you are about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the guilty."
"Protect the guilty?" Yep. Because what we're going to talk about is customer service, and the guilty here are too numerous. Mentioning them would make it too easy to assume that what I'm about to describe to you only happens in one or two particular companies.
I'm going to name the virtuous, though. And that's because the reverse is true for them. Excellent customer service is so rare that it is not just a cause for comment or even a bit of competitive advantage, but often the foundation upon which fortunes are built. But all this takes me away from the story.
It was holiday time, and with family in another state, my friend was going to rent a van and set off with a couple of kids and a dog to visit the old home front. The last couple of years had been pretty tough. There'd been a divorce, and lots of adjustment. Going home was going to be fun.
So she called a couple of rental companies to find a good rate on a vehicle big enough to haul all the people and pets and gear that would need hauling. After a bit of comparison shopping, she settled on a major rental car company. When she made the reservation, the agent warned her, "Be sure to bring a real credit card. We don't take those bank debit cards."
What she was talking about were the bank cards with the Visa or MasterCard logo on them. They're the ones that work just like a "real" credit card when you buy things. I know this from personal experience, because it's just about the only kind of card I use anymore. I use it for airlines. I use it for hotels. I use it to buy books online from amazon.com and gifts for loved ones from Lands End. And I use it for renting cars when I travel.
That's how I know that those cards work just fine in the rental car business. I'm using mine a couple of times a month for that very purpose. But this major rental company doesn't take those cards. The one quick question is, "why?"
No one really knows the answer to that one. I called the rental car company that my friend used and asked them. They told me that "The cards just don't work properly." When I pushed them about what "properly" meant, they told me that they couldn't get an authorization for one rate and then modify it later if need be.
I pushed again. I noted that other companies seemed to be able to handle those cards just fine. Finally, the company spokesperson gave up with the comment, "I guess they just have lower standards than we do."
I doubt that. My guess is that this auto rental company didn't want to take that time or effort to change their system. It was easier to just take "real" credit cards. But, back to our story.
My friend didn't remember the restriction on cards until it was time to head out and get the car the morning of the trip. Then she gasped. A couple of quick calls to credit card companies showed that she was right up against her limit in just about every case.
That's not an uncommon thing in America. So, she called the credit card companies to see about getting an extension in her line of credit. We'll never know if that would have worked, because it was simply too early. Customer service for many of these companies doesn't start until later in the day.
On about the third try, she got hold of the folks at Centura Bank, who provide one of her credit cards. They also were the source of that debit card that the mean, nasty old rental car company wouldn't take.
Things got pretty good then. The rep on line walked her through a couple of different options for the ways that things could go. Given that it was still too early for the actual credit card people to be in, she suggested a temporary increase a line of credit covered by an immediate payment in the form of transfer from the checking account. That sounded pretty good to my friend.
A supervisor had to approve this, but that turned out not to be a problem. Then the phones went wacky. My friend was cut off in the middle of giving payment information to the rep. She tried to call back. The phones weren't working. Lots of music on hold followed by dial tones. It wasn't fun.
She finally got through, almost half an hour later. This time, naturally, she wasn't talking to the person she'd talked to the first time. In some circumstances, that would have been a bad thing, and she would have had to start over, but this person she did get was ready to find a way to help.
This rep talked to the supervisor to find out who she'd approved something like this for, and then had the call switched to that representative. It took about ten minutes to get everything done, complete the chit chatting, and get off the line. Now my friend was ready. She took off to the rental car location, assured that she had enough money on her credit line to handle the amount of the rental.
She got to the counter. She stood in line. Folks stood in line behind her. And her credit card was declined.
That would have been bad enough. I know from personal experience how mortifying it is to stand there in front of a bunch of people, and have your credit card declined. It's probably happened to all of us, but that doesn't keep a bunch of folks in the line behind us from thinking that we must be true dead beats.
What made this worse was the attitude of the person at the rental car counter. She told my friend that her card was declined. She mentioned that besides, her new address didn't show on her driver's license, and she could turn her down just for that reason. She told her to get out of the way.
My friend found a phone and called the bank back. She got yet another representative. This time she had the name of the person she'd talked to last time, so getting through was a pretty good idea. But the first rep didn't even need it. She looked into the record and said, "Well, you don't have enough credit left."
Then the light bulb went on. "Oh," she said, "________ Rent-a-Car Company has already put a charge through for you this morning." The company had already, and automatically, gotten the authorization once. The counter person was trying to put the same amount through.
My friend hung on to her cell phone and got back in line. The rep for Centura Bank stayed on the line through the time it took to service the customer ahead. She talked with the counter person. Together, they discovered what had happened.
The person at the counter didn't know that the company would automatically put through an authorization on rentals scheduled for that day. She didn't know that was the normal policy. Evidently the training she got had missed those key procedures.
Had the credit line not been an issue, my friend would have had a double authorization on her card. The first would have been the national hold that would put on automatically in the morning in response to the reservation and the second, equal amount, would have been put on when the card was swiped at the rental counter. That sort of thing can eat up an available balance pretty quickly.
This story has a moderately happy ending. Once the counter person found that my friend was not a dead beat out to steal money from the great big, virtuous rental car company, she was fairly nice. My friend did get the vehicle that she needed, and was able to make the trip. But let's look at some of the other consequences and reasons here.
Had the rental car company stayed up with technology to begin with, none of this would have happened. If they had arranged their system to take the Visa check card and its kin, it wouldn't have taken several hours and multiple phone calls to get the rental done. The car would have been picked up early. There would have been no issues here. And the rental car company would have gotten the business anyway.
My friend would not have had all the stress that goes with making special arrangements, and then having her credit card declined publicly, and sneeringly. She'd have certainly have felt better about the rental car company.
So, what can we take away from this cautionary tale? First, if you're in business, keep up with technology. If your customers are out there carrying debit cards, you ought to be able to take them. It's probable that, like the rental car companies your competition already does.
Train your folks to look for solutions and not reasons to pass things on. The person at the rental car counter probably figured she was protecting the company in some way. The policies of the company seem to reinforce that. The way she was supervised probably reinforced that.
It was also far easier for her to move my friend out of the line and send her to a phone when the card was declined, rather than deal with the issue right there. Make sure your people, who deal with the customers, don't take the easy out of moving a complaint along rather than help them solve a problem. And train them so that know what your normal procedures are.
All this is a matter of culture. It's not enough just to exhort your folks to do this. You have to have policies in place that enable them to deliver good service. You have to supervise them in ways that praise them for good behavior and criticize them for not-so-good behavior. Your compensation programs and your promotion programs need to reward the people who do the job that you want.
Whatever you do, make sure that the left hand in your company knows what the right hand is doing. Our rental car agent didn't have a clue that the authorization was already on my friend's card. Had she known that, there would not have been an issue even with all the other stuff.
Finally, let technology do what it does best, and let the humans do what they do best.
The heroes of this story, at the end of the day, where the various customer service reps at Centura Bank. Whatever Centura is doing, they've sure got the culture thing right. I know that because I bank there, too.
I've had several situations since I've been an account holder where I've needed problems solved. Sometimes that was in the branch. Sometimes it was over the phone. Sometimes I used online banking. What I've gotten each time is a consistent, pleasant help.
Some years ago, Jan Carlson, wrote a book called "Moments of Truth." The moments of truth, the ones that make or break your company, are the ones where you come in contact with your customers. When that happens, you need to deliver powerful, helpful service.
Your customers and your prospects expect you to be friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. Do that, and fortunes can be yours. Ignore that at your peril.
Created/Revised/Reviewed: 9/21/01
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