Bad service is the exact opposite of what we want to do. And too many times the customers we get are people coming off of bad experiences with others. While we’re not all that optimistic that they’ll stop soon, we can at least take a few moments to grind our gears.
So let’s jump right in.
High pressure sales tactics
We wrote a blog a few months ago about how everyone’s now a salesman. Everyone. Rental companies make a ton of money off of optional insurances and let’s face it – sometimes they are absolutely worth it. They’re also absolutely profitable for companies. But the extent to which they’re pushed isn’t good. It’s great to let customers know what they might want because they don’t know everything. It’s a different thing altogether to pressure them into something they don’t want.
Optional but mandatory
This doesn’t happen as much here – but overseas you’ll see a lot of companies who will provide you with the option of taking insurance or ancillary products. However, it’s not really an option because if you choose to NOT take the add-on you get charged a fee for opting out of that. Nuts, right? If you’re going to charge the money anyway, include it in your standard fare.
Don’t worry about it until you have to
This unfortunately happens more than it should. “This” – meaning when rental car agents inspect your car for damage – they go looking. And we mean really, really looking. Be sure to notate everything up front about the car and list off any damage. Get a list from your agent and make one yourself. That way – everyone’s on the same page.
It’s also a good thing to do because sometimes this just happens by mistake. Or that you’ll get one employee who’s pretty relaxed about damage while you have others who are hopelessly tied to employee rules and regulations. Some like to video tape inspections, honestly that’s a little far on our end. We’ll initial and sign off on a list if you need us to. If you’re video taping someone doing an inspection, than maybe you should reconsider why you chose that company in the first place.
Any other things that drive you nuts? Grinds your gears? Let us know below!
