Hello readers! Once again, I apologize for the lack of posts in the last two months. Summer is here and it has kept me very busy.
First, let me start off by saying that my experience with AVIS started off great, and there was one employee that was amazing during my frustration, but as a whole they really missed the mark when it comes to customer service. Let me walk you through my experience with the AVIS car rental location at the San Diego International airport. Ultimately it took me over an hour to get my car which caused me to miss an appointment that I had.
After waiting in line for about 15 minutes I finally got to the counter. The gentlemen that was helping me was in training and was extremely helpful. As he was trying to call the lot via intercom to ask them to bring my car, they were non-responsive. I watched as three other agents were able to successfully call cars around. He was extremely apologetic and ultimately found somebody to help him get somebody to bring a car around. He gave me my paperwork and sent me out to get my car.
My paperwork showed that my car was parked in a certain stall number so I walked out to find the car. When I noticed that the row ended before the number listed on my paperwork, I asked an employee that looked to be a manager standing in the lot. He took my paperwork and looked very confused, he looked briefly but then asked another employee to find the car (the manager made me feel like he didn't have time for me).
Once the other employee took the paperwork, he seemed genuinely concerned with helping me find the car, he told me to stay right where I was and he would find my car. After about 15 minutes he came back and told me that he couldn't find it anywhere and asked me to have a seat in the shade while he continued to look. After another 10 minutes or so, he said that he thought somebody may have taken the car that was supposed to be mine on accident. Rather than just telling me to go back to the desk, he personally walked me into the office. The gentleman that helped me was named Kassim, and he was the definition of an excellent employee. He went out of his way to help me, when nobody else there was willing to do so.
Back inside, I was surprised that the agents at the desk basically ignored Kassim as he tried to assist me. He was trying to be polite and wait for somebody to acknowledge us before walking up to the desk, but the employees behind the desk were too involved in their personal conversations to help another employee trying to assist a customer. Finally he was able to get the attention of a desk agent. The agent confirmed that another customer had taken my car on accident.
At this point, I had been there for an hour trying to get my car. The desk agent blamed the error on the security guard for allowing the car to leave without checking the plates, but offered no apology for my time and hassle. He simply ordered a new car and sent me back out, I was very unimpressed. Kassim stayed with me and made sure that the car came this time. It is unfortunate that Kassim wasn't the guy behind the desk, I can tell you that customers would leave much happier.
Believe me, I shared my experience with everybody I talked to in San Diego. Being delayed for an hour because of faulty checks and balances with no apology was extremely frustrating. I was asked by several friends if I received any upgrade on my car for the hassle, and the answer is no.
AVIS needs to evaluate how they treat their customers. This was my first time renting from them, I typically use Alamo, but I found a great deal online for AVIS and gave them a shot. I can tell you that with management and desk agents like they have, I wouldn't be back. The only reason I would consider going back, is for somebody like Kassim. As a side note, Kassim was there when I returned my car and asked how my trip was and apologized again for my poor experience.
Kassim gets customer service, it is too bad that AVIS doesn't.
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