Avis experiment: It's a shame about Ray

Yes, the title of this post is a reference to that Lemonheads song. Now it's stuck in your head too.

It's also a reference to the latest update with Ray, the person who contacted me because of my blog post on poor customer service at Avis. Ray had identified himself as an Avi customer service supervisor and offered to help me. At the time, I was excited to hear from Ray because I think it is a great way to respond to customers who are ranting about your company via social media. I was also guarded in my optimism since Ray represented Avis employee #6 to try handle this situation.

Here's what happened:

1. I emailed Ray to give him the run-down on the situation and my proposal: I'll try Avis again if I can get a free weekend and I get the Preferred experience on that weekend with no hassles.
2. He left me a voice message in response to my email and said he could help me out, but needed some more information so he could sort out the problem.
3. I called and left him a voice message last Tuesday (September 21) with the requested info.

Then I waited. And waited. And probably heard that Lemonheads song on the radio today which reminded me it had been a week and I hadn't heard back from Ray. "It's a shame about Ray." So, I emailed him back to ask for an update.

Ray did email me back today to say everything should be all set and he had mailed out coupons for two free days (the equivalent to a weekend). Again, I'm cautiouly optimistic, but I've also heard promises like this before so I'll wait to see how it goes.

Background: I started this blog experiment after I had unsuccessfully tried four times to resolve a problem with Avis. I signed up for "Preferred" status so I could bypass the rental counter, but I've had to go to the rental counter anyway. Now, I'm using my blog to chronicle my attempts to see if Avis will finally resolve the issue or cause me to find a new "Preferred" rental car company.

Avis experiment: I get contacted

On Friday, I received an email from someone named Ray who identifed himself as a Customer Service Supervisor with Avis/Budget. His message explained that he had been referred to my blog and he offered to discuss the issue with me and try to make it right. 

Today, I sent Ray an email detailing the situation. I also put my proposal on the table.  I'll rent again with Avis if they can provide two things:

1. A free weekend rental.
2. A hassle-free experience that includes me being on the Preferred list.

This is a bit of a surprising development because I honestly didn't expect to hear from someone at Avis. I'm now cautiously optimistic, but Ray's response will let me know if I really do have something to cheer about. I'll let you know how it goes!

Background: I started this blog experiment after I had unsuccessfully tried four times to resolve a problem with Avis. I signed up for "Preferred" status so I could bypass the rental counter, but I've had to go to the rental counter anyway. Now, I'm using my blog to chronicle my attempts to see if Avis will finally resolve the issue or cause me to find a new "Preferred" rental car company.

Avis Experiment: Will the survey trigger a response?

Background: I've unsuccessfully tried four times to resolve a problem with Avis. I signed up for "Preferred" status so I could bypass the rental counter, but I've had to go to the rental counter anyway. Now, I'm using my blog to chronicle my attempts to see if Avis will finally resolve the issue or cause me to find a new "Preferred" rental car company.

I received an email from Avis inviting me to take a short survey to let them know how they did on my recent rental in Honolulu. This is a great way to kick-off my experiment. I just had to remind myself to rate everything objectively.

It was a pretty decent survey overall. Here are some things I liked about it:

• It took me less than 5 minutes to complete.
• I had the opportunity to add specific comments.
• The survey asked me a follow-up question based on the poor rating of my pick-up experience.

My real question is whether or not I'll hear from Avis. Customer surveys can be very powerful if someone follows up with upset customers. Customers might get even more upset if you survey them but don't follow-up because the survey re-opens the wound. I'll keep you posted!

Live Experiment: Will Avis finally try hard enough?

I’ve been experiencing the same customer service issue with the Avis rental car company since last November.  It’s not a particularly outrageous issue, but the fact that it’s still unresolved after four attempts makes it worse and worse.  My options at this point are to choose another rental car company or to use my blog to chronicle my last ditch attempts to resolve the problem.  C’mon!  You know which option I choose!

I encourage you to follow this experiment like you would a favorite sports team or a soap opera. You can get email updates or follow along on Twitter.

Background

It all started last year when I had to rent a car in Portland, Oregon.  Avis has a program called “Avis Preferred” where you can skip the rental counter and go straight to the car.  On a previous trip, it had taken me awhile to get through the line and get my car rented, so I thought this would be a great perk.  Unfortunately, on my first 'Preferred' rental, my car wasn’t ready and waiting when I arrived and I had to go to the rental counter anyway.  What was worse was the rental agent did a fairly poor job of trying to resolve the problem.  (See my previous post: Avis service recovery.)

Since then, I’ve rented with Avis on three occasions.  Each time, I feel like I’m in that old Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day, where the same day keeps repeating over and over.  I arrive expecting my car to be ready and it’s not.  I go to the rental car counter and the agent tells me I had to go to the counter because it’s my first time renting a car as a Preferred member.  I explain it’s not the first time, but the agent shrugs and says, “It should be OK the next time.”  Of course it won’t be.  And on and on.

By now, I’ve rented four times and have been disappointed four times.  It’s not the end of the world, but it’s really annoying that this problem can’t be fixed. 

My Experiment

I’ve decided to use my blog as a platform to resolve this issue since face to face contact with company representatives hasn’t done the trick.  It will be fun to see how Avis responds.  I really hope they do find a way to resolve it.  Whatever happens, I'll be sure to shed some light on the types of trouble small issues can cause companies if they don’t have an effective way of identifying and resolving customer complaints when they happen.

I’ll start with the usual phone calls and emails and take it from there.  Of course, I’ll also leverage other platforms like Twitter to see what happens.  It should be fun!

Follow It

You can get email updates or follow along on Twitter. And, I definitely take suggestions, so please post a comment!