Thrifty - For once, a Thrifty promo that worked: $25 Amex gift card

While I definitely think that the BlueChip program is one of the most poorly run frequent guest type programs out there, I did recently try the $25 Amex gift card promo (that is advertised on their homepage) and surprisingly just 10 days after my rental I got the $25 gift card in the mail! Not bad for a $130 5 day rental (that my employer paid for ;))

While I definitely think that the BlueChip program is one of the most poorly run frequent guest type programs out there, I did recently try the $25 Amex gift card promo (that is advertised on their homepage) and surprisingly just 10 days after my rental I got the $25 gift card in the mail! Not bad for a $130 5 day rental (that my employer paid for ;))
Just occurred to me that this promo's great for business renters, as it's a way for the business traveler to get something back, whereas with a standard discount, the employer saves the buck.

Do you remember where the gift card was mailed from? I've been told that the promo's dependent on Amex, and if there are any delays or problems, that people should call Amex to complain or ask (not Thrifty). Did Amex mail the gift card or was the return address Thrifty?

Also, curious about your experiences with Blue Chip. I have limited experience with other companies' programs, but I haven't found noticeably better experience with, say, my Emerald Club membership. If all goes well with Blue Chip, it's pretty quick and painless--the worst I've had is that it wasn't preprinted and the rental took a couple minutes instead of the under 60 seconds that's guaranteed. (Since I usually like to chat with the rental agents, I don't stick them with the free day guarantee for my rental not being ready...)

Do you remember where the gift card was mailed from? I've been told that the promo's dependent on Amex, and if there are any delays or problems, that people should call Amex to complain or ask (not Thrifty). Did Amex mail the gift card or was the return address Thrifty?

Also, curious about your experiences with Blue Chip. I have limited experience with other companies' programs, but I haven't found noticeably better experience with, say, my Emerald Club membership. If all goes well with Blue Chip, it's pretty quick and painless--the worst I've had is that it wasn't preprinted and the rental took a couple minutes instead of the under 60 seconds that's guaranteed. (Since I usually like to chat with the rental agents, I don't stick them with the free day guarantee for my rental not being ready...)


I have the envelope here and it was mailed from Omaha, which is Thrifty HQ.

And as for my experience with Blue Chip, counter service is usually fine. The problems I have are with the credits that I'm supposed to receive for my rentals. More than half the time they don't work out right. And when I call or email to have it corrected, the response I get is almost always an explanation of what I did wrong that caused the problem instead of an apology and correction.

For example: Recently they started their double BlueChip credit for all rentals. Upon seeing this, I went into my account and changed my earning choice from airline miles to BlueChip credits. I got an email confirmation for this. Then 3 weeks later I had 2 rentals which credited miles to my airline account. I emailed BlueChip and got no response (which is what usually happens). I then called and explained the whole thing and asked them to give me the correct credit. Instead the response I got was: "You made these reservations before you changed your earning choice, so that's why you got airline miles, and that's what you're stuck with." It didn't make any difference to this guy that I changed my earning choice weeks before the actual rental, or that there was no indication at all that changing my choice after making a reservation would not affect that prior reservation. No, while the correct customer service move would have been to say 'Sorry, we'll fix this and credit you right now', Thrifty doesn't seem to have the normal Please the Customer mentality.

This is only my most recent example, but I have many more. But to their credit, Thrifty is usually the cheapest, and that's why I put up with their poor service and keep renting from them.

I have the envelope here and it was mailed from Omaha, which is Thrifty HQ.
Actually, DTAG HQ is in Tulsa, OK. Thrifty does have most of their offices and operations centralized in Tulsa, but I suppose it's possible there is a satellite office or an outsourced company that works on this out of Omaha. (I do believe Amex has operations in Omaha, but I could be wrong about that--the envelope just had a return address, not a name? It's just that I've been told that all the gift card stuff has to be dealt with directly with Amex and that Amex is responsible for mailing the card.)

Instead the response I got was: "You made these reservations before you changed your earning choice, so that's why you got airline miles, and that's what you're stuck with." It didn't make any difference to this guy that I changed my earning choice weeks before the actual rental, or that there was no indication at all that changing my choice after making a reservation would not affect that prior reservation. No, while the correct customer service move would have been to say 'Sorry, we'll fix this and credit you right now', Thrifty doesn't seem to have the normal Please the Customer mentality.
Hmm. I understand your point. The way the computer systems are set up, updating your Blue Chip profile does not update any existing reservations (this goes for address/phone information and coverage preferences as well as loyalty program preferences). When you make a reservation, your profile information is transmitted along with the reservation, so whatever information was in your profile at the time you booked is what the agent sees on his/her screen. I agree that shouldn't happen, but I can only think of two solutions to this: either trigger a revision to any outstanding reservations each time your profile is updated or reprogram the counter computers to access your profile in real-time when you show up. Unfortunately, I'm sure both options would require a good bit of investment in programming, so I'd guess that would be low on the priority list (higher up on the list is probably automating the Dollar Express system, which, while it operates superficially the same as Blue Chip, is still manual--any profile creations or revisions submitted online have to be manually processed by Dollar Express staff, whereas if you submit an update to Blue Chip online, your profile is automatically updated in the Blue Chip database instantly). Still, next time you talk to Customer Care, maybe you could suggest this enhancement to the Blue Chip service.

But, having said that, I do agree that the right thing for Customer Care to have done is issued you Blue Chip credit, since it's a limitation in their system that caused the problem (and they don't detail--anywhere that I've found, anyway--that existing reservations do not get updated). FWIW, I've found Thrifty's Customer Care department hit or miss and have encountered a couple of apathetic and even downright argumentatively hostile customer service representatives. However, I've had good luck asking to speak to a supervisor, who was able to either fix my problem or rationally explain why they can't do anything. While I don't expect a customer service department to give away the farm every time a customer whines about a silly, stupid problem that's the customer's fault anyway, I do expect a positive, helpful attitude and valid reasons for not attempting to make the customer happy.