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Letter to National Customer Service re Emerald Club Executive

Letter to National Customer Service re Emerald Club Executive

Old Apr 30, 2004, 12:44 pm
  #1  
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Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 180
Letter to National Customer Service re Emerald Club Executive

April 30, 2004


National Car Rental
Customer Service Department
208 St. James Ave.
Charleston, SC 29445

Re: Executive Selection™ rental at SFO Airport Location 4/26/04

Dear Customer Service:
Recently I received new Emerald Club® credentials which described the new features of Emerald Club Executive, thank you very much. This week, I had an op-portunity to use the new features for the first time, and am writing to describe the experience.

On Monday 26 April, I arrived at the SFO airport location to find a very clearly marked Emerald Club Executive Selection area very close to the Emerald Aisle. The area was clearly marked and well delineated. There were quite a few cars available, including both Full-Sized, Premium and Minivan-class cars. I chose a Pontiac Bon-neville (Premium).

At the check-out booth, I noticed that the attendant had entered into the computer system’s “Class Driven” field the value “PCAR” and “Class Charged” field the value “FCAR”. I told the attendant that this did not match my understanding of the new Executive level and Executive Selection.

He told me that his understanding was that the Executive Selection was merely an area with Full Size and larger cars, and that I would pay one car class less then the car I chose. I explained that my understanding of Executive Selection was that I should reserve a Full-Size car, choose a car from the Executive Selection and be charged for a Mid-Size car (see Page 4 of the publication identified on the back cover lower-right as “L0072NEC-ECEBROCH-3/04”).

He insisted that this was not the way the system worked, and documented my “misunderstanding” in some comment records in the reservation.

I then called the Executive Reservation Line (as this was the only telephone number printed on the card) and spoke with an agent who explained to me how she thought the Executive Selection process worked. I told her that I agreed with her, but SFO did not. She put me on hold while she checked with a supervisor, who also agreed with me. She then said that if I was still at the airport, I could speak with a supervisor there who should be able to set things straight. As I was driving to my appointments, I asked her if she could get SFO on the phone to work this out. She connected me to the SFO location.

I began describing the situation to the SFO representative, who took down my Emerald Club number in order to find the reservation. She then asked me to hold while she found the reservation, and then hung up on me (it was unclear whether the disconnection was intentional or not).

I then called Executive Reservations back again, and described the situation so far. I asked if there was a supervisor I could speak with, and was transferred to someone else. Thought it was not announced, I believe I was then connected to Customer Service.

The person I spoke with first at Customer Service was completely unaware of Emerald Club Executive, completely unaware of Executive Selection, and completely unable to help me. I likely expressed some frustration at the process so far, and asked to speak with a supervisor. I was then put on hold for more than 10 minutes before being connected to a supervisor.

The supervisor I spoke with was aware of Emerald Club Executive, but seemed to agree with SFO’s interpretation of the program features. I explained that I understood what she was saying, but that it did not agree with literature I had re-ceived from National. She put me on hold to investigate, during which time I was disconnected again (in contrast to the previous disconnect, this seemed to be en-tirely accidental – I was listening to hold music, which suddenly disappeared and the call disconnected).
I became quite irritated that this point, and was tempted to ‘throw in the towel’. After a few minutes, I called Reservations again and asked to speak with a Customer Service Supervisor. While I was on hold, the person I was speaking to previously called me back, so I hung up on the final call to speak with the original supervisor.

The supervisor had done some research and came to the conclusion that I was exactly correct, and then had been able to call my home telephone number to get my cell phone number from my wife and called me back. She and I discussed the program features in great detail, and she agreed to call the SFO location and straighten out the billing on the rental in progress.

Unfortunately, because I was driving to my destination while these conversa-tions were occurring, I was unable to record the names or identifying information of anyone I spoke with.

Upon returning the car to SFO, I found that she had indeed fixed the billing and I was given a receipt indicating “Class Charged” of “ICAR”.

I took away several thoughts from this experience:

1. The SFO location had a poor understanding of the new program. Per-haps this is rectified already (due to the incident described), but per-haps not. In any case, there may be other locations with similar mis-understandings.

2. The Executive Reservations agents had a correct understanding, but were still a bit tentative as to its features. In any case, they gave me correct information.

3. The Customer Service agent I spoke with had no knowledge of the program whatsoever, and was nearly completely useless – if I had been unsure of the new services offered, I may have simply assented to SFO’s interpretation.

4. The Customer Service Supervisor I spoke with initially had a poor un-derstanding of the program, but was excellent nevertheless. She was able to get the correct information, track me down after an inadvertent disconnect, and correct the rental without forcing me to travel back to the airport. If you can find this employee from the information pro-vided, she deserves a commendation.

In conclusion, I hope this information is helpful to you in continuing to im-prove your processes and rollout of this new program.

Regards,



adamgoldberg
#xxxxxxxxxx

Cc: Flyertalk.com
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Old May 1, 2004, 9:43 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Redondo Beach, CA USA
Programs: UA 1KMM, Bonvoy LTE+A, HH D, Nat'l EE, Hertz Plat, Avis PC
Posts: 3,695
Great letter! You describe facts only, without emotion, and don't ask for anything in return. They should REALLY appreciate the feedback and will hopefully offer you some compensation for both your trouble and for taking the time to help them as the program transitions into reality. Let us know what happens!
DJ_Iceman is offline  
Old May 1, 2004, 11:53 am
  #3  
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Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 180
Yea, well, I'm not sure what I could have (reasonably) asked for - they did the right thing (eventually). How much is a half hour on the telephone worth in terms of compensation?

I expect a letter in reply. What remains to be seen is (1) will it be a form letter, (2) do they acknowledge SFO problems, (3) do they apologize for the rollout 'issues', and (4) will they 'thank' me with a coupon or something.

If I were writing a response to me, I'd answer without a form letter and say "It's a new program, you were renting on day 6, some people hadn't gotten the message yet. Sorry. We've found the CS Supervisor you were speaking to, she's been given an attaboy. Here's a free day for your trouble."

We'll see.
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Old May 7, 2004, 2:53 pm
  #4  
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Posts: 180
Thumbs up National Responds

Originally Posted by DJ_Iceman
Let us know what happens!
Early this week, I received a call at home from National to follow-up on my letter. I was not home, and my mother (acting as temporary nanny to our 3-year-old) suggested they just send me an email. Here's a copy of the email:

Dear Mr. Goldberg:

I received your letter regarding our San Francisco location and your Emerald Club Executive status. I apologize that it took several phone calls before you were able to get your bill corrected.

I do have the information in front of me, that says Emerald Club Executive members pay a midsize car rate when they select a larger car up to a luxury car on the Emerald Club Executive Selection.

The person who helped you was Bonnie, who is a manager on the Help Desk at Salt Lake City, Utah. I documented your letter, that way Bonnie will get recognition.

If you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to email us or contact our Customer Service Department at 1-800-468-3334.

Sincerely,

Becca Adkins
Customer Service
National Car Rental System, Inc.
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Old May 8, 2004, 8:15 am
  #5  
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Orange County, CA
Programs: UA 2MM Lifetime Plat, Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,681
She apoligizes, but people say I'm sorry all the time, but do nothing to fix anything.

I'd send her back a message that says "What has been done to prevent it from happening again"?

I had a similar problem as you did (in ATL as far as billing), but it wasn't a hassle getting it fixed other than extra 10-15 minutes. So they really need to acknowledge it isn't working everywhere and fix it.
1K_From_SNA is offline  
Old May 8, 2004, 8:44 am
  #6  
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Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 180
Originally Posted by 1K_From_SNA
"What has been done to prevent it from happening again"?

I had a similar problem as you did (in ATL as far as billing), but it wasn't a hassle getting it fixed other than extra 10-15 minutes. So they really need to acknowledge it isn't working everywhere and fix it.
Based on the quick response to my letter, I'd suggest that you write your own letter. I am not surprised that a new program like this is poorly understood, and all I meant to tell them was that I had a problem which was fixed after I got a very good representative on the telephone and that they have a communications problem.

Until this happens to me again (if it does), I'm going to assume that their roll-out education continues and soon (or already) everyone will be fully educated.

They said "Sorry", which I read as 'we're sorry this happened to you, and we recognize that this is a symptom of the greater disease of not preparing properly for the rollout of what is a new and different program to all of our affiliates - which includes locations which are not owned and operated by us.'. If that's not what they meant, I'll know soon enough.
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Old May 10, 2004, 5:35 pm
  #7  
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Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 180
Thumbs up Letter from National (not email)

Today I received a letter from a "Manager, Emerald Club Marketing", about a page and a half, summarized below:

1: I got your letter. Thanks for taking the time.

2: Thank you for renting from us so frequently for 9 years. You are our target audience.

3: Your letter tells me two things: 1. you understand the program, and 2. we need to do better training our folks. I'm disappointed your first experience was poor.

4. In an effort to roll-out quickly, SFO launched early (before roll-out date), and didn't have "all the components in place to ensure the service was properly supported and flawless". I'm sorry your experience wasn't wonderful. We've talked to them - it won't happen again.

5. Sorry some of the folks you talked to were tentative and/or got the runaround. The people in charge have seen your letter and they'll take care of it. Problems shouldn't occur, but if they do, customer service should be able to take care of it. I'm glad you talked to someone who performed well and fixed your problem. We'll give her an attaboy.

6. Thank you for writing a thorough letter. It'll help us. I can't give you your time back, but I'm depositing two free days into your account.

7. Thanks for your business and loyalty. I hope next time is flawless. If I can be of further assistance...


Well, from my perspective, A+ to National's corporate staff. This is a perfect response (which followed communications which had already satisfied me).

I'm confused why a rental on 4/26 at SFO was considered prior to scheduled roll-out, as the program roll-out was 4/18 ... but perhaps SFO was scheduled to be later.

In any case, I remain a satisfied National customer.
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