Hertz: A case study in great customer service

On January 9th I posted a blog entry entitled “Hertz Encounters of the Bizarre Kind”.  It recounted my most recent rental experience with Hertz…which was to say the least…less than stellar.  Frankly, I didn’t write the post to elicit any sort of response from Hertz.  Had I wanted to do that, I would have availed myself of either the 800 number or survey url listed on my receipt.  I wrote it as a case study of inattentive customer service and something to learn from.

What I got was an impressive response from Hertz and an education on how one company is leveraging Twitter to their advantage.

Within hours of Twitter picking up my post, someone from Hertz tweeted me directly with this message:

ConnectByHertz@sambayer
Thx for the feedback. You make excellent points. We’ll fix this. Pls dm
me the details (rental agree. #) and I’ll investigate-Don

Over the next 3 days, close to 100 visits from Oklahoma City (Hertz’ headquarters) were registered on my blog.  On Friday evening, while driving up to my lake home in Virginia, I received a call from a Hertz Customer Service Manager.  She apologetically informed me that while they couldn’t erase my negative rental experience, they wanted to “compensate me for my troubles and for bringing the situation to their attention”.

Wow!

First of all, this proactive Customer Service phone call was in stark contrast to my recent experience with Verizon Wireless.  I was shocked to be receiving a call as opposed to having to pester Verizon for relief.

Secondly, I wasn’t asking for anything.  I just wanted Hertz to take that particular car off the road and maybe even revisit their overall check-in procedures.  The Customer Service Rep on the phone told me they were tracking down the VIN number on my rental unit and were going to have it checked out.

Wow!

Hertz is clearly monitoring their brand and taking aggressive action to protect it.  In this age of social media, that’s a very very smart thing to do.

Bravo Hertz!

Sam

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