customer feedback
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AUTHOR Robert Gillespie
December 08, 2019

Customer Feedback Is Not Always As It Seems Pt2

Following on from our post in September regarding negative feedback, here is part 2 of the series. If you haven’t read the other post, you can find it here {Customer Feedback Is Not Always As It Seems}.

We are trying to highlight what impact a negative review can have on other potential customers and if they would feel the same having read both sides of the story.

here Is A Review Left On Our Trustpilot Profile.

Rating: 1/5
Title: It is SCAM
Review: We rented a car from them. They promised us that we won’t need a credit card and can rent a car using a debit card. The conversation went well, they charged us and emailed us voucher, the voucher clearly mentioned we needed a credit card, they booked us with europcar which refused to give us car because we didn’t have credit card. We called Indigocarhire, they refused to cancel our booking and refund our money. So basically we were left with charge on our card and no car. Their customer service is super arrogant and useless. It is a scam.

You can see this review and many others here.

here Is What Actually Happened.

Our customer contacted us direct from Faro Airport. They had a arrived with a booking with another supplier to be told that they would need a credit card or they could not hire a car. A quick google search and they found us, when dealing with enquiries for hiring with a debit card we have solid procedures in place to ensure we can help.

First of all we have to check that the card is a valid Visa or Mastercard and not a Visa Electron or Electronic Use only card. Then we have to check that the words/numbers on the card are embossed and not printed. These are the 2 most important factors, we cannot take the enquiry any further until we have asked these questions. This customer confirmed that his card was a Visa Debit card with embossed numbers and after further checks he met the other criteria.

The reason for this is because any car rental supplier can take payment for the rental cost on pretty much any card. But, when you arrive to collect the car the deposit must be left by a specific type of card to give the supplier added security. Pre-Paid cards and electronic use card offer none of this.

We went ahead and made the booking for the customer, dealing with bookings when the customer is effectively standing at the rental desk already presents its own problems, how we normally have to give suppliers 2 hours notice for a booking. This was overcome by giving the supplier a quick call. The issue this causes is that making a booking for this minute means the system will ‘lock the booking in’ at the agreed collection time and when card details are entered the rental cost is taken. We explained to the customer very clearly, if he wishes to cancel this booking and get a refund then it has to be done before the booking is locked in, before the time he is supposed to collect the vehicle.

So the customer now has a booking with a supplier that is in a position to help in his situation. He approaches the rental desk with his email confirmation and when prompted, he supplied his card to leave a deposit. The card he gave the rental assistant was a Visa Debit Card from a bank we have never heard of with the words “ELECTRONIC USE ONLY” printed in large letters across the top.

Rather than calling us before the collection time to let us know of the issue, he decided to argue the point with the rental assistant. By the time we were made aware of this issue, it was too late.

Our team went above and beyond to speak to the rental assistant and come up with a way for our customer to be able to drive away and enjoy his time in Portugal. In the end he was pretty lucky, on another day or if there was another rental assistant on duty he may well have not received a car or indeed a refund. but, with a little bit of sweet talking we managed to save the day.

So, i’m sure you can understand how surprised we were to read the above review when it was posted a day later. Accusing us of a scam, leaving out what lengths we went to to get him a car even though all of the issues that arose were because of the mis-information he provided to us, and indeed the supplier he had originally booked with.

could We Have Dealt With This Differently / Will We Next Time?

We are not posting these reviews to single people out or to make ourselves feel good, the idea is that people will read them and have a better understanding of why we ask for such information and why it is so important that we have an accurate picture of our customers requirements.

We do this for a living and have learned so much over the last 9 years. We ask every question we possibly can, but aside from breaking regulations and asking for a photo of the card, there is no way for us to know if the information being given to us is correct.

Thankfully these events are not the norm, in-fact they are very rare. If this review and indeed this post can help us avoid it happening again then we have helped ourselves and our customers who are our #1 priority.

Having worked in the car rental industry for over 15 years, he really knows his stuff. Rob heads up our marketing department and as a keen traveller, always has a new location to talk about. Particularly if there is a golf course nearby.

Robert Gillespie

Traveller

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