The first dropped ball was by PetSmart, who frequently emphasizes a commitment to “exceptional pet parent service.” My wife went to drop off our two dogs the morning of our flight. When she arrived at PetSmart, she was told that one of our dog’s vaccines had expired and that it would be three days after his new vaccination before they could accept him. By the way, we booked this stay for our dogs with plenty of time to have done this well before dropping them off. I had to ask why they didn’t say something when we booked this appointment? Do they not have software that alerts them of this? Why wouldn’t just one employee take the time to contact us about this? This was not “exceptional pet parent service.”
Our American Airlines flight was showing a two hour delay, which gave us added time to figure out what to do with our one dog, Little Bear. Lately, American Airlines being on time with their flights is the exception and not the rule. Yet, their website says, “American is focused on creating a world-class customer experience.” I travel to an extent, and out of my most recent six roundtrip flights (12 legs), more than half have been late. On this particular day, the day before my birthday, the plane started out two hours late but ended up being four hours late. I have noticed that American waits until right before you are supposed to board before updating you at the last minute as to the new delayed time. I am sure it has something to do with their CEO tracking their on-time stats. American says they are 75% on-time, interesting. I can’t help but ask myself why don’t they communicate their issues better? Why don’t they offer a free soda or cookie at a local shop while customers waste their time waiting? Why don’t they offer $10 off, $20 off, or $50 off your next flight for screwing up your schedule? Why don’t they offer ANYTHING to say, “Hey, we are sorry, and we really do care and want to create a world-class customer experience?” I understand being late is going to happen, but it is the lack of any type of sympathy or monetary gesture that shows me they don’t care.
Once we finally got to the Durango airport, it was time to pick up our rental car from Budget. I got my keys in minutes, started my one hour drive with no issue, but after 40 minutes, the check engine light started flashing. The 2025 Ford Explorer starts running rough, really rough. I was sure I could limp it along to get to the hotel. I had my wife and daughters with me and didn’t want to be stranded, so I was careful in getting it to the hotel and made it!
Budget’s mission statement on their website is “We will consistently deliver a quality product, friendly service and great value that make customers confident that Budget is their best car rental choice.” I immediately called Budget and talked to roadside assistance. After many prompts and transfers, I was on the phone with someone who told me that they could help. They would dispatch a tow truck and do a car swap. This person told me that I needed to be by the car when this happened, and they also asked if I would be willing to get text updates. OF COURSE I was down for that. There was even a link with a simple workflow to show me what was going on with my replacement rental car delivery. Unfortunately, it sat on the first status “looking for dispatch” for almost two hours. Their system also estimated the swap would happen around 12:30 a.m. Perfect, I could celebrate my birthday with the tow truck driver.
Since the car barely ran, I knew that I was going nowhere and would be there when the driver showed up. I decided that we should go soak in the hot springs since there wasn’t much more I could do but wait. I was checking my phone every so often. There was probably a stint of about 30 minutes that I didn’t check my phone. When I did, I saw five missed calls and one voice message. The voice message was from the tow truck driver stating he was on his way, and it would be closer to 1 a.m. before he arrived. I called him back to make sure he had everything he needed. He didn’t pick up the first time but did the second time. He told me he cancelled the swap because I didn’t pick up my phone. I asked him if he was joking; he said he was not. I explained that all I was told was that I had to be at the car, and I was definitely at the car. He said it was too late, and I would have to start over again. What did their mission statement say again? “We will consistently deliver a quality product, friendly service and great value that make customers confident that Budget is their best car rental choice.”
I went to sleep defeated and wondering what I was going to do. I wanted to go snowboarding at the Wolf Creek Ski Area, which is a 35 minute drive up the mountain. Uber is unreliable in small mountain towns. There was only one shuttle that goes up the mountain in the morning and comes down in the afternoon, but they were closed for the evening. There was a cab company, which was also closed. Things were not looking good.
Interestingly enough, I woke up at 5 a.m. on January 11, my birthday. I was still feeling defeated. I started to try to map out what to do. I called a tow company to see what they would charge to take me and the car back to the airport. They started out at $1,000 to take me and the car. I told them I owned a few shops and that was steep. I was able to negotiate that down to $585, which was still steep. The cab company was still not open nor was the shuttle company. The night before, the hotel had texted me one of those “How is your stay so far?” texts. I wrote back and stated, “Not so good. Looks like I am stuck on my birthday. Any suggestions on how to get up the mountain?” And, lo and behold, the person at the counter texted me back with the number to Rad Transportation (https://www.radtransport.com/). At this point, it was about 6 a.m. I was out of options, so I texted the number to Rad Transportation. Within a minute, I got a response from Rad himself. What?!?!?
Now, if you look at Rad’s website, you will see “The Best Luxury Car Service in Colorado. Rain or snow, we get you where you wanna go.” After a few text messages, Rad decided to call me because our text messages were getting lengthy. We worked it out where he would come get me and my family, take us up the mountain, and bring us back down. Rad loves snowboarding and worked with me on pricing as long as I bought him a lift ticket. DONE! What was going to be a ruined day ended up being a day to remember. Rad was rad! Great guy, great service, and ready to help at 6 a.m. After our day on the mountain, he even drove me back to the Durango airport at no extra charge since he lived in that area.
Rad is an entrepreneur. He cares about people. He cares about changing transportation in the area to make it more accessible. He exemplified customer service without having to tell the world he was great or exceptional at it.
At Autoflow, one of our three values is a quote from The Lorax: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” As for my multi-shop operation, Golden Rule Auto Care, our mission statement is, “We truly believe in treating others as we would like to be treated.” I truly wish all those big companies that market great customer service really meant it, because the world really would be a better place.
And, don’t get me started about when I got to the airport to pick up the new car and had a very heated exchange with the Budget Rental Car representative. I will leave that story for another time.
Chris Cloutier
Architect/President at Autoflow
The Desire for Continuous Improvement
As an auto repair shop owner of Golden Rule Auto Care, Chris Cloutier realized the need for a better way to communicate with his customers as he observed how communication gaps created bottleneck situations and wasted valuable rack time.
