Big names can't always be trusted

 As business owners, we usually only get a quick weekend away as we can't leave our business unattended for much longer.   This past weekend, we had to cancel our trip due to the fact that a very large car rental agency had extremely poor customer service.  
​Our cars are older and not in the best shape to make a longer trip.  We found this out the hard way after being stranded in Quartzsite last December.  If you have ever been here, it is a great town for a quick potty break and to get gas! (Sadly they don't even have a Starbucks!)  After spending around six hours there, we decided that until we get more reliable cars we will rent a car for longer trips.  It seemed like a win-win situation, we get a new car to travel in without the worries of car repair.
We tried to take advantage of our member services through Arizona AAA. (Which we have found to be great overall.)  They recommend Hertz car rental as one of their agencies.  
Needless to say the Sun City office that we reserved our car through had such poor customer service that we were forced to cancel our trip.  I'm still not quite sure what the reason was? First we were told the car had been in an accident, then we were told they could not get in touch with the people who had the car at the time.  The representative told us she was "confident that she could find us a car."  But, not once did she call us to let us know her progress.  We had to call her each time!   We also had hotel reservations that needed to be cancelled in a timely manner, so we really needed to know.  We asked if she had anything else available, she did not.  We were later told by the corporate office that they had two Suburbans they should have offered us, and price matched the car we had originally reserved.  So not only did the Hertz Car Agency in Sun City let us down, so did their corporate office!
This just goes to show that big name companies are not always better.  We trusted  Arizona AAA to refer their customers to a reliable, honest company.  And, Hertz Car Rental for being a well known company that has been around for a long time.  (Upon checking various web sites, Hertz has a really poor reputation for doing business.)

Customer service should be reliable, trustworthy and caring.  Our company policy is to just say yes and take care of any concerns the people we work for have.  It's true that many don't appreciate all that we do for them, but it has always been important to us to provide the service we are being paid for.  We think that the old saying "The customer is always right" is a great place to start!  Too bad other companies don't think the same way!