I work for a large international brand rental car company. I could tell countless stories about our customers, and their inablity to retain brain cells when hiring a car. And no doubt there are hundreds of stories you could tell me about renting a car - there surely must be one I haven't heard before.......I do struggle at times to retain a pleasant demeanour, and I wouldn't say that providing outstanding customer service is one of my strong points (and that's a whole other story about why the heck I'm in a customer service role). I'd have to say though - if you have issues that you want resolved, being polite goes a loooooong way. I am so much more inclined to help someone when they are not rude, agressive or down right nasty. And people hiring cars can be very obnoxious!!!! And it turns us little customer service reps right off going that extra mile....
Since this is about good service received.....I do have a nice story about......Air NZ. A few years ago I booked a flight via the internet, and promptly booked for the 9pm flight rather than the 9am flight.My fault, trying to do things too quickly.....I turned up to the Palmerston North airport at 0830 to check in.....to find I was 12 hours too early. I really needed to be at my destination in the morning - it was my Mother's first birthday after my father had died a couple of months earlier. My first reponse at the check in counter was to burst in to tears. It seemed that the check in staff were not immediately impressed by the tears.....but as I pulled my self together, and pulled out the credit card to pay an extortionate amount to get home.....the check in rep recognised me from a late night incident earlier in the month - when I delivered a rental car to her husband at their home, well outside our operating hours so he could make an important job interview the next morning in Wellington......and without any further ado, I was on the flight, no extra cost to me. Who knew that my after hours efforts were going to pay off somewhere down the track....so thanks Linda - your kindness was greatly appreciated......
Great customer service comes down to the individual providing it - empathy for others is not a skill you can learn at a course