I was held over last weekend needing to extend a business trip. It happens. Sometimes you need to stick around until you have a minimum standard of closure and progress.

There was nothing too remarkable involved. So, I set about extending my stay. Hotel arrangements, flight changes were all completed with minimal fuss.

Then there was the car-rental extension. Seemingly, everything that could go wrong did.

In itself this particular incident is not remarkable. However when you consider the specific details and complications the implications are quite staggering.

To protect the culprits let’s just say my vehicle was booked through one of the top three global car-rental companies. They operate with a major US presence.

If you have customers or clients you don’t want to be (or appear to be) as broken as this Corporation just proved itself. Indeed, I’ve identified just some of the generic problems exhibited that you would be wise to check are absent from your own business.

When the troubles began I was already extremely busy operating in quasi-emergency mode and expediting my own business-related challenges. So, I couldn’t afford the 3 hours 45 min. it took before my car rental extension was finally under control. For almost 3 hours of this time I was tied-up dialing into the rental company and spent the balance of total time waiting for their call back.

How could such a high profile, large and experienced Corporation have so many problems? And if they do, what does this mean for other businesses with far less resources and apparent maturity?

So what were the problems I saw at this company? Check these:

• No Ownership

I interacted with six separate people on my calls. It was the last one that finally owned my problem and then investigated rather than handing me off, losing me on hold or dumping me into a voice-operated system.

 

• Voice and Keypad Input Systems

Found myself trapped in these five or six times. They just did not work.

The systems either dropped faster than keypad numbers could reasonably be entered or could not recognize me (personally) when the numerical identifiers were accepted.

Heck, I tried everything from slowly whispering voice inputs to screaming. Everything failed. Nothing significant was advanced through voice activation.

I’ve personally developed several websites and many software design tools. This stuff should not have passed even the most rudimentary beta testing.

 

• Centralized Processing

Most customer service people and voice systems pushed me towards a centralized support location, not yet open, nor in my time zone.

This is a major global Corporation. People travel 24 hours a day around the globe. Why wouldn’t there be a 24/7 service for folks in possible distress?

 

• Communication of the Root Problem

I was 2 hours 45 min. into calls and frustration before my (sixth) human contact told me what was causing the problems. Until then support people and automated systems kept telling me,”(I) couldn’t be recognized at all,” from any of my following inputs:

Correct spelling of my Name

My Unique preferred Membership Number

The Unique Number (on fob) of the Car I had in my possession

My Rental Agreement Number

Original Booking Confirmation number

Nobody explained what was going on or what confusion was in play and why.

 

• Employee Training

Any way you look at it, several people couldn’t operate the company system(s). Any such person and all those passing me off to various other people and systems clearly lacked in their training.

 

• The Root Problem

It turned out the fundamental issue was that the contract for my rental was canceled, right after its creation and just minutes after I had originally been checked in. There was a (no fault of mine) data-entry issue when I picked-up my car

Why would such a large organization, processing huge amounts of orders have no failsafe that prevents such a flaw with an order entry?

 

• System Complexity/Flexibility

Major companies (should) develop robust, efficient systems that facilitate rapid, accurate and failsafe order processing.

Clearly this is not the case, here.

Worse still, when order entry failed there was no systematic, flexible process to identify the issue, protect the Company’s interests and help me out.

 

• Procedural Issue(s)

You have to ask…

How could I have been given a contract, had it immediately canceled and then driven off with a car to which I had no current legal rights? The whole process and procedure is damaged.

Shouldn’t the company want to better protect their inventory?

 

• The Closing Concern

Finally, when I’d originally reached the checkout gate with the car I mentioned to the guard/clerk there was an undocumented (anywhere I could see) paint chip on the front spoiler. No major concern, but certainly not my liability. The friendly guard made a note “there are chips all over the car,” in his own handwriting on the paperwork that I was given upon exit. He signed and dated this script.

Certainly that was a great free pass for me, but I don’t understand how it helped this major car-rental company. And, it’s just indicative of yet another training and process flaw.

Well, that’s probably enough concerns to note. I’m sure the general description of the incident has initiated thoughts of many more additional and obvious problems in your mind, already.

If you personally lead an organization or company, you serve and support others. Have you audited your own organization to prove you have no such flaws in play? Do you regularly collect and review relevant incident reports?

Being reactive with great service is not as efficient or ideal is proactively avoiding liabilities. However, whatever your method(s), be advised: if a major global Corporation can have such shocking service and system defects, what might you find under your own hood? Maybe it’s time to take a look.

Ian R. Mackintosh is the author of Empower Your Inner Manager Twitter @ianrmackintosh