There are certain companies that, when I know I have to deal with them, a big wave of dread washes over me. In fact, there are INDUSTRIES that bring on this feeling. Industries like airline, car rental, telecom, cable, banks and storage always bring this on for me. Most of them are necessary evils. If I want to go anywhere that is far away, I’ll need to book a flight (Oh! The horror!). If it’s not a transit accessible city, I’ll need to book a car (Nooooooo!). Then there is which cell plan to go with? The bad deal, the worse deal or the no deal?
Yuck.
The other day, I stood at the counter of a rental car company and, after arguing with her over the rapidly escalating costs of my rental, said to the woman behind the desk, “It must be awful to work in a capacity where you deliver misery all day. Don’t you dream of the time when you can actually deliver joy?”
She looked at me without irony and said, “Ma’am, I’m not sure what you are getting at, but it’s not my job to answer those types of questions.”
I know it wasn’t her fault…that she is instructed to add up all of those charges and make sure I don’t feel like I have a choice other than to pick the most expensive package (Alex Frankel’s account of working at Enterprise Rent-A-Car was very revealing), but I did wonder if coming to work everyday disempowered her, too.
I started to think about what it is that causes the miserable experiences. In my case at the rental car agency, I had reserved a car for a good deal online, but the ‘extra’ costs just kept adding up until I was paying 3x the price I had booked for. And I really had no choice in the matter. I don’t own a car, so I had to take their full insurance package. I had both a lack of choice and the barrage of hidden costs, which made me feel entirely powerless and rather duped.
As I went through my recollection of the many times I had felt this way, it dawned on me: There is an axis of misery producing industries out there. Industries that not only fail to deliver happiness, but they effectively BLOCK it and cause misery.
The elements of misery are:
- Lack of choice
- Being duped
- Inhumane treatment/being treated like a number
Which are the EXACT opposite of:
- Autonomy
- Competence
- Sociality
…the 3 elements of a business model based on delivering happiness.
Lack of choice takes away autonomy. Being duped makes one feel incompetent. And being treated inhumane/like a number totally disconnects one from any possibility of social connection. The axis of misery works against happiness in awful ways, leaving us forever dreading further interactions with these industries (and the companies within them).
There really should be a tax on the companies that play into the proliferation of misery. If we measured social capital and the GNH (Gross National Happiness) alongside GDP, we could see just how much of a drain these companies have on our well-being and tax them accordingly.
The good news is that companies within this industry do not have to act in this manner. In fact, if they flip the misery upside down and, instead, implement the happiness business model, they will not only carve out a good number of loyal customers, they will probably also become leaders in their industry.
A great example of who has done this is Southwest Airlines, one of the longest running and consistently profitable airlines, even during major downturns in the industry as a whole. Southwest has been the topic of many books and much customer love over the years. After 9/11 when most airlines were getting bankruptcy protection, Southwest sailed right through, virtually unscathed.
What could that rental car have done for me? A couple of things:
- Been upfront with the full costs of rental WITH the extras, including insurance. Zipcar is a total pleasure to rent because everything is included in the $7-12/hour that I sign up for. No extras. No surprises. I know exactly what I’m in for.
- Treated me with dignity. I DO have a choice and when a good choice presents itself (like a Zipcar in the city of arrival), I take it. Anyone who comes up with a rental car model like Zipcar’s will make a mint.
My autonomy, competence and sociality would be restored and I would be loyal to this company for life, spreading the word to everyone I know who travels. As customers, we need to also start demanding this. We really must put a stop to the Axis of Misery. It’s evil and threatens our way of life. 
View Tara Hunt's profile
13 Comments
Are you sure your frustration was properly placed? It didn’t sound as though that employee was empowered to make you feel better about anything.
I don’t know if the industry has anything to do with it — as I have had rental car experiences all over the spectrum. When the bottom line is customer satisfaction, then smart companies make that a basis for grading employees. Smart companies give them the tools and the incentives to do the job.
The last three times I’ve rented a car, I’ve been given an upgrade because “it’s all we have.” I was actually beginning to get cynical, thinking this was a trick to make me feel better about the company!
Wow! Great analysis!
I was with you until you got to Southwest Airlines.
Then I hit a wall. It only takes one truly bad experience with a company, even if it’s not your own, to ruin that concept.
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/14893222/detail.html
I wouldn’t fly Southwest if they paid me to do it.
That said - I do have a secret for how I deal with rental cars in other cities - but it’s not one I’m willing to share in a public forum (especially as well frequented as your blog) because it would lose its efficacy immediately if everyone used it.
I’d be happy to email it to you to spare you future unpleasant encounters with Rental Car drones.
But I’m dead certain you have hit the nail on the head when it comes to what makes a good customer experience over a bad one.
Yes. I revised that section. I know it wasn’t her fault. It was her company. They don’t empower front-line and customer service employees.
An ‘upgrade’ is not always positive. I once got an ‘upgrade’ to a midsize car and had a helluva time finding parking. I actually want the economy or compact. The upgrade isn’t really for the customer imo.
I had a great experience last month with a company that really turned that Axis of Misery experience around: U-Haul. U-Haul used to thrive on that same business model as the rental cars: surprise ‘em and screw ‘em. When you go to pick up a U-Haul, it’s crunch time - you don’t have much time left, and you’re on a mission to make something really big happen. They used to take advantage of that fact and screw you like crazy. (I’ve moved way too many times in life.)
This time, though, it was really different, and I know it wasn’t a fluke because I was involved with 3 transactions in 3 separate cities. In all 3 cases, the people really felt like they cared, and U-Haul corporate folks followed up every time with surveys and emails that made it clear they did indeed care about how their employees were treating customers. There must have been a major mind shift at U-Haul in the last 2-3 years, and it went from an Axis of Misery company to one that I would actually prefer over a new competitor.
Sounds to me like this is an opportunity for Zipcar (at least along the insurance lines)…
Adding a rental car insurance clause to their policy for members (even if explicitly limited to cities where there is no ZipCar facility) could be a huge differntiator in the space and help it’s clients avoid yet inconvenience related to not owning their own car…
I have flown on many domestic carriers and I must say that Southwest is one of the best out there. They don’t promise you fancy services like some of the other majors but they usually deliver on what they promise or get darn close to it.
That article that GeekMommy linked is about Air Tran, NOT Southwest.
Re: Rental Car Insurance. Make sure that you have a good credit card that got you covered with automatic “Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance” and then simply decline the collision damage waiver options at the counter.
The commercial aspects are interesting, but what is more interesting to me is the impersonal nature of so many transactions - usually on both sides. The classic writing on this is the waiter discussion in Sartre’s “Being and Nothingness”.
He writes of how we view waiters: not as full, complex, beautiful human beings, but as cogs in a machine. We expect them to perform a certain task and that’s all. So it was at the rental car counter you encountered. You were not a person, you were merely part of the job to be done. And probably the person behind the counter disliked you because your presence was only an increase in work to be done.
Rarely is this a one way street. How often do we, as in Sartre’s example with the waiter, consider the person behind the rental car counter as a mere piece of machinery in the assembly line which is to provide us with a product or service so we be on our way?
Yes, indeed, this does lead to misery. And it is impressive how much joy is delivered when we treat people as people.
One thing I’ve noticed in providing customer/tech support is that people automatically assume they’re going to get a bad experience, or have to fight for a refund, and often start things off very negatively/defensively. It’s a struggle from our company’s viewpoint to reassure people that they are individuals to us, and if they ever have a question or need something, all they have to do is ask.
It’s definitely a challenge to brush off the negativity being thrown at us that is a direct result of our customers’ cumulative years of poor customer service experiences. Keeping things postive is paramount with us for our customers (and our own mental health,lol). Although the upswing is that in many cases, we’ve found that people who require customer service from us are ultimately pleasantly surprised and are happier with us as a business than had they never needed to contact us.
Many credit card companies offer car rental insurance as part of the card plan. Most plans with Wells Fargo and MBNA do, for example. My card is with CITI, and this is the benefit description on their Web site:
The small print says that it is secondary coverage, meaning CITI only pays *after* my State Farm coverage pays. But if you don’t have a car or car insurance, then I assume CITI or whomever, would be the primary payer.
Another thing to note is many car insurance policies, mine included, will not cover rentals for business trips. That’s why I got the credit card in the first place.
the folly of skimming:
I mis-read
“2. Being duped”
as
“2. Being dumped”
and was then baffled at how
it was not the opposite of
“2.Competence”
need to sit and think or steer
away from these connections
…all too odd.
thanks for the post.
GeekMommy, Why wouldn’t you fly Southwest? The story you linked to was about AirTran, not Southwest.
hey tara - great post but i really don’t like validating the bush administration’s “axis of evil” trope. stay as far away from that, and them, as you can.
This is spot-on…and I LOVE what you said to the rental car lady. Girl, you are a hoot!!
One Trackback
An example of good customer service…
Photo Credits: garybembridge
The true character of organizations is often revealed by how well do they respond to customer feedback. Doing the right thing for the customer has always been good business sense, but never more important than today, whe…