There is a lot of misinformation on the internet and even with customer service representatives! Because some of that misinformation affects people who are trying to get the truth on certain situations direct from the company, it can helpful to know what is truth and what is error. In that spirit, I will be running a new series of posts from time to time called According to the Rep: and give examples of what reps say and why it is wrong.
Most readers know that these things are not true but it is still amazing to me that so many reps of companies can get things wrong and that they have to be corrected by the customer. If you are told any of these things by reps, you can either try to gently correct them or just hang up and call again (HUCA) to get a new rep that will, hopefully, know the rules.
According to the Rep: Chase Points Don’t Transfer to United
According to the Rep: Free Days Are Not Valid in the Summer
The Back Story
Like many of you, I purchased some things from the Daily Getaways earlier this year. Two of those things were Avis “Free Day” certificates. These cost $30 each but one of them had already given me a lot of value and I knew the other would as well.
I found the date I wanted to use it for, a date last month when rental car rates were high. I called to book and before I could even give the coupon number from the certificate, I was told that …
According to the Rep
Free days are not valid in the summer.
I mentioned that the terms did not exclude the summer months but he insisted that no Avis award days can be used from June 1 – August 31. I have used Avis free days before so that did not sound right but I asked him to check my particular coupon code anyway.
I am not sure if he even looked up what I gave to him, though, because he came right back after I gave it to him and said it was not valid until after September 1. He said that is their policy. I told him it would have been nice to put that huge exclusion on their certificates rather than just randomly referring to “blackout days”.
The Truth
Now, maybe it is possible that he was giving me the accurate information, but, like a good deal person, I called back again a couple of days later and the rep then gladly booked me the car I wanted on the day I wanted it. I mentioned what I was told before and was told that “was not true” that it was not valid in the summer.
Just to be sure, I called back again the next week and asked if this coupon was good for summer travel and was told yes, except for some blackout dates around the year, it was good. It did not have a blanket season blackout period.
Always remember when you are told something that does not seem correct – hang up and call again. It will often save you some big headaches and often some big money as well!
The thing that bugs me about stories like this is that due to the call center’s operations, there’s no way for someone to identify the agent and then train them on the correct information. I’d imagine that this person was wrong and didn’t know how to find the right info. THAT’s the actual problem that needs to be corrected. I’ve worked in a lot of call centers in my day and usually, we want to do what the callers are requesting – it makes for a much easier work day when all you do is say yes.