Zipcar Listens to Customers

Posted by on Sunday, January 13, 2008 · 12 Comments 

Wednesday I rented a Zipcar to get to a meeting. To those of you who haven’t heard of Zipcar they are an awesome rental car company that includes insurance, free gas and a bit of mileage with each rental.

For $50 a year and the cost of the rental I can rent a car, pick it up at the T station nearby and be ready to drive. It’s an awesome deal and I even have favorite cars.

I reserved the car, took the T to pick it up, and drove toward my destination. Once I got nearby I stopped to get lunch because I hadn’t eaten when I left the house. I took my cell, credit card, ID and Zipcard in with me and locked my computer and other items into the vehicle.

After lunch I came back out of the restaurant and when to unlock the door but the card wouldn’t work. I try again and again out of hopes that it’ll work once and I can get in but no. I called Zipcar’s customer service and report the problem. The rep isn’t able to unlock the car remotely nor is there a key on the undercarriage like she had hoped.

She informs me that she’ll have to call in an unlock and that I need to stay with the car until she gets someone there. In the end I waited through my meeting, until the tow truck came and then made my way back across down in disappointment. I wasn’t angry, just deeply disappointed that I hadn’t got to have the conversation I was looking for and that my reason for renting the car was to get to that meeting and it hadn’t been reliable as times before.

I called the Zipcar when I returned home. I spoke to a different representative. She told me that they had refunded the last hour they added on for me. She was polite but dismissive of the issues I had. After the call, I pondered what would make me feel valued as a customer. I wanted Zipcar to understand that my frustration was because that I had used relied on their service to get me where I needed to go. I did so in order to do my business more efficiently that day.

I wrote a letter to a senior exec at Zipcar explaining what had happened, much like this blog post, emphasizing the reliance on their service. How important it was to me as a business and how it failed this time around. Within 45 minutes, Member Services apologized and sent a full refund to my account. This was an awesome response time. Zipcar has shown that they aren’t afraid to take care of their customers when an unforeseeable issue happens. With the ease they present in renting cars, I’m happy to still be a customer.

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  • http://www.shashi.name Shashi bellamkonda

    I am glad Zipcar responded quickly and set things right. I am sure they will work on a “OnStar” style method of unlocking the car.

    On a side note Boston public transport seems good . better than DC ?

  • http://www.chelpixie.com chelpixie

    I love Boston public transport. I love riding the T, but haven’t ever been to DC so I have no idea.

    It’d be cool if they had a way to remote unlock definitely better than this version but I’m happy with the response.

  • http://bizcast.typepad.com Alan Wilensky

    Zipcar has not been so honest with people on the peninsula south of SF.

    The SF Zip car office has repeatedly lied to small business customers about the pending availability of cars south of the city. Several emails and letters to the Zipcar headquarters in MA have led to nothing. One VP at Zipcar told me to ‘let the issue go’.

    I finally got an employee at the SF office to admit that the company advises its field office employees to say anything to get the signup.

    It’s a good service run by bad people at the top.

  • Anonymous

    http://carpundit.typepad.com/carpundit/2005/04/zipcar_a_review.html

    These people have some horror stories that would convince me never to use Zipcar.

  • http://www.chelpixie.com chelpixie

    Alan, Anonymous,

    I’m sorry to hear that others have had horrible experiences with Zipcar. I can only speak for my own.

    -Chel

  • Diana

    I am glad that you got your money back, however, it seems that you wasted a lot of your personal time too, and they didn’t compensate you for that. I think that it shouldn’t take you writing to a senior exec to get an issue resolved. I used to work for Enterprise and we had a 1 call resolution policy, meaning that a customer didn’t need to make more than one call to get an issue resolved. It was great, it made the customers very happy and it empowered the employees, resulting in it being the #1 Rental Company in the States. That’s what it takes. And even though I do understand that issues occur, it is the way they are handled that makes the difference. I have had my share of problems with Zipcar, but would not be about to cancel my membership had those issues been resolved in a customer friendly manner. The people on the phone sound like miserable people with miserable lives; it makes me sad.

  • http://www.carshelpingamerica.org Car Donation

    zip car people how then take care
    of customers nice artical what they experimented

  • http://www.carshelpingamerica.org Car Donation

    zip car people how then take care
    of customers nice artical what they experimented

  • Onplaine

    I tried opening a personal account online last night but could not. Today I called and was told by a customer service that ZIp-car has a known issue with some browsers, and that if I used a different one it would work.
    At that time I asked which browser works best… she, customer serv., had no answer…!

  • http://www.wheelsforwishes.org Cassie Lopez

    Good to know you have warned us here about that. I think the key to success in every service business is to ensure the satisfaction of each client. I’m kinda not used to their idea of responding to their customer. I don’t want to say anything absurd to them as I don’t have any idea on them. I was just hoping that each people who would be able to read your post should be more mindful enough. Listening to the clamor of the people is the main key to last long in that kind of business.

    Cassie Lopez
    Wheels For Wishes
    Car Donation

  • Aybours

    http://shameonyouzipcar.blogspot.com/
    On December 15th, 2010 I rented Makeup, a Mazda for an hour and a half. While driving from the Mission District I got caught in heavy traffic around 5-5.30pm. I stopped at the traffic behind a BMW X5. Thinking the lights were about to turn green soon, I gradually took my feet of the brake pedal and softly touched the back of her car bumper. Instantly I pulled the car back and got out to inspect the situation. Like any responsible driver, I gave her my driving and insurance information. Both drivers made a thorough check on the cars. There were no signs of damage to either of the vehicle which did not warrant for a call to the police. A picture of the back of the BMW was taken before I drove off to record the incident and to provide an alibi for myself.(see the pic)

    I returned the car early and neither myself nor the subsequent drivers that rented Makeup, could tell the damage, that Zipcar team is accusing me of occurred during my rental period.

    Around a month after that fateful second rental I received an email from Zipcar accusing me of damaging the car and I was subsequently charged a $1953.33 fee for the damage. It is appalling customer service to be accused of doing something I clearly didn’t do.

    This whole experience soured my view of Zipcar’s sharing concept by highlighting a serious flaw in their system. Zipcar lives on the street or in a public car park and the person renting it is responsible for any damage that occurs to the vehicle until the next person takes the car. Unlike a traditional car rental company, there is no employee to check the car when you return it. The car just sits unattended in a public car park where anyone can damage it after it has been returned and the last person to use the car gets the blame.

    In all unfairness Zipcar is slapping me with the responsibility of the repair store charges which has no absolute relation to the above account of the incident. I have been totally cooperative and helpful in resolving this issue and hope that they will contact me soon and fix this issue because it has been already couple of months. They are making me wait and see what damage the other had. Since i have a pic of her car, what they are trying to do !???? i will never ever use zipcar again.

    Best Regards
    N. Aybars Turan

  • Anonymous

     it is well done by the company because they do really care for their customers especially if there is a complaint from customers..