The Windy City took on a new level of meaning yesterday, with 50+ mph winds that forced the temporary closure of O'Hare airport. Realizing my flight would get in to Chicago after the rental car office closed, I called the Enterprise O'Hare location. I've written about Enterprise before here in this blog. I try to rent from them whenever possible and am always curious to see if the level of service will be the same from city to city.
I told Heather at Enterprise in Chicago of my plight and need to change my reservation. No problem; the car would be waiting for me the next day. Then, Heather asked me to hold for a moment. When she returned, she said, "We called your hotel - they'll hold your room for your late arrival and will give you a shuttle ride to our office tomorrow. If you end up having to take a cab, we'll reimburse your cab fare."
Good Lord. Called my hotel and they're willing to reimburse me for cab fare... for a situation that wasn't anyone's fault but Mother Nature's.
There may be another rental company out there that delivers like Enterprise does, but I'm so hooked I don't even want to take the chance of investigating. Does Enterprise charge a little more for their cars? Sometimes. But I don't care. It's worth every penny to get the kind of experience I get when using them. One less thing I have to worry about when I'm on the road, traveling to strange cities.
Just as Roy Williams wrote here today, feeling connected to Enterprise is very important to me.
Connection = Loyalty.
Loyalty = Mucho Dinero.
That connection is worth its weight in gold - to me and Enterprise.
Hear, hear re Enterprise! I've always had excellent luck with them - in multiple locations. And, I'm with you - I don't care if they charge more - they're worth it.
Here in the quirky burque, once unexpectedly found myself on a Friday afternoon with no car. Among others, I called both Hertz and Avis (where I had el-primo "memberships") Got curt "We don't deliver" (this when the ad said they did) and/or "We close in five minutes" answers. The young man at Enterprise, however, said he'd be on his way just as soon as he closed up shop. He didn't have to do this - it was quitting time after all. But, he did - and seemed happy to do so. So, yep, I will always call Enterprise first.
Posted by: Mary Schmidt | November 15, 2005 at 12:25 PM
This sounds alot like the Concierge Service Delivery model I just heard and wrote about that Blue Cross/Blue Shield of MA uses. One of their main points is to "take the customer out of the loop", which is just what Heather did for you here. For more on the Concierge Service Delivery model, check out my posting: http://p4tgce.blogspot.com/2005/11/bcbs-and-concierge-service-delivery.html
Posted by: Steve Sherlock | November 16, 2005 at 04:10 AM