My Experience:
In May of this year I logged on to my Travelocity account to purchase airline tickets and rent a car for my son and I to go to Philadelphia PA in April. His AA hockey team, the U16 Montana Thunderblades were going for the USA Hockey National Championships. The trip was a bit complicated since he was flying from Missoula to Denver to Philadelphia and I was meeting up with him in Denver and the two of us going on to Philadelphia. We also needed to rent a car at the Philly airport, picking it up around midnight when the flight arrived and drive the 30 minutes to our Malvern, PA motel.
Through the Travelocity website I rented a car with Budget Rent A Car. The information on the website said they are closest to the airport, are open after midnight and are one of the least expensive. The Philly airport has all the rental car offices outside of the actual airport where each company has a bus to shuttle you to their office. Coordinating the flights so I could meet my son in Denver and us fly together to Philly put us arriving in Philly close to midnight. My goal was to get our luggage, get our car and get to the motel as quickly as possible so I could get my son in bed and rested for his first game of the tournament the next day.
We arrived in Philadelphia International Airport around 11:30PM, gathered our luggage, and were out on the curb at about 11:45PM where the rental car busses were picking up their customers. We watched buses go by one after another and waited patiently for the Budget bus. At around 12:15 I asked a porter if he knew when the Budget bus was coming and was told Budget is closed. I tried calling the Budget office and got their answering service which confirmed they were closed. I called Travelocity but it took nearly five minutes to eventually talk to a real person and I was in a highly agitated state by then and gave up. I tried calling a few of the other rental services at the airport getting their phone numbers from the busses as they drove by but none of them had any vehicles to rent at that hour. Finally, after about half an hour to 45 minutes, I flagged down a taxi and we were on the road around 1:00AM to our motel in Malvern.
While in the taxi, I had calmed down a bit and called Travelocity again to explain what happened and have them help me arrange another rental car in Malvern, near our motel. The person I reached - after five minutes - had trouble understanding English and understanding my situation but did a nice job reading from a script designed to try to make me feel better. It didn’t make me feel better and agitated me further. After several attempts of me trying to explain my situation, she decided to get somebody else to speak with me. I was, at this point, highly agitated again and not doing a very good job hiding it. I waited several minutes, but by then we had arrived at our motel, so I hung up to get unpacked from the taxi and paid my $125 fee, Yes, $125.
Later that morning I woke up early to figure out how to get a car so I could drive my son and I to the games for the rest of the week and to do some sightseeing in the area. I again called Travelocity - and five minutes later - got a hold of someone and went through my situation and frustrations again. He didn’t really understand but was very friendly and read from the same script as the person I spoke to the earlier while riding in the taxi. I told him I was not happy that Budget was closed when we arrived at the airport and how the information on the Travelocity website was incorrect.. Had I known that Budget was the only car rental company closed at night, I would have chosen another. Travelocity’s error and sloppiness cost me an extra $125 for the taxi. Evoking the Travelocity Guarantee, I asked the rep to help me find another rental car for the same price as my original reservation. He put me on hold for about 15 minutes and when he returned he told me the nearest Budget to my motel was closed (it was 8:30AM) and I would have to call back later. I also asked if I could get credit for the $125 I had to pay for the taxi trip because of their error but he could only refer me to another Customer Care phone number which was odd because I thought I was speaking with Customer Care. Apparently, there is another level of Customer Care.
I was short on time due to my needing to take my son to his first game that morning in Westchester. I could have asked another parent on the team for help but I didn’t want to impose unless absolutely necessary. I googled Budget in the Malvern area, found the closest one, called and quickly arranged a rental. I completed the transaction before 8:50AM. Unfortunately, I would have to pay an additional $75 because I had to return the car at the airport. I’m now out $200.
The tournament went very well for my son and his team. They won the U16 Tier II National Championship on Sunday and after the celebration we all went to the the Flyers/Rangers game in town and had a fantastic time. It turned out to be a wonderful week despite the terrible start due to Travelocity.
About a week after returning from the trip I received an email from Travelocity asking for feedback. I had forgotten about contacting their Customer Care since I was still reveling in the wonderful week my son and I had. I eagerly took the opportunity to fill out and submit the feedback questionnaire detailing the difficulty I had with the rental car situation, how much more it cost me and how disappointed I was with their follow-up customer service. I summarized my comments at the end of the feedback survey by saying how unhappy I was and how I will never use Travelocity again unless they make things right. I actually expected a follow-up phone call or email from their Customer Care department but after over a month since giving them my feedback, I have heard nothing.
We hope scenarios like the ones listed below never happen to you, but in the unlikely event they do, our Guarantee has you covered. Our employees work hard to ensure that with Travelocity, "you'll never roam alone." Book with us to enjoy the peace-of-mind associated only with the Travelocity Guarantee-if something isn't right on your trip and you inform us immediately, we'll work with our partners to make it right, right away.
What Travelocity Should Have Done:
First, their Customer Care reps should have a better understanding of travel in the US. Their call center, for US customers, should be located in the US. The experience I had with their Customer Care was very dissatisfying and there was clearly a cultural disconnect. They did not understand why I thought I should be credited $125 for the taxi ride and basically left stranded at my motel without a vehicle. They didn’t seem to know how to use google to search for a nearby Budget or how to arrange another rental car reservation for me. All they were good at was reading from a script telling me how sorry and understanding they were.
Second, it should not take five minutes or more to reach a rep. When a customer calls Travelocity Customer Care, something has gone wrong and needs fixing. Help is needed and needed quickly.
Third, their Customer Care reps should have the authority to make things right. Instead of giving me another Customer Care number to call, the rep should be able to make the decision on the spot.
Fourth, there should always be follow-up on their satisfaction survey, especially if the customer complained about something that went wrong. An email or phone call offering to make things right or at least explaining why they can’t. By hearing nothing from them I can only assume they don’t care about me or what happened and they must have so many complaints about their service, they don’t have the time. Not a good impression for customers to have.
Fifth, I would suggest cutting their advertising budget and put that money into better customer service training and follow-up. Building a US based call center or hiring and training Customer Care reps who can take calls from their homes. While the gnome is cute and directs people to use Travelocity, bad customer service and poor follow-up alienate and drive away customers.
Summary:
Travelocity has a huge advertising budget. Who hasn’t seen their iconic gnome and his travel adventures? It’s a great campaign but should be cut back 20% and that money put into improving the customer experience. Things go wrong and mistakes are made. It’s how these things are handled and taken care of that determine how a company considers it’s customers. Travelocity does not care about their customers and has lost my business. I will start using Orbitz and Expedia in the future and hope they really care about their customers.
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