Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Customer service

This past weekend I got a taste of what I would describe as some of the worst customer service I have ever experienced. Here's what happened:
I had rented a car for 2 days from an agency at the Fort Lauderdale airport. We were scheduled to leave on our cruise on Monday, but we flew in on Saturday and spent a couple of days with my parents in Stuart FL. Anyway we came back, turned in the car and went on our cruise. We arrived back at the end of the cruise and disembarked from the ship at around 10:00am and were not scheduled to fly back until 4:30pm. So I figured that we would rent a car for a few hours so I didn't have to sit at the airport.
I went back to the same Rental car place and was told that they couldn't rent me a car for the same price that I had rented one 5 days earlier. I asked to speak to the manager who said, "no problem", and agreed to rent it at the discounted rate.
For some reason the woman at the counter was not happy that the manager had discounted the rate and basically told me that I was lucky to even have a car to rent and I should have been happy to have it at the rate she quoted me. I told her that there were probably a lot of other car rental agencies that would be happy to have me as a customer, and she just rolled her eyes. I managed to control my tongue, and just left it at that, but I can tell you, there's a good chance that I will never rent a car from them again.
When it comes to the church, I believe "customer service" is even more important. People need to feel accepted and warmly welcomed. They need to feel like they are VIP's, because as far as God is concerned, they are. I have attended churches where I felt as if I was a bother. Instead of making me feel like an important guest I felt like I was more of an inconvenience.
At Foothills we have always tried to roll out the red carpet for our guests. Pastor Brian Marshall and his team go the extra mile to make sure people feel welcomed. I can't even begin to tell you how important all of you who serve on that team are. Thanks for what you do!

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