The presenters were peeved.
One, a frequent flier with two million miles credit from his airline of choice, was confronted by a stewardess. Another took a $250 overcharge while returning a car to an airport rental outlet rather than stay to argue and miss his flight. Both had unpleasant interactions with front-line employees that affected relationships more profoundly than the multi-thousand (and in a few cases, multi-million) dollar systems they had come to tout at the NCDM.
Geoff Ables, principal at Customer Connect, did not feel so constrained. He quite freely indicates that Advantage Rent-A-Car overcharged him by $500 after a two-week rental. An argument with a counterman got the overcharged reduced by half, but staying to press the point would have put him at risk of missing his flight.
Ables ultimately wrote the head of Advantage a seven page letter detailing the problem, noting that he was a business consultant and offering solutions. He also enclosed an invoice for the time spent writing the letter. Ables ultimately received a brief response along with the other $250. The invoice, he notes with a smile, is yet unpaid.
Peter Heffring, president of Teradata, NCR
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