Shout Out: Awesome Customer Service!

The interwebs might be overflowing with stories of businesses giving their customers poor service, but I recently had an experience where I received incredible customer service, so I thought I'd take a moment to give that business a shout out-- even if they're in Arizona.

My wife and I recently flew into Phoenix and rented a car, planning to drive up to Sedona for a day (about 100 north) and then head to the Grand Canyon, about another 120 miles north. Our car worked perfectly getting us to Sedona, but on our way out of town, we experienced a mechanical problem where the car (an automatic) wouldn't shift into third gear, and thus, couldn't go much faster than 40 miles an hour. Which wasn't very helpful, seeing as we had another 120 miles to go-- through the desert.

So, we called the rental car's roadside assistance number, and after a few minutes were connected with a very helpful operator, who, after doing some checking, realized this company, while not having a location in Sedona, where we were stranded, DID have an agreement with another car rental company who had an office in Sedona. She arranged for us to exchange cars there, and had us back on our way to the Grand Canyon, all in about an hour's time. Not bad! And, we didn't have any issues when we returned our second rental car at the airport back in Phoenix a few days later, either.

The operator who helped us really went out of her way to make sure we were taken care of. Rather than wait for a car from their office to be delivered to us from Flagstaff (about 2 hours away), her ingenuity in checking with their local rental partner saved us a lot of time and hassle, was very much appreciated by my wife and I.  (If you're curious, we used Alamo Rent-A-Car, and will definitely do so again in the future!)