Loyalty Programs Need To Die
At least the ones that anyone could sign up for, causing them to suddenly believe they are more entitled to good things than everyone else.
If you, a large customer-facing corporation, decide to implement a loyalty program in order to boost sales and ensure return customers, at least make people work for it.
It seems like just about every company has some iteration of a loyalty program these days: Starbucks has one that allows its members to rack up points with every overpriced caffeine-spiked sugar-milk concoction they purchase and use those points to redeem rewards. Kohl’s rewards shoppers who spend there religiously with in-store “cash” and frequent sale events. Several retailers use a service called Plenti, which allows users to “earn points in one place and use them at another, all with just one card.” Even credit card companies join forces with businesses, awarding points for money spent with the card.
Most notorious are those programs that are used in the hospitality and travel industry, the frequent-flyer and frequent-renter programs. While these programs provide actual benefits for those who use them, they also result in people who believe that being loyal also means they have the right to be overly entitled.
It benefits corporations to have these loyal customers who will spend thousands each year, but causes headaches for those at the lowest rung of the corporate ladder: the customer service representative.
As a college student, virtually any job available to me right now is a customer service job. I currently work at a car rental company nestled right under the local airport. For the sake of anonymity, I will refer to this company’s loyalty program as Elevated. The Elevated program is a free program that any patron of the rental company can sign up for online. There are literally ten boxes in which you enter basic information — name, e-mail address, password, and mailing address — then you hit “Submit” and you’re done. Suddenly, you are Elevated and you receive points and perks that normal customers don’t, just for renting frequently with the company.
Working at this rental company, I have experienced my fair share of Elevated customers — I work at a booth that only serves them, actually — and have seen all types. There are very nice, patient ones who are happy with what you give them as long as it has four wheels and an engine. There are more impatient ones who are rightfully tired from a long day of travel and just want to get to their hotel or beach house. Then there’s a special breed.
Earlier this year, I dealt with such a customer; that day, we were very busy and didn’t have many vehicles available. We try to complete rental agreements ahead of time. Doing so puts Elevated customers’ names on an automated board that shows them their space number. If the car type they booked is not available, the board will tell them to see an associate at the counter.
This customer came to my service window and I greeted him the way I do all customers, with a smile and a cheerful hello. He responded similarly, then immediately condescended.
“So, why do I have to stop here and speak to you?” he asked.
“I’m not sure, sir, let’s take a look. It has been very busy today, so we probably just didn’t have a vehicle available when we tried to complete your agreement prior to your arrival,” I replied.
He starts to demand a free upgrade to any car on the lot, and I tell him that I am unable to do that. I noticed that he was Elevated Plus — which means he would automatically get a free upgrade — so I went about finding him a vehicle that would suit his needs.
Another coworker stepped in to help me find something for him, and the customer began shouting and cursing at us. I was shocked; we had all been very polite to him, but he was becoming aggressive and verbally abusive. My coworker stepped outside to look for a manager and the customer got into her face, trying to intimidate her with his height and shouting in her face. My other coworker and I had to haul her back inside and shut and lock the door to the booth.
To make a long story short, the customer ended up getting what he wanted — a nice vehicle many car groups up from what he originally booked — after he found a manager on his own and spoke kindly to her instead. We alerted that manager and she took statements from the three of us, sent them to the district manager and said the customer would be put on the no-rent list.
However, that same customer returned very recently, acting the very same way, and was rewarded for his bad behavior with a Mercedes-Benz. He was booked in a full-size sedan.
When I asked the manager why he was able to rent again, she told me that because he is a loyal customer — he apparently rented over 100 times in the past six months — the company decided not to put him on the no-rent list.
Essentially, the customer’s satisfaction weighed more heavily than the safety of the company’s employees. The managers had never seen the customer acting the way he did, only hearing it secondhand from myself and my other coworkers, and they claim he was very nice to them so that was why they gave him a car.
Loyalty programs need to die, or at the very least be restructured. Those who continually use the services of a company deserve to be rewarded and recognized, but once the program creates a culture of encouraging entitlement and beating down underpaid workers for simply doing their jobs, something needs to change.
