Giving `customer care’ a whole new meaning
The CAA does good work, but seems to have slipped on black ice in a recent membership promotion.
It ran television ads showing a female driver whose car needed service at night in an unfamiliar part of town. She was rescued by a CAA truck.
The ads said the cost of membership was $53 plus GST. But Frank Chow spotted an error in calculating the 5 per cent GST on the CAA’s website.
While the total should have been $55.65, new members were being charged $56.15 (a 50-cent premium).
He sent an email to the CAA’s national office on Feb. 17, but never got a reply. He also pointed out the discrepancy to someone at the CAA booth at the Canadian International Autoshow.
After seeing the TV ad again and checking the CAA website, only to find it had not been changed, he contacted me.
Jason Ballantyne, public affairs manager for CAA’s south central Ontario club, quickly confirmed that Chow was correct and new members had been overcharged.
Catherine Cepin Grant, vice-president of corporate marketing, apologized to him in writing for what she said was an inadvertent pricing error at the website.
"A $10 express renewal discount was applied after tax (specifically on the $10 discount), instead of what was supposed to be before tax (in other words $10 plus GST = $10.50 discount)," she wrote.
"This is the $0.50 difference to which you refer, and which results in a total price of $56.15 versus the $53 + GST promotional price of $55.65 you rightly expected."
A refund would be credited immediately to the account of every new member who had paid too much, Grant said.
She offered Chow a free one-year upgraded CAA membership in appreciation for his help in uncovering the errors online payday advance.
No thanks, he replied. He’d rather give the money to charity – specifically, the Star Fresh Air Fund.
"Without Ms. Roseman’s assistance, the CAA may have had to face more serious consequences than a red face."
He did ask a few questions, however:
Why did the CAA say his Feb. 17 email had gone astray when he had been sent back an email right away acknowledging receipt?
And why did Grant need his address and telephone number in order to send his free membership card?
"If you can immediately credit the account of every affected new member for the overcharge, why would you not know that I’m one of those who you overcharged?" he replied.
"Now I’m wondering if indeed every affected account will be given a $0.50 credit."
In explaining the confusion, Grant said: "When you took out your membership on March 4, the name that you provided us and the one that we issued your new membership under was Mr. FKP Chow. This is how we missed the fact that you were already a member."
She made two promises to him:
1. The amount credited to the new members who were overcharged will be more than the original 50-cent discrepancy.
2. The CAA will donate the cost of an upgraded membership ($99 plus GST) to the Star Fresh Air Fund.
Let’s hope they get the GST right this time.
Ellen Roseman’s column appears Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. You can reach her by phone at 416-945-8687; by fax at 416-865-3630; or by email at eroseman @ thestar.ca.