RAC Shambolic Service!

[rimfire4969]

Carp happens, 3 hours is not good but not the end of the world. I would be quite happy if it got the wife out of my hair for that long.

[bullet boy]

Go on then. What IS acceptable.

 

Bearing in mind it was THE friday when all the holidays start off ... what is actually the absolute maximum acceptable time, in your book ?

Put it this way Robbie do you think it's acceptable??

Would you honestly pay for a service if you thought you or your missus be waiting over 3 hours?

I think not bud!

[robbiep]

Put it this way Robbie do you think it's acceptable??

Would you honestly pay for a service if you thought you or your missus be waiting over 3 hours?

I think not bud!

 

That didn't answer the question, did it ?

 

According to you, no matter what the circumstances, that wait is unacceptable. So what is acceptable ? One hour ? Two hours ? If 2 hours is acceptable, then what about 2:15 ? 2:10 ? 2:05 ?

Or is 2:00 an absolute cut-off point, no matter the weather, other traffic, floods, etc

You have defined that 3 hours is not acceptable, and I've asked you to tell me what is acceptable. Let's hear an absolute number from you.

[bullet boy]

That didn't answer the question, did it ?

 

According to you, no matter what the circumstances, that wait is unacceptable. So what is acceptable ? One hour ? Two hours ? If 2 hours is acceptable, then what about 2:15 ? 2:10 ? 2:05 ?

Or is 2:00 an absolute cut-off point, no matter the weather, other traffic, floods, etc

You have defined that 3 hours is not acceptable, and I've asked you to tell me what is acceptable. Let's hear an absolute number from you.

No more than 1.5 hour to 2 hours Robbie.

You didn't answer my question either-would you pay for a service like that?

Work for RAC do you bud?lol

[LowStandards]

I don't think you're picking up on the issue here

 

You pay between £30-£120 (ish) for something that would in fact cost you £200-£300 if you were to call an independent towing company out.

 

You can call them as many times as you like for your £30-£120 and its still £30-£120.

 

Lots of other people have decided paying £30-£120 is a lot better than trying to find a local company to the area they've broken down and then pay £300 to be towed home.

 

This amount of people means that inevitabley - even though they have many many vans - you will have to wait

 

 

So in short:

 

Cheap: wait

 

Expensive: probably wait, probably get some ***** turn up in a vest to drag your missus home, probably get some 90's transit lowloader...

Edited July 30, 2014 by LowStandards

[KPV4]

I have been a member of the RAC for 14 years and for many years had vehicle insurance with them also. Luckily I never had the need to use the services, but this year they really surpassed themselves. My renewal for my joint membership arrived with the usual chat about what a valued customer I was and this gave me maximum discount and a preferential rate for renewal. Only for me to find that on the internet the real saving for being a loyal member was only about £10. When I worked out the discount percentage figures from the retail price of the two identical memberships, the figures didn't add up and put me as a loyal member at a great disadvantage.

 

When I spoke to the RAC about this, they didn't care and told me to make an official complaint, which I did. When my complaint was reviewed by the RAC they were nothing but arrogant and they didn't care less, with feeble explain actions which didn't address the problem, so it was basically tough, like it or lump it.

 

So I did what I promised, I cancelled both my breakdown cover and my vehicle insurance with them and I won't be going back and guess what they didn't care, so this is the type of company the RAC has now turned into. Obviously they don't value their customers as much as they say they do, so a word of warning please don't be fooled.

[holloway]

I have been a member of the RAC for 14 years and for many years had vehicle insurance with them also. Luckily I never had the need to use the services, but this year they really surpassed themselves. My renewal for my joint membership arrived with the usual chat about what a valued customer I was and this gave me maximum discount and a preferential rate for renewal. Only for me to find that on the internet the real saving for being a loyal member was only about £10. When I worked out the discount percentage figures from the retail price of the two identical memberships, the figures didn't add up and put me as a loyal member at a great disadvantage.

 

When I spoke to the RAC about this, they didn't care and told me to make an official complaint, which I did. When my complaint was reviewed by the RAC they were nothing but arrogant and they didn't care less, with feeble explain actions which didn't address the problem, so it was basically tough, like it or lump it.

 

So I did what I promised, I cancelled both my breakdown cover and my vehicle insurance with them and I won't be going back and guess what they didn't care, so this is the type of company the RAC has now turned into. Obviously they don't value their customers as much as they say they do, so a word of warning please don't be fooled.

motorists we salute you.

[robbiep]

No more than 1.5 hour to 2 hours Robbie.

You didn't answer my question either-would you pay for a service like that?

Work for RAC do you bud?lol

 

Nope, I don't. I'm not a member of the RAC either, never have been - I'm with the AA, though I've not had a breakdown since about 2001 or so, so they've done pretty well out of me.

 

So I do pay for a service. But I also accept that sometimes, there is going to be a wait.

 

Lets say you break down on Anglesey, on a Friday evening in summer. This coming friday, for example.

Anglesey is notorious for being hard work to get on or off. The A55 (the main arterial route for all the traffic heading to/from Ireland via Holyhead) drops down to 1 lane each way at the bridge, meaning that it can take a couple of hours to do 5 miles.

And that's if there haven't been any breakdowns in the way !

 

But according to you, that's not acceptable. Maybe you think they should have 10 times as many patrols out, so nobody has to wait ? Maybe you think they should use helicopters, so you don't have to wait longer than that ?

 

Unfortunately, if they did, then 90-odd % of the time, those helicopters would be sitting idle, the pilots getting paid to read the paper. Same for all those other recovery vans. And, in short order, the recovery company would go bust, because it would have to charge £2k a year for all that, and most people (like me) might use it once in a decade. So would go to one of their competitors.

[TaxiDriver]

Trouble with Green Flag is they are all independent operators working under the 'Green Flag' umbrella

 

RAC have recently reduced the number of their own patrols

 

As a rough idea, the co' I work for would charge £70 plus vat for a call out which would include upto 10 mile recovery to their home/garage

 

So many people have some of breakdown cover included as part of their car or home insurance, they dont pay extra for it yet they expect a cross country recovery or car restoration on the roadside.

[bullet boy]

Nope, I don't. I'm not a member of the RAC either, never have been - I'm with the AA, though I've not had a breakdown since about 2001 or so, so they've done pretty well out of me.

 

So I do pay for a service. But I also accept that sometimes, there is going to be a wait.

 

Lets say you break down on Anglesey, on a Friday evening in summer. This coming friday, for example.

Anglesey is notorious for being hard work to get on or off. The A55 (the main arterial route for all the traffic heading to/from Ireland via Holyhead) drops down to 1 lane each way at the bridge, meaning that it can take a couple of hours to do 5 miles.

And that's if there haven't been any breakdowns in the way !

 

But according to you, that's not acceptable. Maybe you think they should have 10 times as many patrols out, so nobody has to wait ? Maybe you think they should use helicopters, so you don't have to wait longer than that ?

 

Unfortunately, if they did, then 90-odd % of the time, those helicopters would be sitting idle, the pilots getting paid to read the paper. Same for all those other recovery vans. And, in short order, the recovery company would go bust, because it would have to charge £2k a year for all that, and most people (like me) might use it once in a decade. So would go to one of their competitors.

Good write up bud!

[norfolk dumpling]

Have used RAC a couple of times and no issues. My old employer owned them for a while and we had lots of day to day contact so I'm very surprised a woman was left roadside for this long. Suggest a polite complaint might a) ascertain why (this might have been one if those surges in b/downs - sadly a lot of people rely on motoring orgs rather than regular servicing) and b) might get reassurance or even compensation (?disc off next yrs fees). Interested to know how they react.

[bullet boy]

Have used RAC a couple of times and no issues. My old employer owned them for a while and we had lots of day to day contact so I'm very surprised a woman was left roadside for this long. Suggest a polite complaint might a) ascertain why (this might have been one if those surges in b/downs - sadly a lot of people rely on motoring orgs rather than regular servicing) and b) might get reassurance or even compensation (?disc off next yrs fees). Interested to know how they react.

Thanks bud.

Good advice there.

[figgy]

There all just as bad. None are owned by the original companies that started them, sold off to proffit only driven companies. So none offer the service they used to. All are stripped to the bare minimum.

 

If my Mrs had to wait three hours that's what she would have to wait, unless she could fix it herself. Would not bother me one bit at busy times. At least she would be either getting recovered home or fixed at roadside.

 

If she was close to home I would just go and either fix or tow it home.

 

Figgy

[stumpy69]

I have to say I got excellent service from RAC last sunday, Never used them before and was driving my dads car, warning light came on and went into limp mode on the M80, couldn't get hold of dad but found the documents for the RAC cover in the car, from dialling the number to van arriving was less than 15 minutes, he got the car running enough to get home but did say if I hadn't asked the questions I had he would have got it towed home but because if it happened again I knew how to get it started he said it would be quicker for me to drive back.

[BRNDL]

My wife broke down last week, 22.30 at night on a country lane on a bad bend. Luckily I was following her in the freelander. We waited the suggested 1 hour. Then we waited for the next hour as they were busy...then we packed up and drove home after the third hour after towing the car to a safe place. They rang her at 04.30 to say "were on our way now".

 

Poor poor service and disappointing they left a lone female for that amount of time on a country lane on a dangerous bend.

[darren m]

had my renewal for RAC last week , its gone up to £111 for some reason.

Anyway called them and complained and got it down to £76 for the same cover.

 

just waiting for the new paperwork to come in the post , fingers crossed

[norfolk dumpling]

Had to use Mini Rescue a little while ago for what turned out to be quite a big fault with the cooling/heating/starting set-up and they were there within 5 minutes, in a plain VW Transporter van and an hour later a large piece of the cooling system had been replaced with a part he just happened to have in stock!! Obviously a recall without publicity - cunning Germans.