RAC - worst service ever

[NickP]

Yesterday my Mrs managed to get a blow out in the Audi while travelling to pick up our son from school, she calls the RAC and waits... and waits and waits... 15 minutes she waits before calling me to tell me she can't get through, her battery is dying can I sort it out. She tells me where she is etc so I call the RAC. and wait and wait in fact I waited 15 minutes. I left the desk phone waiting while I picked up my mobile phone and call the RAC number to cancel my membership and guess what? I get straight through.

I get put through to breakdown, explain the situation after moaning about the response time of answering the phone. They tell me someone will be there in 45 minutes, and ask if they should take my number so that I can let my wife know someone is coming, I say no point because her phone is now dead so I can't let her know anyway... This was at about 3:30pm.

At about 5pm I think I had better call the RAC again because my wife hasn't called to tell me she made it home, and I wait and wait and give up and use the other route to get to the breakdown service like I did before. At which point I'm told the guy couldn't locate your wife (and now 4 year old son who she collected from school) and the call out was closed....


So I go absolutely nuts, tell them to reopen the call and I leave work..

I got to my wife about 10 minutes after the RAC managed to get to her, at about 19:15pm a good 4 hours after the original call. The RAC guy couldn't explain to me why the 1st guy could of missed her as he found the car straight away.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of service from the RAC or were we just unlucky?

 

[lozcb]

Yesterday my Mrs managed to get a blow out in the Audi while travelling to pick up our son from school, she calls the RAC and waits... and waits and waits... 15 minutes she waits before calling me to tell me she can't get through, her battery is dying can I sort it out. She tells me where she is etc so I call the RAC. and wait and wait in fact I waited 15 minutes. I left the desk phone waiting while I picked up my mobile phone and call the RAC number to cancel my membership and guess what? I get straight through.

I get put through to breakdown, explain the situation after moaning about the response time of answering the phone. They tell me someone will be there in 45 minutes, and ask if they should take my number so that I can let my wife know someone is coming, I say no point because her phone is now dead so I can't let her know anyway... This was at about 3:30pm.

At about 5pm I think I had better call the RAC again because my wife hasn't called to tell me she made it home, and I wait and wait and give up and use the other route to get to the breakdown service like I did before. At which point I'm told the guy couldn't locate your wife (and now 4 year old son who she collected from school) and the call out was closed....


So I go absolutely nuts, tell them to reopen the call and I leave work..

I got to my wife about 10 minutes after the RAC managed to get to her, at about 19:15pm a good 4 hours after the original call. The RAC guy couldn't explain to me why the 1st guy could of missed her as he found the car straight away.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of service from the RAC or were we just unlucky?

Your not alone Nick , tho not with the RAC , kaz has had some awful times with the AA , ive got the full 5 star danglies with them and full insured sepaerate breakdown coven and annual european cover so they get a good few quid outa me each year if you get my drift

She's had a puncture and a blow out on M ways and always been kept waiting for hours litterally and like your missus on the last of her phone battery by the time she has called them half a dozen times , they're a law unto them selves , on the other hand my own personal experience (blow out in France ) was pretty cool , they arranged french tow truck (on time aswell ) to take me to ferry , aand they were waiting the otherside for me when i arrived so not so bad , only bad point for me was having to drive the car in the Calais port up onto the ferry and off again , was grimacing all the way as i was sure the rim would be making contact metal to metal but hey the rim was intact thank god


regards loz

 

[MATT]

RAC experience last month.....I broke down on the motorway at Sittingbourne ( I live in Huddersfield 220 miles away). Van arrives after an hour (9pm)...plugs laptop in, says he can't fix it, calls for flat bed truck. 2 hours later (11pm) no truck, many phone calls later, RAC inform me they have no drivers available to drive the truck as their hours had run out (tachograph). At 1 am a truck picked us up and took us to a compound where I was offered a 2005 Ford Ka to drive the 220 miles home in,,,...I refused it and was givena Skoda instead lol, which was ok, we got home at 5 am havimg broken down at 8 pm. Mercedes was transported up 2 days later.

RAC are rubbish, i m joining the AA.

 

[chippiepilot]

I have to say I have had the best service from green flag breakdown - each time arrived within the hour and brought a specialist recovery to put the maser on if needed always helpful and friendly, it wasn't always a green flag truck that arrived to pick me up though

 

[philw696]

RAC experience last month.....I broke down on the motorway at Sittingbourne ( I live in Huddersfield 220 miles away). Van arrives after an hour (9pm)...plugs laptop in, says he can't fix it, calls for flat bed truck. 2 hours later (11pm) no truck, many phone calls later, RAC inform me they have no drivers available to drive the truck as their hours had run out (tachograph). At 1 am a truck picked us up and took us to a compound where I was offered a 2005 Ford Ka to drive the 220 miles home in,,,...I refused it and was givena Skoda instead lol, which was ok, we got home at 5 am havimg broken down at 8 pm. Mercedes was transported up 2 days later.

RAC are rubbish, i m joining the AA.

Other way around for me Matt i left the AA for the RAC and have used them twice this year and been brilliant not used them for my Italian motors though one was my transit and the other the Range Rover.

 

[MATT]

Other way around for me Matt i left the AA for the RAC and have used them twice this year and been brilliant not used them for my Italian motors though one was my transit and the other the Range Rover.

Interesting Phil.....problem with RAC seems to be the subcontracting of vehicle transporting......AA no better

 

[jamesc69]

I think much depends on the partner garages they are using. Years ago i know each breakdown organisation paid differing amounts for call outs and recovery so a garage may give AA priority over RAC etc..
I'm with green Flag and have had a number of call outs (not with the Maser by the way!!) with the same local garage responding. 15-20 mins wait each time, and then immediate recovery.
However during a recent clutch failure on my return from the Monte Carlo trip I called Green Flag from M25 services. I explained that a low loader was required due to clutch failure and that there was not a cat in hells chance they could be fix the car at the roadside. After 2 hour wait, guess what, local garage response vehicle arrives and no low loader. He says he cant fix it ....no sh1t sherlock ! Another 2 hours for a lowloader. Luckily the driver had a enough driving hours left to get me to Manchester without the need for a further relay.

J

 

[cobratwin]

RAC for me they are bad and incompetent!
We picked up a jeep for the wife a couple years back and I had to rush off to work on an emergency anyhow she continues home and stops at a rest area for the kids jumps back in the jeep and it's turning over but not firing.
Call the RAC out no she's got a 3year old with her. Over an hour after calling them still waiting so call them again another half an hour and they arrive, the chap is there for 45 mins trying to work out the problem nada, finally he gives up and say bye!!!!!.
Drives off so I got friggin nuts when my mrs phones me back, call up the RAC they say the "mechanic" thinks kts a fuel pump problem and cant fix it at the side of the road, so i told them to get a flatbed out and pick her up and get her home so they they call out a flatbed, now by this time I've almost finished my job so arrive home about 2mins after the flatbed I pull up and grab the keys off my wife,jump in the jeep and it's turning over but not firing, although I know that sound it's making......pop the bonnet on my Alfa, pull the battery out plug it into the jeep and turn the key, the thing fired up first time!!

I'd never ever never ever! Use the RAC again.

 

[chippiepilot]

I think much depends on the partner garages they are using.

J

It must be, I have had one green flag truck out but the others have been 911 recovery and Thomas Ash - both long established companies and have been pretty good (as well as green flags own)

http://www.thomasashrecovery.com/index.htm
http://www.911recovery.co.uk/

 

[hodroyd]

I used to be with the RAC years ago, but when I found out that their main aim is to sell you say a new battery etc., I quickly changed to the AA, who so far have never let us down. I have heard good reports about Green Flag, but I'm not sure how good they are in Europe. Call out times as I understand it, are getting worse due to the amount of traffic on the roads, that goes for them all. I always try to get a postcode of where I am from say a shop, or garage, if that's not possible I use the SatNav GPS and give them an exact GPS location, no excuses then.

 

[dem maser]

I have used the RAC for the last 8 years and wot go anywhere else....always arrive within 30mins and foxed any fault i had, apart from when i never wanted them to touch my maser so they towed it to poole for me....

Im happy with them, could be geographic though....london loads of them and outside less

 

[hodroyd]

I think it must be down to whomever is running the show in each area, some are good, some are bad, so you go with the best of the bunch.

 

[Parisien]

Hope you put in a full letter of complaint and ask them for compensation...shocking service...or indeed lack of it


P

 

[fcz360]

i also had a problem with my audi, the car flashed up STOP, they came out after 20 mins which is fine, but then replaced a sensor with one from the wrong car, the car then really did break down, the guy said "who fitted this, its blown your cats!!

It took 2 days to get them to agree to make the repairs, they initially blamed me!!! It cost 3K in the end and they tried anything to get out of blame.

No excuse to leave a mother and kids...id be complaining like a pro

 

[beau]

most of the big name companies are rubbish, they dont have enough patrol cars.

im with a company called rescuemycar and iv been with them for quite a while and iv used them few times, good thing with them is they use anyone to come out to you, so its usually better service than the big companys. il give 2 examples.

1. i broke down at 11pm about 20 miles from home, i was home before 12pm.

2. i broke down in durham (hundreds of miles from southend) i had to wait about 1 hr 40 mins but this was understandable due to the fact i had to be recovered over 200 miles, and i was recovered in 1 go, no changes or nothing.

 

[hodroyd]

Beau, that sounds impressive!!

 

[dem maser]

Im happy wpth the RAC, i broke down in 2005 with a polo that i bought for my sister, im driving back from leicester and black smoke was coming out the back and the bonnet, lost power, so i pulled over and called them, within 1hr i was back on the road, they towed it and i sat in the cabin going to london.....i never knew my locstion on the M1, i knew i drove by J19 10mins ago but they found me through my phone signal!

 

[Parisien]

Yeah...have to agree...the smaller companies appear to put in a greater effort...the big two just rlely on advertising and high profile.....


P

 

[NickP]

The trouble is you never know how good someone is until you have to use them, the AA gave me better service in the past and I'll probably be going back there. I will be complaining and I'll update this thread when I hear back from them.

 

[Parisien]

...this is the measure by which they will be condemned or not....how do they deal with your complaint and SH!TE service


P