If you break down the last thing you should do is call AA

[Al]

[JonB]

It is the hire company where your ire should be aimed at, not the AA. They are only honouring what limited contract they have with the hire company and won't do anything more than that.

When I worked at Enterprise they had a contract with the AA that meant no matter what time you broke down, you and the vehicle would be collected by the AA and dropped at the nearest rental office with a satisfactory replacement vehicle.

Who was the hire company you went with? BTW you generally get what you pay for in the rental market. Pretty much like anything in life.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[Polarbear]

I have AA relay for the family. I know that if anyone breaks down at any time, they will be looked after and taken home.

I actually don't particularly give a shit about the vehicle, it means my missus or either of my daughters will be brought home from wherever they are, whatever they are in, for the grand sum of £158 per year. That's pennies for my piece of mind and to be fair, the AA have always delivered when we've needed them.
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Triumph Tiger Explorer

[arry]

[mentalboy]

[Black Sheep]

A friend of mine runs classic citroens which sit themselves on the floor if the engine is not running. He's always complaining about the AA but does get his own way (flatbed) normally.

Surely the issue with the van is that it wasn't fit for purpose as it broke down, I'd have expected a national rental place to, once the AA had got you to a safe space, to bring another van for you to load your stuff into and continue with your hire period.

I'd certainly be claiming that you did not get what you had paid for since the van broke down mid morning.

[The AA]

[map]

Just to say I complained once to the AA about the service I received. The local company they sent out did not have a clue. I also think they were scamming the AA for their time/effort but that was down to the AA to sort. The thing about taking you to a service centre I was told was for safety as they don't repair stuff by the side of the road anymore

Anyhow, the AA were very good in handling the complaint. My thought was if I don't tell them I had rubbish service how could they improve?
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...and the whirlwind is in the thorn trees, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks...
Gibbs, what did Duckie look like when he was younger?

[10 pence Short]

Breakdown companies are insurance companies and have terms and conditions of your "Membership"

The first truck will be to get you to a place of safety, quickly, then move on to rescue another.

They will send a patrol to assess the situation, they will treat everyone as a "moron" even if you are competent, they have to assume you aren't IE Smoke and a noise symptom could be a flat tyre. Engine scraping on the floor could be the plastic undertray.

They will be checking the vehicle is displaying tax, recovery vehicles pay less road tax as the load they carry is already taxed. untaxed vehicle being carried is classed as "Goods"

They will be checking ID's checking you are who you say you are, not a whole family or street using the same membership.

Dunno why they sent 3 patrols though, only takes 1 to do the above.
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I haven't had a cont all day, drinkstable.

[G]

Similar with the RAC.

"Can I just talk to the guy coming on the phone; I'm sure he'll agree the bike isn't going anywhere."

"Oh no, we can't do that."

Bloke comes, hit the starter once, he says "yes, you'll need to get it recovered."

About a three hour wait in total.

Have a follow up call and they assure me it was a mistake etc.

Next time, I've got myself home and want the bike picked up in work lunch time.
I make it clear that I have to get back to work - if they want to leave their man waiting with the bike with my keys, that's entirely up to them, but not my problem.
Oddly enough, they sent a truck straight away .

[J.M.]

Just tell the monkey on the phone "It's leaking fuel". Then you get somebody out ready to recover you.

The last time I phoned them my company I said it was leaking fuel from the carbs. Guy turned up with a bike trailer because he said "The lady told me something about leaking fuel so I brought it because I probably can't fix it at the side of the road".

We turned the fuel off, loaded the bike straight up, took me back. Awesomesauce. No faffing around waiting for recovery.
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A: 29/9/11, B: 10/1/12
'04 GS500F (Beelzebub) & '97 XJ600
Never let a girl in a pink top change the music.

[arry]

[Skudd]

The RAC has only let me down twice, one was out of the operators hands and the other was a mix up in cover. With both I left for a short while, but soon returned when I realised how crap other cover was.
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Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".
You will never find the bodies.

[G]

[Bofh5]

I had a similar adventure with the RAC.
Broke down on the M4.
Had a look and figured out it was the fuel pump.
Phoned RAC and explained it was the fuel pump so will need to be recovered home.
Ok they say and an hour later out comes a standard patrol.
Takes a look and agrees it is the fuel pump and arranges for a recovery vehicle.
Long cold hours later a local bod arrives to recover me home.

I know they have to treat everyone as a moron but it is the amount of time having to wait for a recovery that gets on my tits.

They cover themselves by getting anyone out to you within a certain time and then the waiting begins.
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(L)users...Disk space is to good for them.

Bikes: Honda 50 / CB125-TDC / 93 CBR600 F2 (Stolen & Trashed) / 2001 SP-1 (Sold) / 95 CBR600 F3

[trevor machine]

[ian505050]

*****UPDATE*****

Since the complete farce i was involved in i have tried to resolve the issues with the van hire company who were brilliant up until today. I think at this point it would only be fair that i named the van hire company so others can make their own decision when hiring a van in the future.

I e-mailed Northgate Vehicle Hire a polite message explaining the above situation today and got a response.

They called me this evening and i was expecting maybe an apology and the use of a van for another day.

Instead i was advised that as i returned the van in out of hours due to the breakdown that the van was not inspected thoroughly and after further inspection damage was caused to the vehicle in my possession. They believe I must have hit something on the motorway causing the power steering belt to snap which also has something to do with the water pump.

At this point i need to state that i was driving the vehicle concentrating on the road ahead and did not hit anything nor did i hear any strange noises other than the sound of the belt snapping and slapping around under the van.

They then advised me that if i had broken down in working hours they would normally have held my £250 deposit when the van was returned to the depot until there engineer could inspect it. After the inspection they would have decided that the damage was caused by myself and i would have been charged parts and labor to repair the van that broke down. i.e replace the belt that had snapped.

But as a polite gesture they are willing to not bill me for the repairs to the van and are not willing to issue me a van free of charge to complete the tasks i had planned and paid to use the van for. Ok you bastards thats fine with me........................


So i have come to the conclusion:-

If you hire a van from Northgate Vehicle Hire and it breaks down like this.

Due to a belt snapping like this

Its your fault as the driver and they will charge you for there vehicle breaking down and will bill you for all associated costs occurred due to Northgate Vehicle Hire's van breaking down.

Yes that's right the vehicle broke down and apparently its my fault.

I ended the phone call a little disappointed and realized that we seem to be in an age where companies really on rip-off tactics to survive and have decided that any sort of good relationship with a customer is something that they do not need to consider.

Having thought about the issue a little further i may only be in the region of £50 to £100 out of pocket due to the van breaking down through no fault of my own, but it would be a point of principle to not lie down and let Northgate Vehicle Hire fuck me up the arse with a big rusty pole.

What does BCF advise i do?

Ideally at the start of the issue a replacement van for the time the van i paid for would have been satisfactory but as they have tried this on, it has changed the game a little.

[ian505050]

How doe it work these days then?

Northgate Vehicle Hire Northgate Vehicle Hire Northgate Vehicle Hire
Northgate Vehicle Hire Northgate Vehicle Hire Northgate Vehicle Hire
Northgate Vehicle Hire Northgate Vehicle Hire Northgate Vehicle Hire
Northgate Vehicle Hire Northgate Vehicle Hire Northgate Vehicle Hire
Northgate Vehicle Hire Northgate Vehicle Hire Northgate Vehicle Hire
VERY BAD EXPERIENCE VERY BAD EXPERIENCE VERY BAD EXPERIENCE
VERY BAD EXPERIENCE VERY BAD EXPERIENCE VERY BAD EXPERIENCE
VERY BAD EXPERIENCE VERY BAD EXPERIENCE VERY BAD EXPERIENCE
VERY BAD EXPERIENCE VERY BAD EXPERIENCE VERY BAD EXPERIENCE
VERY BAD EXPERIENCE VERY BAD EXPERIENCE VERY BAD EXPERIENCE

ECT...... ECT.............



I am yet to contact the AA and see if they believe my experience with them is acceptable in their eyes and how they would resolve the issue they caused. I will do that now..... and pop the response up here.

[Ste]

Errrrrr, all of that phone calls needs to be done in writing with appropriate references to their terms and conditions which I assume they gave you a copy of when you took the rental vehicle?

Take them to the small claims court and get them some nice free advertising.

Which branch of Northgate did you rent from? Do you remember the names of the staff you've spoken with? Names are necessary for maximum internet stalking because Northgate Vehicle Hire are involved with sexually abusing children and small animals.

[ian505050]

Just let me state that the branch staff are awesome that dealt with me face to face and the lady on the phone was also polite.

BUT......

It does not get away from the fact that there twisted approach trying to put the blame on me when i raised an "issue" politely and NOT a "complaint" that they have turned into a complaint.

Anyway....................

The money is not an issue to me really, but i do have principles.

Oh....... and i really like this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kuhOeihL9o

[ian505050]

I have now decide that customer services at Northgate Vehicle Hire clearly dont understand that it is unfair to treat a customer like this.

So........... have drawn them a cartoon that i will be sending in the post to the Managing Director tomorrow when i have found his details.

[BakesBeans]

Ha brilliant ^
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Current: Yamaha XJ6 F Diversion ABS
Previous Bike: Honda VFR400 NC30

[Black Sheep]

my uni's student union hired a mini bus from Northgate,

the brakes on it were shite to the extent of stopping working after a long motorway run at night to wales, we presume due to cold. Pumping the brakes in advance of needing them allowed you to get some moderate braking out of them, which combined with working down through the gears was acceptable since the response from Northgate when phoning them on their 24h line was non-existent. I could still perform an emergency stop by hoofing the brakes.

basically, pedal movement was 5 inch of nothing and final inch before hitting the floor was emergency stop territory.

my priority was the safety of the people in the mini bus, so I continued carefully to our destination.

on shorter trips over the weekend it wasn't so bad but I kept controlling my speed on the gears.

The brakes gave out coming off the motorway back to the town uni was in, so I promptly put it into 2nd half way down the slip road and slipped the clutch lots until it slowed enough for the brakes to feel like they were having any effect.

I dropped it back in uni's car park with a horrid noise and a lack of power, filled in the relevent paperwork and handed the keys back to uni the following morning, verbally explaining that the brakes had pretty much failed as I came off the motorway back to uni.

Northgate picked the mini bus up where the clutch promptly imploded and the vehicle was left there for a week while my friend who worked in the student union office (who I'd given the keys back to) told them where to take their repair costs and how much he planned on charging them for storage of the vehicle and renting a dangerous vehicle if they insisted on the repair costs.


next vehicle they provided when we rented through the SU again?
Brand new ford transit with 15 miles on the clock

returned it nicely run in with 515 on it!

[sa1988]

Got a letter from the AA a few days ago... It tells me that I've used my maximum of 5 call outs (yeah my bike wasn't great) and now anything else will cost extra. So basically my year's subscription was not a year's subscription at all, it was a year within which to use a maximum of five call outs. Basically after 7 months, my 12 month membership is worthless.

It justified it by saying that most members only have about 2 call outs per year, so the upper limit is to prevent people from abusing it to get standard vehicle repairs done. Absolute bullshit. If MOST people only use two call outs, then surely that's good because it offsets it for the unfortunate few who need more.

What's more, my cover also included 'recovery', where the the vehicle will be towed home from anywhere in the country. Thing thing is, even if I'd just used five standard roadside 'fix it at the scene' call outs, this would then negate my usage of the recovery service, so I may as well have not upgraded anyway.

Happens to be that I did need towing on one occasion, but still, that's one out of a possible five that I paid for. Ridiculous.
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My motorbike has two wheels.

[Hetzer]

"Something must have come up off the road and severed the belt."



Northgate Vehicle Hire, seriously, what a bunch of snide conning scum.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"