Bikers Great - RAC W***ers

[davidimurray]

Right - what a day yesterday

I was working from home yesterday as I had to wait for some parcels being delivered. They were delivered in the morning and as the sun started to appear in the afternoon I couldn't resist going out for a run.So I hopped on the ER5 and headed out of Cardiff towards Barry, then over to Rhoose around the airport as there is a great long sweeping bend around the end of the airport.

Turned around to head back and I'd been going along for a short while. I came off a round about opened up slowly as I was following a car and all of a sudden I lost power - followed by a terrible noise from the exhaust - sounded like a single cylinder ! The first half of the throttle did nothing. Of course, first roundabout I came to that was it - it died.

So I'm sat there trying to get it started and it ain't happening. A guy comes up on a red Honda - sorry I didn't notice the model(!) and gives me the thumps up - I shook my head and started pushing my bike off the roundabout. He whizzes around the roundabout and tries to give me a hand but it looks dead. He then hung around until I phoned the RAC. If that was you thank you - I hope you got your brake lights fixed!

So I phone the RAC - we will send someone out - this is at 3.30.
4.30 - Guy arrives has a look and decides he can't fix it - so he orders a tow truck - it is now 5.00. Apparently it will be there in 45 min. 6.00 and still no truck - phone the RAC - they haven't sent one - 'it will be 45 mins'. 6.30 they ring me - 'just to let you know the truck is on its way, will be with you in 45 mins'. 7.30 still no truck - it's now going dark and I'm on a roundabout exit. By now I'm way away from the bike as I'm worried it's going to get rear-ended. Phone the RAC up and I've never used so much bad language before. Eventually at 8.00 the recovery company phone and tell me the lorry is on it's way. 8.30 the lorry finally turns up and by 9.30 I was home.

The RAC left me stranded alone, on a motorbike on the side of the road for 5hours . This is f***ing disgraceful and there is now way I am going with them ever again.

Can I just say though that 8 out of 10 bikers either checked I was OK with thumbs, some stopped, some even saw me and went down the wrong way to make sure I was OK - bloody marvellous that is what being a biker is all about. In contrast out of the hundreds and hundreds of cars that passed, the only people that stopped were the Police, a guy in a giant V8 landrover and a guy in a lamborghini.

Anyway in conclusion, the RAC are w***ers!

Cheers

Dave

[Sephiroth]

That sucks, I can only hope it never happens to me *knowing my luck it probably will an a few hours time*.

Anyway, did your parcel arrive?

[davidimurray]

Yeah got the parcel.

Unfortunately, its looking like a dead IC igniter so no riding to work for more until I get another!

Oh and the recovery truck driver didn't speak any english - he only understood the word straight and left/ right had to be passed to him by hand gestures!

Oh and to crop things off his recovery truck was covered in a mix of diesel and oil - the bike actually slid off it with both wheels locked so it looks like I'm going to have to scrube the tyres as well!

[quacker_boy]

Sounds a pretty shit day!

But a guy in a lambo stopped for you...that's not something you see every day, now i think about it...he might have been a biker as well!
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[JonB]

Should have aaid you had a child aged 5 with you, they would have sent one out much quicker.
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[phk6]

ive had to ring the rac twice, both times theyve been with me in around an hour.
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[Drew]

Another rac story...

Bike broke down, no ignition lights nothing.

I was near my work so pushed it there, and called rac. about hour 20 later they turned up, and he really didnt have a clue about bikes with the 'lets take this panel off and see whats behind it' with me cringing as he pulls panels off.

Anyway we found the main 30amp fuse was blow, so he put a new one in - still nothing. So he told me he could bypass some starter switch 'which was obviously broken' to get me going.

I said, nah its ok, just leave it, and left it at work for the night.

Read the manual, said how to check the switch thing, so went back next day, did the checks, all was ok, tried a DIFFERENT fuse, started first time, dumb rac replaced the fuse with a dud one

[MarkJ]

DM, I had pretty much the same thing with the RAC with my car. Got rear-ended at 5pm, they finally got out to me at about 8-8.30ish, after ringing them three times. The person that finally turned up wasn't even from the RAC, he was from a Motorway services 2 junctions down!

[davidimurray]

Out of interest can anyone reccomend another recovery company - e.g. AA or Grenn Flag. I have recovery on my bike insurance - Made the stupid mistake of thinking that the RAC might be better and quicker!

[ColdInsomnia]

[jayniee]

Ah David..thats awfull. If I`d have known I`d have popped round to see you ... I live 2 mins away form where you were.

I had to call the RAC out a few weeks ago. Ran out of petrol at the end of the A48 ( near the Asda roundabout )
It was 11.30 at night. They were quite good really. They said I was a priority and arrived about an hour later, so not too bad.

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experince.

[Gazdaman]

I've got free breakdown with my insurance. They're good because they just subcontract out to whoever's near you.

And they're motorcycle specialists, so they will either fix it, or take you home, none of this calling another vehicle so they can tow you bollocks.

Gaz

[Redd]

I've been left stranded by the AA for over 6 hours before in sub-zero temperatures. Would have had hypothermia if a mate hadn't come by in his car and waited with me.

The AA contracted out the call at first and the contractor never turned up. After calling the AA numerous times to be told 'he'll be there soon' I eventually got them to send a proper AA man (3 hours later) to recover the bike since by this time there it was so cold we couldn't get the keys in the ignition anymore. We waited another hour and a half for the guy to turn up...and nobody had told him it was for a bike and he had no way of recovering it

So he tried to contact another contractor to take the bike, told us they'd be there in 45 minutes, and the AA man left. 90 minutes later we pushed the bike until we found a house where we could secure it and told the AA to call us the next day when they were at the bike and ready to recover it.

Saying that, when I've called them with the car they've been great. When they contract out the job, that's usually when it goes wrong.
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[Zem]

[0ddball]

[Zem]

[Phil_G]

Rac have always been fine for me!

THe one slight quibble was they (supposedly) sent the subcontracted recovery truck to the wrong place to collect me when my (blue ) transit conked out one day.

Given the fact that his sat nav then tried to send us onto the M6 to get to north wales, when we were in northwich area, I am a little doubtful it was all someone elses doing!


Phil
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1997 Kawasaki ER 500 A1:- Once again, Its merely crap

[Annabella]

When I was in Cardiff the RAC used Dragon Rescue for all their recovery work and they were always really very helpful...

Sorry to hear you've had such a bad experience

Hope you get it sorted soon
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[natv4]

I've so far used AA, RAC, and Green Flag (through work). NCI have a good rep and are probably next on the list to try.

They all suffer the same problems. None of them are particularly well geared up for bikes (though RAC do have some bike carrying vehicles). Most will subcontract motorcycle recovery to the local independant network. They all seem to use much the same people. Its luck of the draw in the area you break down. I don't think there is any difference between AA and RAC.

One word of warning though. I met a guy in Temple, London whom had dropped his bike (just lightly) because it had conked out on an icy road. The bike still worked (except the engine would not run properly, which was the breakdown, not the drop). Not even bent levers but because it had "been in an accident" they would not attend unless he agreed to the call out charge (£135 even though he was a member and they should have picked him up for free). I called RAC (on my membership) and they said no problems and picked him up. Which is why I left the AA in the first place.

Spending a lot of time on the road, I've used all of them a fair bit. Sometimes they take a long time, sometimes 30mins. I have waited for AA and RAC for more than 5 hours. One thing I've learned is that if you think there is any chance they won't fix it (usually the case with motorcycles) just ask for a recovery van in the first place.

Be lucky all.
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[krebsy]

I asked for a Bike trained mechanic when the Divvy got it's apparent "seized gear shift" issue only for the guy to recommend a gearbox rebuild. The "non-bike trained" mechanic who came out the next day to get me to the garage fixed the issue in 5 mins by tightening a loose bolt that had slid out and stuck in the mechanism.

I'm with Direct line which is basicly Green flag.

Mind you, they picked me up in the middle of rush hour from the side of a busy dual carriageway and recovered me home when my alternator went in my nissan in about 20 minutes and last week they rescued Mrs. K. from the middle of a 3 lane junction when the cam belt went in the Renault (now sold), in about the same time it took me to get my gear on, get the bike out and the mile or so up the road to where the car had died.

Ask for a bike aware mechanic with bike recovery capabilities if you break down. The guy may be able to fix it by the side of the road. From past experience, the AA and RAC guys tend to have bits and bobs with them to fix cars by the side of the road but won't be as geared up for recovery. green flag are more recovery based but when it comes to bikes they are more likely to be able to get someone out who knows about bikes and can fix them than RAC or the AA.

K.
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[kawakid]

I've had good response from the AA when throttle cable snapped, they even fixed it.

However i've heard bad things if you've been in an accident.

I'm also with Ebike and that gives breakdown as well, so i've got 2 to choose from.

The AA is useful as it covers the car and also for Southern Ireland, (ie you don't have to take out special cover.)

[davidimurray]

[Annabella]

Have you tried to contact Dragon directly?

I used them privately once to transport a bike that had been stolen back to the house I was living at, they were only too happy to oblige, even reversing the van up the tight alleyway, and right up to the back gates and unloading the bike for me.
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[the grim reaper]

I third that opinion of the AA, they will NOT recover you in the event of an accident unless you get your insurance company to state that they will cover the cost of the recovery.

F*** that, drop your bike on a diesel soaked forecourt and break the brake lever off and they will leave you stranded.

Cheers

Grim
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[Minky_monkey]

I hear these things all the time as an AA contractor. They`ve changed in recent years, from a one time non profit making organisation, to now having been bought and sold by Centrica to an investment company.

They now have to make a profit to keep all the investors happy. This means cutting down on membership entitlements. TBH they never originally covered RTC`s under the terms of their membership, however then they did and now it seems they`ve reverted back to their original stance.

They are pretty good, as are the RAC however with all things that are effectively unplanned, there`s always scope for cock ups.

From a personal point of view, although we're equipped with motorcycle recovery equipment, out lads are not bike mechanics. Therefore we won't do bike breakdowns. I wouldn't want an untrained mechanic working on my bike, I don't expect anybody else would either. I`ll transport them, but that`s it.

Beware, the only thing with NCI is that they use a firm called Call Assist. They're quite a decent firm, but they`re absolutely run by the rule book. This means if you run out of fuel, it`s classified as an "Own Fault" breakdown, which can incur a bill from the club. They have a proviso in their T&C`s that if a vehicle hasn`t been reguarly serviced they can refuse recovery! Of course, it would only be us that would draw their attention to that. The other biggie with them, is the one recovery destination per breakdown. Which means if your garage is closed and you take it home, they won't cover any further recoveries to the garage. Most of the other clubs allow that.