RAC

[Poseidon]

Last march we (me and the missus) signed up for some breakdown cover. I called the RAC and said I would like a breakdown cover, one that would cover me and my wife, regardless of what vehicle we are using as we swap and change who drives what depending on what we're up to. I stated I wanted cover so that if anything happens, someone will get us home. The person in the call centre was very helpful and signed me up.

So after a year and a half of paying my fees each and every month, last night I had some bother. It seems my petrol tank is starting a new career as a collander. Petrol was dripping at a fair rate onto the floor from where the tank had corroded through. Obviously a major problem, so I call the RAC and said "I would like to be rescued please". They sent a little man out to me who arrived in a little van (i.e, no means of carrying me or the bike) and said "yeah it's fooked mate, can't fix that." I enquired as to how they were going to get me and the bike safely home and he said "you're not covered for that". I asked what I was covered for and he said "we'll tow you for 10miles towards your home or to a garage". Bearing in mind it was gone 9pm and I work 22miles away from my house. I explained that I had asked at the time for cover that will get me home, not dropping me off outside a garage that's shut until the morning or else leaving me having to push my bike home the remaining 12 miles. He said "Not my problem, ring customer services" and left.

I called the customer services and explained the situation. They said I had "Roadside & Homestart" which only entitles me to roadside "quick fix" repairs or a jump start from home (which they bill you for if the battery is tested and found to be faulty), failing that a 10mile tow. I said that was not what I'd asked for regardless of what I was given. I asked if I could be upgraded, he said no as I was already in a "breakdown situation". He said my best bet would be to go home, leave the bike there and hire a van in the morning. Upon explaining that the bike was my transport home and a taxi home and back would be £50+ he said that my other option would be private recovery which they could arrange for £150 (I rang a few places myself and managed to get a quote for £65quid). We don't have much money due to my wife being on maternity leave, so we can't afford £150 recovery... Which is why we took out RAC cover in the first place.

In the end I was so angry after 2 hours of trying to get home that the red mist descended, I told the guy to stick his worthless cover as I was going to ride the bike home, which I did. Luckily I didn't catch on fire and made it home safe, but what a bunch of unhelpful tw@ts the RAC are. I'm just thankful that I found this out whilst in a place where I had a comfy warm office with tea/coffee and a comfy sofa at my disposal and that it wasn't my 8months pregnant wife finding this out when 80miles from home (her parents live miles away and she frequently drives that far). I've now learnt my lesson and I'm now a fully paid up memeber of Green Flag who promised me they will succeed where the RAC failed. It's a shame as I had RAC cover about 6 years ago and they were really good... but I hate them now!

Moral of the story:
ALWAYS CHECK YOUR COVER VERY CAREFULLY! Don't assume that roadside rescue = recovery!!! and the RAC suck big time!
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1977 Honda CG125
2002 Ducati Monster S4 (currently restoring)

[Feasty]

This has got me thinking, I get a lot of this too when dealing with large companies and speaking to non-entities on the phone! Customer service is crap and you quite often get promises made that are never delivered on, then the company refuses to acknowledge they are wrong.
These companies are fine looking after themselves, they record conversations to their benefit, give out fake names to cover themselves, pretend conversations never happened and I've found this with insurance companies, banks, garages etc, etc the list goes on!

So how about if I invented a device you connect in your phone line and whenever you want to record conversations you simply say so to the person you are talking to, press the record button and off you go. End the conversation and just press the stop button. Now the clever bit - you simply remove the memory card from this device and put it in your pc and save the file under 'RAC promise' so you know what it's about. Cue Mister Drewie's issues 18 months later as above, he pays the £150 to get taken home, he sends a copy of the saved file to the RAC and sues them for getting the wrong contract to begin with, time wasted, stress etc - everything gets paid for!


(Now someone's gonna tell me this machine has already been invented!) However answer machines and the like aren't good enough, they're not easy to record on whilst talking and can't be saved onto a pc afterwards easily...
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).

[The Shaggy D.A.]

[Feasty]

[Poseidon]

[map]

Off topic ish about recording conversations but...

The call centre should keep a copy of the call (they all have voice recorders).
Got me out of a threatening letter from the electricity supplier.
Because of a huge, and I mean huge, jump in the bill (still working out why:?) I'd phoned up and as I understood agreed to pay some one month and the rest the next. Was told by the guy to not worry about the letter asking for payment.
Still got another threatening letter so phoned and asked to speak to a supervisor (I hate call centres) and requested she listen to the original call.
Got a call back and she agreed I had been told that the matter was ok and she would speak to the original operator as his entries into the log didn't match the voice call.
Annoying when you can't rely on people though.

For the original topic,
I suppose you could ask they dig out the original voice recording of the call.
Although they may say these are only kept for 6 months or a year.
IMO still worth asking though. To quote what my father said, if you don't ask, you don't get.


I know when I took out the AA cover (now lapsed) I made sure it had all the features I wanted. Unless you do take out homestart they won't come out if you're inside a certain distance from your home though. The AA cover I had was for the person, not the vehicle, so ok with car or bike and I also believe if I was a passenger/pillion with someone else.


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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?

[Poseidon]

Like you said beanfeast... it's becoming more and more prominent in our society. I remember when customer service was about helping customers, using discretion to solve their problems. Now it seems they put more time and effort into training their staff to use any technicality they can to not only keep your money, but get you off the phone the quickest, without giving an inch on their precious policies.

This country sucks! Which way to Germany?
____________________
1977 Honda CG125
2002 Ducati Monster S4 (currently restoring)

[Poseidon]

[BanditJeff]

Ha ha.... I like the way an advert for RAC comes up at the bottom of this thread.
Must admit i would have noticed that the cover never included 'Recovery' and i believe the AA call it 'Relay'

[stinkwheel]

Cheapest way is to get it through your insurance.

Mate of mine was recovered from the Isle of Lewis to Edinburgh by the recovery included in his Carole Nash insurance.

Worth bearing in mind when you're looking at those quotes. A £30 higher premium but including shit hot, gets you and your bike home from anywhere in Europe recovery is worth having.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Poseidon]

[BanditJeff]

Trouble is nowadays that sales staff are very often complete numpties on minimum wage and either cant be arsed or are just incompetent.
It would have been in the RAC's interest to sell you the recovery cover as its quite a hike in premium compared to their basic breakdown cover.
You have to assume all staff are muppets and check everything through yourself nowadays.

[ms51ves3]

[G]

Moral of the story: RAC suck.
Get the full deal with my bank account. In the dealings I've had with them all in (including other people's accounts etc), I'd say one time out of ten total they haven't sucked.
Sending a van when I told them I needed a flat bed because the engine was knackered and asked to talk to van driver beforehand to save time (later they claimed I should have been allowed to do that).
Making a friend wait 6 hours for his car to be picked up, when he had arranged a time as it had been left there the night before.
Making me wait a total of four hours under a motorway bridge in Scotland and swapping my bike with a puncture for a knackered Fiesta

[stinkwheel]

I once had a chain break. I found someone with a chain 3 miles away but it was an endless one.

All I needed off the RAC man was to take my bike off the motorway at the next exit, take me to the bike shop (another mile) and lend me a 19mm socket to get the swingarm out.

He didn't have a 19mm socket. Nor did he have a wheelbrace. He couldn't even have changed the wheel on his own van if he had a flat.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Poseidon]

[Stelmer]

The AA are the same.

Except that if you're waiting for a low loader for the company car they will not hesitate in telling you that the driver is in Grimsby and about to start his 45 min break. I was in York.

I also had a big problem with the payment for my personal cover on the bike when renewal came round. They told me it was changed to quarterly and that I did not want that repair insurance rubbish. How wrong was I....

Roll on the end of the month and what happened. £250 was taken out. They didn't even cancel the repair thing.

In the end I sent them an email and despite the promises of a refund in 2 days, it took 2 weeks and several Direct Debits failed costing me £90 in fines. AA did not care.

I now have the breakdown cover that came with MCE. I hope they would just take me home if the bike died somewhere. Should check on that...

EDIT:

It does, and it's free.

[WildGoose]

Sorry to hear about the shite experience.

I'm with RAC, and although I don't like them particularly, they have got me sorted everytime i've needed them, which is why I tend to let the policy automatically renew. Never been waiting stupid amount of hours either, but i've probably just been lucky with that.

I see no need to talk to them on the phone to sell you a policy, when the website states quite clearly the options.

Summary;

Standard policy is roadside assistance, where they come and fix you if they can, or tow you up to 10 miles. This is obviously the cheapest. You choose this to be personal cover or vehicle cover, vehicle cover is cheapest but only covers up to 1, 2 or 3 vehicles you select, gets more expensive the more vehicles you add.

If you select personal cover it covers you as driver or passenger in anything, doesnt need to be owned by you, this doesn't go over 3.5tonnes. This works because i've called them out for a mate after his car packed up at a golf course car park, I didn't drive there with him, but they werent to know this. So from these two, personal cover is clearly the way to go.

You can then add more options, including homestart where they come and fix your car at home. I never add this because I can do anything they can, given I have access to my tools. You can also select nationwide recovery where they take you and up to 7 others anywhere you want in the UK. I have called this in several times as well, you just need to make it clear to them that the bike/car is fucked and no amount of roadside assistance will help, i.e. the engine is split in half.

In one incident they took me and the bike home, dropped me off, and took the bike onwards to the dealer I specified. Driver seemed quite happy to do it.

They have never sent the wrong vehicle, short of when I called them out to the golf course, they at first sent a mechanic in his van to see if he could fix it, when he couldn't they had to send for another van with a towbar, quite why I don't know as the vans were identical, but wasn't massively fussed as there was a bar at the golf course, and I had asked them to fix it in place rather than recover it in the first instance.

On top of the basic personal cover (£35) homestart will add £50 and nationwide recovery will add £40, they discount you 10% a year for not claiming, but I regularly claim so don't usually get a discount.

They send you a card every year which clearly states your name, membership number and policy. I.e. mine said Roadside+Recovery so there is no quibbling. You get what you pay for, if you trust what somebody tells you rather than what is written down, you are always going to set yourself up for a fall.

Ok, so its not the cheapest, but I have always got what i've paid for, and given that at times i've ripped the piss out of the policy to get things straightened out, I'm fairly happy. The few grumpy drivers i've had who whinged at me for using a mobile phone near the car and other such fucking retarded things, has blemished the record slightly, but this is my only real complaint, these wankers to work long hours do be fair to them.

Ok, I could probably get a recovery policy like this for £30 from some smaller operator rather than the £80 that I pay, but i'm happy to pay that as long as the service continues to work, if at any point they mess up I may consider switching.

In my previous job, they had an RAC commercial policy to cover the fleet, and they produced decent results there as well.
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So in other words, he stopped you for being flagrantly in posession of a motorcycle in direct contravention of the Hippies, Darkies and People Whose Face I Don't Like The Look of (Police Powers) Act. 1976

[Skudd]

We had cover from the RAC for years, didn't have a problem with them, covered me and the wife on all vehicles. called them out a few times without a hitch. Then one time i had a puncture on the bike, called them up and they said that only the wife was covered and just for the car. I said that we had been fully covered for years and hadn't changed anything. Turns out the RAC had changed their terms and cons. They were unhelpful to say the least. * miles pushing an Africa Twin with a flat rear tyre in full bike gear at 1 o'clock in the morning makes for a very interesting phone call at 9am to the RAC.
I now always get my breakdown cover through my insurance now, so if the breakdown cover falls short the insurance company get an ear full too.
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Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[binge]

Kind of on topic. I had break down cover with my Pit bike insurance.

I was out, About 15 miles from home. If anybody knows my area. I live in Walderslade, And the crank in my bike snapped in Maidstone.
So not only is it a 15 mile journey home. It's 100% UP A STEEP MOTHER FUCKING HILL journey home.

Pushing was out of the question.

I dont know the number for my break down cover, So I call my insurance. Explain the situation, And they promptly put me through to my break down / recovery company. (After waiting on hold for about 15 minutes).


I get put through, And instantly on hold. Then I go onto a stupid "Please listen to the following three hundred and fifty six thousand options..."


I finally get through to the right department. And:


"You are .... SIXTEENTH .... in the queue"



"We're sorry about the delay, You are ....... FIFTEENTHS ....... in the queue"




And so on.

I was on hold for maybe 20 minutes, Got to about 3rd in the queue, And my phone started beeping at me, Battery was dying.
After a few more minutes, I still handnt moved in the queue, I couldnt retrieve my break down cover phone number as I had been put through, I had no coins on me for a phone box, And it was a Sunday afternoon so the nearest place open was the 24 hour petrol station about 10 miles away.



I finally hung up, And gave my mate a quick call who came and got me in his estate Mondeo.



Break down / recovery services arent worth the piece of paper they are written on. You are better off making friends with somebody with a van.






Ben

[Skudd]

[Paivi]

I'm with a freebie RAC cover that came with my Ebike insurance.

They've attended me several times (two Italian bikes) and have always either sorted the problem out or recovered me and the bike home, and the bike next day to the dealer of my choice. The Ducati dealer of my choice is in Kent, so not exactly local to my SW London address, but no questions asked, the bike went to Kent. I've had battery problems, and they've always turned up to jumpstart me and I've never had to pay extra for this.

I've also been recovered when there's been nothing wrong with the bike, only with the rider, who thought it'd be a good idea to stop the bike from hitting the deck by putting one's leg underneath. That stopped me riding the bike, so the RAC came and recovered me and the bike.

In London, the RAC uses little vans that have a folding bike tow unit in the back, so they can recover bikes. There's about six of them, only, though, and the drivers are all bikers themselves.

So, I can't fault RAC service, certainly not in London.
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My other bike's a Monster...

[lee8040]

[Poseidon]

[MattEMulsion]

Normally if you only have an RAC breakdown +10 mile recovery only policy you have the option of being towed to wherever you want but you have to pay for the excess mileage, after the first 'free' ten miles. It was around £1 a mile not so long back, I am unsure of the rate nowadays. Were you not offered this option?
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Yamaha YZF-R6