Can you believe how I have been treated!?? *(UPDATE PG2- COMPLAINT)

[Tsia]

BLIMMIN RAC INCOMPETENCE STAFF!!!!!

Went to pick up my little 12year old sister from London as she is staying with us for a few days..

ANyways.. car breaks down (4th time same problem for me) *AIR POLLUTION FAULT* is on dash.. cuts off the diesel pump and car stalls itself.
Been into garage 3 times to be fixed.. Only seems to happen on long journeys.

Call RAC at 8pm.. told them all this.. and on motorway.. have a child in the car plus I am 6 months pregnant.. (like I need the stress)

informed them of the fault and its happened before etc (they should see on their records) that it cannot be fixed at the road side.. also that cos of the body kit.. the car cannot be towed.. and has to be lifted onto a low loading truck. So again to save time and resources.. please send a truck straight off rather than a patroll mechanic who cant fix it anyway.(just like they kindly did the last time)

Half hour they said.. and 8.45pm I am on the phone to them again chasing it.. told it will be closer to 9! starting to rant but figure that its only a little longer. anyways..
9.05pm a little piddle orange transit turns up with a patrol mechanic in!!

By the sight of this I am fuming.. tell the guy its useless and he cant fix it and please get me the low loader that I requested!! He wouldnt listen.. bloody jobsworth and wanted to go through the motions.. tried to fix it and half hour later announced he would have to order me the low loader!! EXACTLY WHAT I SAID HALF HOUR PREVIOUSLY!
He trundled back to his van to make the call. 10 mins later I went over asked what was going on.. he said hes ordered it and to expect a call soon.. so another 10 mins and I couldnt wiat anymore.. I rang RAC back.
THEN!!!!! was promptly informed that it HADNT been ordered and that the truck wasnt coming yet!
now.. this is the shocker!!!!!!!
...because, it was brought to their attention that this has happened more than twice before they said if i wasnt willing to pay £100 over the phone there and then for my car to be recovered privately they would quite happily leave me on the side of the dangerous motorway! and I would have to make my own arrangements!!!!!!!

YES THEY KNEW I WAS 6 MONTHS PREGNANT AND HAD A CHILD IN THE CAR!!
They couldnt care less!!!
WHY HAVE I A MEMBERSHIP WITH THIS SHOWER OF SHITE COMPANY!!!!!!???

I had no choice.. I had to use a credit card! and if I had a problem I would have to ask the £100 back off the garage!

so.. that took a further 10 mins to process before they could authorise the order of the truck.. and then gave me the direct line to the truck company.
Who then said its one drop off.. even though on previous occasions they drop my car at the garage which is on the WAY to my home!
They wernt prepared to do that!
I had to make my own arrangements and get OH (who was in bed) to collect me from the garage in the pitch black at half 11!!!!!!
We didnt get home til 11.45pm! I broke down at 8pm!!!!!!!
I will be promptly cancelling my membership with RAC tomorrow!

 

[cs22]

I dont drive but thats disgusting. They havent got a clue have they.

 

[xarxa]

I have only one comment:
-Some people are idiots and shouldn't work in a service-company.

 

[PrincessSoph]

omg that is shocking. makes you wonder what the point is in having breakdown cover!

 

[faun]

That is shocking i would formally complain and cancel my policy and demand a refund for the remainder of the contract. I am really sorry you had to go through al this unnecessary stress.

 

[Tsia]

That is shocking i would formally complain and cancel my policy and demand a refund for the remainder of the contract. I am really sorry you had to go through al this unnecessary stress.

Well thats my plan but was promptly informed when I told of my plans that they would probably not give me anything refund wise as I have already called them 3 times out this year. renewal date is in August!

I will still write the letter though.. and will not be recommending them to anyone thats for sure!!!!!!!

 

[Chaos]

I'd write a letter to the highest you can reach tbh. I've done that in the past .. it soon gets them running in circles to please you.

Sorry you had this experience.

 

[tinkabells]

I dont drive, but what fi you didnt have the cash on you?! I would inform watchdog i really would!!! Grrrrrrrr xxx

 

[booflebump]

Oh for goodness sake - stupid people!! Poor you - hope you have calmed down now? x

 

[Armywife]

Just finished reading your messaga and can't believe this! Well actually i can! When i was working as an air hostess i was driving from Blackpool to Manchester Airport at 2 am one saturday morning and my car broke down on a stretch of motorway with no lights. I called them out and the said they'd be there within an hour. to cut a long story short the didn't turn up till 3 hours later after many calls from me. Then they said my cover didn't include being towed and i'd have to pay privately! I'd paid £79 for the membership simply because it DID include this! They refused to listen and i had to pay £300 to be towed home. I did get my money back after 6 months of complaining but they are a joke! I am now with AA but have never used them so far. Sorry you had to go through this x x x

 

[Tsia]

Blimey ArmyWife.. was that RAC too?

I am going back to AA.. they used to be good but only swapped cos RAC were cheaper at the time of AA renewal.. now I know WHY!!

I am still annoyed but calming down. Blimmin cheek I think. they will be losing my custom thats for sure.. swiftly accompanied with a very strongly worded letter! lol

 

[amylw1]

glad your ok though. RAC are a bunch of idiots, we had many probs with them and OH left. they think they know best. your lucky you had a credit card on you with money on it. my cards are in my purse (i have 2 credit cards) and i doubt either have more than £30 free on the £100 limit!

 

[Pippin]

Effing useless company, glad your changing hon I would. I have AA and they seem to be okay maybe give them a call. x

 

[Tsia]

SO.. after my treatment I have made an official com;plaint with these guys.. https://www.finacial-ombudsman.org.uk/
I called them up and explained what happened.

RAC have 8 weeks to respond.. and they cannot ignor the complaint. He asked me what outcome I would want.. I said MINIMUM half my policy cost back as I wish to cancel the cover with such a company that would treat a pregnant woman and child like that!

SO.. watch this space.
To be honest I dont hold out much hope with getting what I want.. but feel better now I have lodged a complaint with the Finacial Ombudsman.

 

[Vici]

That is shocking, so glad you have lodged your complaint, lets hope they do something about it x

 

[soon2b6]

We had a similar experience last spetember. We went to Peterborough in the morning fully expecting no problems (well you wouldnt go if you were execting probs!) Nasty noise came from vehicle (minibus due to 5 kids) We told them it couldnt be driven (husband is quite good with all things mechanical) and it was a minibus not a car and suggested they sent an approriate truck. The ubiquitous orange van turned up after an hour and a half and confirmed what we had said,grrrr. We were waiting in a service station and there were 2 RAC vans parked in there the whole time we were waiting!!Anyway about an hour later we rang and said we had kids finishing school at 3 and at 3.30 we had 2 special needs kids stepping off a minibus at our house on a main road (they knew the score but seemed to not give a sh*t) Anyway to cut a long story short the truck turned up at about 4pm and we were taken home. We had had to phone the schools and they had very kindly offered to cover childcare whilst the RAC sorted doing their job out!! We were then subsequently told because we had now had 2 recoverys (unrelated faults just both needed a big truck) we couldnt have any more that year. Like you I was furious and phoned them only to be told that was wrong and you get 6 callouts and /or recoverys in a year no matter what!! Didnt seem too concerned about the rest of it though.
The purpose of these things is to help you if you break down and it should be possible to hold them to account if they breach their contract, I hope you get what you want out of this.

 

[tinkabells]

Well done for making the claim i would of done the smae or gone to the papers etc xxx

 

[Tsia]

had some correspondance today to confirm my complaint from the ombudsman and felt a little satisfied. lol

I am considering still going to a mag or local paper too yes!
Do I just phone round and ask or what? never done anything like this before!

 

[Tsia]

ANOTHER UPDATE!! RESULT TOO!!!!!

They have looked into my complaint an admit on this occassion were wrong to make me pay £100 and are sending me a cheque within the next 10 days!!


SO.. it pays to complain!!

 

[PrincessSoph]

good work hun! def pays to complain!