Vehicle recovery (Breakdown) times..

[Fish]

Whats acceptable and whats not?

I'm with Kwik Fit and have their Silver deal which pretty much covers everything, but, they are only as good as the access they have to contractors in any given area!

Last nights scenario as near as damn it.

8.30pm: telephoned & reported breakdown/accident, informed where I was (Hemel Hempstead), vehicle and detailed problem (suspension & wishbone broken).

8.45pm informed I would receive a text confirming the contractor and they should be with me in about 1 hour.

9.45pm Telephoned them back letting them know I received no text and nobody has been!

9.55pm They called back and said they would be with me by 10.30 as running behind and I received the text.

11pm I called them back as nobody still been in touch.

11.15pm they called me back informing me they had been struggling to get a recovery vehicle and they'd get back to me.

12.00 Midnight I chased them.

12.45am recovery vehicle arrived but due to damage couldn't get me on the flatbed lorry so pulled off!

01.30am informed they were struggling to find a Hiab lift lorry to pick me up and return me home, but they'd keep trying and call me hourly!

02.30 I chased and said enough is enough, I was struggling to stay awake and felt unsafe, they agreed to taxi me home which arrived at 03.15 and said they had booked the Hiab lorry for 07.30-8am for delivery to my home mid-morning.

05.10hrs arrived home by taxi nearly 9 hours after accident!

08.00hrs they called and asked if I had been collected and returned with my car?!

08.30 called me and confirmed car had been collected and was on its way back.

10.30 called me and asked if the contractor had been in touch and had I received my car.

11.30hrs, contractor called me and said he was 30mins away from "collecting my car"?!

12.00hrs, they called me to ask again if anyone had been in touch and had I received my car! Explained it seemed it was only just being collected!

12.45pm, I called contractor and he confirmed car was on his lorry and was just on the M1 but needed to stop for 3/4 hour for tacho break as had been out all morning!

Expecting delivery of my car around 3.30-4pm!

What a saga, I'm knackered, no sleep, obviously talking to a foreign call center doesn't help, change of people on shifts and poor and incorrect information and communications were abysmal.

Any good experiences out there as I'm obviously looking to change as I couldn't go through that again and if I'd have had Lisa (wifey) with me or if it happens with Lisa (same insurance) on her own with her car I'd be worried sick!

This has to be against all guarantees and what should be expected.

 

[pbrown7582]

I have had good and bad experiences from Rac aa and green flag. RAC were the best and most efficient. Got me home and car within 3 hours of calling them In M/cr. So was top job.
I did get stuck at hillside and had similar problems though called around 6 on a Friday night and at about 10.30 they turned up with a car for me to drive home for the weekend and it would be collect when they dropped my car on the Monday as they had tacho hours issues with flat bed drivers.
Check the guarantees in your policy for compo claim?

 

[drew83]

OUCH! That is awful!

I had a case where called at 7:00am one morning after finding car with flat battery. Explained HID had to leave for work 9:30 to get there for 10 so could someone go jump start. Yes no problem guaranteed they would be there within an hour.

9:20 HID calls, no-one. Called Greenflag back. "Sorry they got delayed on a call. Another van on it's way be there just after 10.

10:15 nothing. Called back complaining that I was promised within the hour at 7am. HID is a nurse & had to start shift. They apologised massively. Van was 5 mins away, traffic.

10:20 HID calls, car done. She is off to work.

12:30 get a "how did we do" text survey, complained & said it was rubbish.

1:30 get a call to see if everything ok, again complained.

Turns out the 1st mechanic was 40+ miles away & job should never have been given to him. The mech that eventually came out started at 7:30 and lives 4 roads away from me. He didn't get the call till 9 after 1st mech got caught up on job.

Long story short, they are all bad. Not yet had a good call out. However, following my complaint I got £120 in compensation from them for all the hassle.

If I were you Fish I would be writing & calling & emailing complaining to everyone! That is appalling.

 

[Hobbit]

Depends on how busy they are, and how honest their call centre is. AA have never let me down. RAC have been more miss than hit, as were Green Flag. Although the best mechanic that turned up was from GF.

If I had a choice, it would be AA but I don't. RAC it is then.

 

[Tarkus1212]

Whoever you use Fish's experience is definitely not an acceptable level of service. These days when considering using companies in the UK service sector one question I always ask is where their call centres are, a UK based call centre is a huge plus IMHO.

 

[Fish]

Depends on how busy they are, and how honest their call centre is. AA have never let me down. RAC have been more miss than hit, as were Green Flag. Although the best mechanic that turned up was from GF.

If I had a choice, it would be AA but I don't. RAC it is then.

I think the bonus or hopefulness of using AA or RAC is that they have there own fleet, obviously they use contractors also for over-spill but they do have their own vehicles whereas someone like Kwik Fit only uses contractors so in some ways have less control!

 

[MegaSteve]

Do the AA/RAC still have their own fleet of recovery vehicles... Can't say I've seen too many [if any] in recent times... Plenty of vans yes but not so sure about flatbeds...

 

[Fish]

Whoever you use Fish's experience is definitely not an acceptable level of service. These days when considering using companies in the UK service sector one question I always ask is where their call centres are, a UK based call centre is a huge plus IMHO.

It would have been last night as they simply cannot and couldn't relate to where I was or the situation and state of the vehicle, I was attempting to explain to a foreign lady what a wish bone was and the impact it had on my car being snapped, so she sent a flat bed lorry which we could have winched the car on, probably digging and ripping his floor bed up but almost impossible to get off at the other end, so he obviously pulled away as soon as he saw it!

I think throughout the night I spoke to 6 or more of their employees and another 2 this morning and had to digress every time making it even more frustrating!

 

[Fish]

Do the AA/RAC still have their own fleet of recovery vehicles... Can't say I've seen too many [if any] in recent times... Plenty of vans yes but not so sure about flatbeds...

Saw 2 or 3 flatbeds and 1 Hiab all AA'd up last night & this morning whilst waiting, every time I saw 1 my hopes were soon dashed as it drove past

 

[Rooter]

Lie to them. tell them you have a young child/pregnant woman/10 kittens/mother Teresa/The Pope with you. when they arrive say they took too long a family member collected them for you, but now as they are here, they may as well load your motor up!

 

[GB72]

I had a very good experience through Direct Line. Night before Xmas Eve, crossing a roundabout and a car hits me from the left, did not stop. Luckily it hit the rear corner and spun the car. Called Direct Line, had my car on a truck within an hour, had me in a cab home at the same time and had a loaner car ready for me to pick up at 9.00 on Xmas Eve morning with an apology that it was not of the level I was entitled to but would have the correct one for me after the Xmas break.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

I'm with RAC never waited more that an hour, even in the depths of the Highland's.
Mind you.........only ever had 3/4 call outs in 50 years.

{applying sods law I probably should not have posted that last bit. }

 

[MegaSteve]

Saw 2 or 3 flatbeds and 1 Hiab all AA'd up last night & this morning whilst waiting, every time I saw 1 my hopes were soon dashed as it drove past

Fair do's need to open my eyes more... Aside from southern loop of M25 don't do a lot of motorway driving these days...

When the lad broke suspension on his car they just placed it on skids [wheeled platforms] prior to winching it onto flatbed...

 

[ColchesterFC]

Lie to them. tell them you have a young child/pregnant woman/10 kittens/mother Teresa/The Pope with you. when they arrive say they took too long a family member collected them for you, but now as they are here, they may as well load your motor up!

We did this when Mrs Colch was pregnant and we broke down. Got her to phone and said she was a pregnant woman on her own making her a high priority. Said they'd be with her in half an hour. 15 minutes later I walked down the road to the pub to wait. 10 minutes after that she phoned me to say they'd arrived. Got the car fixed and she came to pick me up.

 

[Tashyboy]

Went to ischia and flew from stanstead. Came back and Missis Tash had left an interior light on rang the AA from one of hundreds of car parks and the AA guy turned up within one minute of me putting the phone down. When he turned up i said " is Clark Kent your brother", he laughed and said it happens all the time. Within seconds a guy came running up and had done exactly the same. the AA should run the ambulance service.

 

[c1973]

We did this when Mrs Colch was pregnant and we broke down. Got her to phone and said she was a pregnant woman on her own making her a high priority. Said they'd be with her in half an hour. 15 minutes later I walked down the road to the pub to wait. 10 minutes after that she phoned me to say they'd arrived. Got the car fixed and she came to pick me up.

A gentleman indeed.

 

[Fish]

Car just dropped off an hour a go some 22hrs after calling it in!
Hiab driver said he lives 2 minutes from where my car was and saw it on his way to his yard at 7.30am and confirmed that his company hadn't been given the job until after 9am this morning so when I was told it was booked last night, on its was first thing and being collected all sat different times they were all lies!

There going to get a chapter & verse email from me now I've got it back.

I'll look to get it fixed through them as a claim and insist they waive the excess as compensation.

 

[upsidedown]

We are with the Ford Blue cover service and HiD had flat battery at home on a Saturday, called through and all fixed with in an hour ( live out in the sticks too )

 

[ColchesterFC]

A gentleman indeed.

In my defence it was a hot day and there was no point her going to the pub. She was pregnant and couldn't drink.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

This is the problem with relying on a firm who only use subcontractor's to cover their 24hr call out, they can't control them.

Stick with the AA or RAC, they might be the dearest option but in instances like this they're worth it.