Re: Green Flag-Need Urgent Advice Please!

sjane2008

Dear All,

I took out Green Flag top level cover last week and broke down. They took 3 hours to come out (ETA was 1 hr) and I had no end of problems ie no call backs/updates and when the engineer turned up he said he was given the job only 15 mins ago!!

Anyway I have a 14 day cooling off period, but they did recover the car and eventually take it to the garage. I paid in full by card at the time, am I entitled to cancel the policy even though I've used them with the poor service the provided??

I have complained by phone and have now written as no call back, suprise!!

Any help much appreciated as wish to know what my rights are!!

Thanks

xxx

Tozer

If you have used the cover then you will not be able to cancel by using the cooling off provisions.

lisyloo

You could ask for a refund and threaten them with the small claims court if you do not receive your refund with 14 days.

I'm not suggesting going to court, but the threat might just make them give you a refund.

Tozer

What could you threaten them with? No insurance based policy will allow you to cancel without charge if you have claimed.

Quentin

lisyloo wrote: »

You could ask for a refund and threaten them with the small claims court if you do not receive your refund with 14 days.

I'm not suggesting going to court, but the threat might just make them give you a refund.

There is no point ever threatening anyone with court action if you don't intend to carry out the threat. (And court action over this would be a waste of time and money as you would certainly lose).

Once they have called your bluff over threatening court action you are left with no other way to go.

They do say they will compensate you (£10) if they ever take longer than an hour to get to you - which is more than most of the others offer, though the others regularly take longer than an hour to arrive.

As you have made use of the service (and got your money's worth already!) you have no right to cancel - but certainly have the right to the promised compensation!

lisyloo

What could you threaten them with?

The service is not "fit for purpose" in my view.

I haven't fully investigated the legal angles.
My suggestion was that they may just refund to avoid the hassle.
The threat just means that you are taken more seriously and it's puts a timescale on them.

Whether "fitness for purspose" applies to services and not goods, or what the situation is once you've used the service, I'm not entirely sure but surely you have some rights when you've paid up front and the service is a long way from satisfactory.

Quentin

You say their service is not fit for purpose, but in what way?

All that we know for certain is they took longer to turn up than promised. Obviously something went wrong which we don't know about, as the engineer arrived within 15 minutes of getting the job handed to him.

Why would they refund when they have paid out for a big claim?

It is poor advice to say yes you can cancel, threaten them with court, and worse advice to say take them to court, they are not fit for purpose!

sjane2008

Thanks people i am still awaiting a reply so will keep you posted, informed fos as there is a bit more background on the complaint but would be going on for a while so thought best to keep short! Hopefully get refund as was really bad service

Like you said don't get unless you try.

x

lisyloo

There is no point ever threatening anyone with court action if you don't intend to carry out the threat.

Well I disagree with you there (but that's quite ok).
I have had sucess before and it DOES sometimes get things moving when you write a legal letter.
In fact I did threaten Green flag (as it happens) when they damaged my car.
I got £300 from them for the damage they did.
You are entitled to your opinion, of course.

It is poor advice to say yes you can cancel

Which post is that in?

and worse advice to say take them to court, they are not fit for purpose!

I respect your right to have a genuine difference of opinion.
I have "won" lots of complaints where the other party may not legally have been obliged to do something, but they have.

As an example one case was a mortgage exit fee case.
I complained about the fees being too high.
We all know it would cost over £350 to go to the ombudsman, so I persisted.
In the end they waived my exit fees entirely.
This was not my expectation or what I requested but they obviously decided that I was going to be a pain to deal with.

So whilst I respect your entitlement to a difference of opinion, it does not reflect my personal real life experience and some of that has been with Green Flag.

But if you disagree that's fairy snuff, that's what it's all about, getting different opinions.

BTW - (just thought of another example).
I also got the post office to stop delivering "door to door" junk by threatening legal action.
I'm really not sure whether I'd win the case, but it would have national impact as a test case and it made them change.
Now I suspect they have "B**TCH lives here" over my name at the sorting office, but that doesn't bother me.
I got what I wanted by being persistant enough in that case too and you usually can if you are willing to be persistant.

sjane2008

in reference to quentin..... the engineer 1) did not turn up with tools, i believe i'm entitled to 30 mins repair then tow if it cannot be reapiared. He advised he left his tools in the wrong van 2) he advised he had the wrong truck and 3) the wait was 2 1/2 - 3hrs however when the engineer turned up he said he only just heard about it, we had called numerous times asking what was happening, me and 2 passengers.

I just wanted to know what my rights are, and in the other peoples defence i think they are only trying to help, this is what the forum is about surely?! x

I believe the garage took the job for the money but should have ref'd elesewhere if busy....

Tozer

There is no implied term of fitness for purpose in respect of service.

The provider is required to take reasonable skill and care. I think this was done in this case...albeit late.

To claim, you would have to demonstrate loss. There is none here as far as I can see.

Quentin is right - claim the £10 and be done with it.

Interestingly, if I received the so called "legal letter", I would probably respond by saying "ah, we should probably give you a restitutionary remedy in which case of course you can have your money back - but we will charge you for the call out". Don't open that box.