RAC refuses to suspend membership

Colin_London

Just bought a new VW which comes with 12 months free VW/RAC Breakdown and Accident cover.

As I already have an RAC membership for my old car, I wanted to suspend the membership until the end of the 12 months free cover, and then restart. Didn't think it would be a problem as this is what I did when I got my previous VW 7 years ago. The VW salesman this time also said it was possible.

So I phoned the RAC up this morning, only to be told 'Sorry, we don't do that anymore. We only did it as a goodwill gesture and now we don't' :mad:

But it was OK - we could keep it for our 'other car'..... I informed her that we only had the one car.
In that case we could transfer it to someone else. We don't know anyone who is without a breakdown cover, and why should we have to give away what we have paid for anyway?!

Incensed by this 'lack of goodwill' I have asked to cancel. Even this didn't ellicit a change of heart. Was just told that even though our membership was marked for termination (in September - yes, that is how much membership we are going to waste) they would still try and take the money at that time and we would get a snotty letter for a cancelled DD 'which we should ignore'.

I have been an RAC member since I started driving nearly 20 years ago and this is how I am treated. Frankly, RAC, you can stuff it 'cause you clearly place no value on customer loyalty :mad: I will not be rejoining after my 12 months free cover is up.

flyingscotno1

Colin_London wrote: »

Just bought a new VW which comes with 12 months free VW/RAC Breakdown and Accident cover.

As I already have an RAC membership for my old car, I wanted to suspend the membership until the end of the 12 months free cover, and then restart. Didn't think it would be a problem as this is what I did when I got my previous VW 7 years ago. The VW salesman this time also said it was possible.

So I phoned the RAC up this morning, only to be told 'Sorry, we don't do that anymore. We only did it as a goodwill gesture and now we don't' :mad:

But it was OK - we could keep it for our 'other car'..... I informed her that we only had the one car.
In that case we could transfer it to someone else. We don't know anyone who is without a breakdown cover, and why should we have to give away what we have paid for anyway?!

Incensed by this 'lack of goodwill' I have asked to cancel. Even this didn't ellicit a change of heart. Was just told that even though our membership was marked for termination (in September - yes, that is how much membership we are going to waste) they would still try and take the money at that time and we would get a snotty letter for a cancelled DD 'which we should ignore'.

I have been an RAC member since I started driving nearly 20 years ago and this is how I am treated. Frankly, RAC, you can stuff it 'cause you clearly place no value on customer loyalty :mad: I will not be rejoining after my 12 months free cover is up.

I've heard of more than a few breakdown companies do this. You cannot also downgrade cover on some until renewal- but you can upgrade....

haggisAThome

who did you talk to regarding suspending your membership ?

McKneff

You are trying to suspend your new membership till your old one runs out.

Try suspending your old insurance till your new one runs out, Thi is what i have done, and it was them who suggested it. I had rung to cancel my old membership which would have run till January, they said i could suspend it until
my new one runs out.

All i would suggest is that you try again this way.

lisyloo

Yes, good idea.
Try it the other way round.
Try suspending the other policy.

Kazipoo

I had been a customer with RAC for around 15 years. When we first went with them we had the European policy, although they then changed it and we had the top policy not including European, but then they changed it again, and to my detriment, I didn't question it. Two years ago I called them for the first time (flat battery - my own fault), they said it would be a four hour wait!! I told them to forget it, sat in the car for ten minutes, tried the ignition again and it sparked to life (I had drained it whilst sitting listening to the radio, lights on etc... not something I would do again in a hurry I might add lol). Anyway, last year, my handbrake froze and I needed to get the kids to school. So they sent someone within an hour, he proceeded to drive my car (handbrake stuck on), up and down the street, got out, locked it again, threw the keys at me and said "Sorry love, its stuck on, you'll have to wait for it to thaw out!!!!!" An hour later, a neighbour came banging on my door to tell me that my car was rolling down the street!!! Silly twit forgot to reapply the handbrake, lucky for me our street is relatively flat with a small camber at each kerb, so it only rolled about 20 metres and stopped. Needless to say I phoned to complain. They then told me that they had only sent him as a gesture of goodwill as my policy didn't even cover homestart! I was livid and asked them to look back at when I first took out the policy, to find out why we were on the lowest level of cover (and paying a hefty premium I might add). They responded that as the customer it is my responsibility to ensure I was getting the best deal, and that they would have sent out the new terms and conditions when they downgraded my policy, and legally they had fulfilled their obligations. I told them that since I was paying such a premium, I would like to cancel this cover and I would take my business elsewhere, they were like "OK!" Did not try to stop me, entice me, never apologised, nothing, their loss!!

Colin_London

McKneff wrote: »

You are trying to suspend your new membership till your old one runs out.

Try suspending your old insurance till your new one runs out, Thi is what i have done, and it was them who suggested it. I had rung to cancel my old membership which would have run till January, they said i could suspend it until
my new one runs out.

All i would suggest is that you try again this way.

No - I was trying to suspend my existing (i.e. old) membership whilst my new (free) 12-month membership is active.

They refused to suspend my existing membership.

I cannot suspend my new one as it a fixed 12 month term from the date of purchase of the vehicle.

vikingaero

I would suggest getting maximum value from your unsuspendable membership. Flat tyre that you would normally fix yourself? Call them out. Funny noise from engine? Call them out. Headlight bulb gone? Call them out.

plane_boy2000

The VW cover from RAC is really good though - think we paid 140 quid for two years when the first ran out and it covered everything including european cover for the full duration.

I agree its not fab customer service, but I bet a lot of people would suspend their cover and then just start it when they break down - unfortunate fact of life that a lot of people will abuse goodwill when given

Colin_London

I tend to agree.

The problem here is that the policy that came with the car was also RAC. So if they had wanted to it would have been very easy for the customer service agent to verify that I had a VW RAC membership, and thus had a totally valid reason for wanting to suspend my original RAC membership. No goodwill involved - just fact.

No attempt was made to verify my new VW RAC membership, despite me making it clear that the new complimentary policy WAS RAC.

That's why I'm miffed, and why I'm about to write a snotty letter.

Colin_London

haggisAThome wrote: »

who did you talk to regarding suspending your membership ?

Hi HaggisAThome,

Thanks for your PM. I tried responding but unfortunately you have disabled receipt of PMs in your account.

If you can temporarily lift the bar on PMs then I can respond to you as requested.

Thanks for the offer of help.