rac left me stranded for hours

tig_woo

I want to warn lone female drivers, pregnant drivers and people with a medical condition to be careful about RAC.

I have their breakdown cover as i am a Barclays customer and today i broke down. I was alone, am heavily pregnant and have a high risk pregnancy.

I was not far from home so i walked home to call them and explained I was alone, pregnant with a serious medical condition. I also went into great deal about what was wrong with my car ( snapped clutch cable). They said that due to this I was classed as high priority and would be with me within 1.5 hours. They asked me to walk back to my car to meet the patrolman. 2hours elapsed and they hadnt come. I called them as i was uncomfortable and beginning to be distressed, i had no food or fluids in the car, thankfully the weather is cold as I hate to think how ill I would have been left in the heat for that length of time. i told them again my situation and was told that if i had explained that in the first place they would have been with me in 1.5 hours :mad: I told them i had and the call handler checked his screen again and said " oh yes, I see you have now". 30 minutes later a patrolman turned up. He was lovely but said the car was not repairable at the side of the road!! I told them what was wrong with it, they should have sent a recovery vehicle to take it to a garage. He brought me home and arranged for a low loader to come and get me to take me back to the car ( another 30 minutes). I told him what had happened and he was appalled. I have complained about what has happened and will update you but I want my story to be a warning to you.

So, if you are considering breakdown cover and you are female, or have a medical condition or pregnant or your partner is preggi please be warned. ask them throughly what their terms are. I put myself and my baby in danger today, I was foolish, I should have insisted on a low loader not a patrolman, i should have called them every 20 minutes to find out what was going on and should not have walked back to the car unattended. I was left nearly 3 hours by a car alone.

I wont be using RAC or any other breakdown service unless i am certain that they can deliver a service i can rely on. so, I thought I would be ok and that it Seemed a great price as it was included in my current account monthly amount, but it isnt. I am shaken and very upset ( preggi hormones probably) but no the worse for wear i believe.

kr15snw

I was with green flag a while ago and recieved terrible service. They told me that the part that had gone wrong would need the entire engine removing and it would cost me about £500. I was 3 hours from home, 17 years old and alone. Luckily my mate was also driving up (going to a ski race in Wales) and came to my rescue. He asked the patrolman for a detailed report of what was wrong and what needed doing. He then rang his dad who is an AA man and explained it all. I then found out (from mates dad) that it was a side of road job and would take 10 minutes tops.

So we used my friends membership to ring for the AA and his dad was right, guy looked at it and said 'gimme 10 minutes'. 10 minutes later the car was fine and we were off.

I was disgusted with Green Flag and soon changed my policy to the AA.

Oh and all new AA vans have a low loader type thing in the back of the van. It folds out and then you can load the cars straight on. Means they dont have to call them out specially!

kittykirsty

I find this kind of behaviour by recovery services appalling. I personally don't drive, but would hate to be stranded alone waiting hours for someone to help. Please consider writing a strongly worded letter to RAC head office so that some good might come of your ordeal. And good luck with the remainder of your pregnancy! :j

sarahg1969

To be fair, if you walked home, you weren't stranded.

I can see that it must be annoying, but you were not in any risk.

You could just have gone back home again, rather than stay around waiting for them, presumably?

Yes, I would be cross at the poor level of service, but they did not leave you in any danger. So I think you are being a little over the top.

mpython

Tig woo

Welcome to MSE. That must have been a horrible experience & I can understand why you felt the need to let off steam here & warn others. Over the years I've been with AA, RAC, Greenflag and the CSSC one. I think as Al Mac suggests, there's not a lot to choose between them and in some cases, they 'sub- contract' work to local garages, so you could end up with the same appauling service even though you're with a different company.

Let us know what the RAC say & what they intend to do about it.

BTW, I would just ignore unhelpful posts by the resident troll, he seems to get off on winding people up on this forum. Thankfully, you'll find most other MSErs a lot more helpful

laalaa

I broke down about 2 years ago, just after midnight in the car park of my local asda. I called AA who said it would be more than 2 hours. So they offered instead of waiting I cold go home and they would meet me the next day at my car at 9am. They held their side of the bargain and were waiting for me the next day.

Maybe this would be an option for some people if you did not want to wait with your car.

Or could you not have stayed at home and have the RAC call you when they were there?

Not great service, I admit, but you werent stranded with no way of getting home.

tig_woo

Sarah

Thank you for your comments, unfortunately i have to disagree, but thank you taking the time to make your comments as its nice to know what other people think. I have a serious medical condition that meant once i had walked bac to the car I was not feeling well enough to make the trip a third time. I was under the impression that they were coming any minute and therefore a third walk was not needed, which of course now i realise was not the case. And as for not being in danger i think leaving lone women for hours at the side of a busy road no matter if they are pregnant or not is putting them in danger, sad but true.

lalaa as i mentioned to sarah due to my medical condition brought on by my pregnancy, unfortunately i was stuck with saying by the car until they came. Maybe I should have made that point more clearly in my post though so thank you for raising it. Yes it would have been nice if RAC had made an offer for me to stay at home but as i stated in my post i was told to return to my vehicle by the call handler who assured me they wouldnt be long.

Kr15nw and laalaa thank for your great reports on the AA i have rung them and asked them lots of questions and think they are the ones for me so i am officially an AA member. I dont go far in my car being preggi and ill at the mo and before i was preggi i used to walk a lot. Nevermind when baby is here i'll definately be using more pram power and saving the car for longer journeys.

Update

RAC called me today with a full an unreserved apology and a promise that someone will be writing a full explanation and apology to me and there is also talk of an offer of compensation and 'learning form the experience'.

alls well that ends well, let see if they keep to their side of the bargain and send it in writing and of course lets see if the cheque turns up!

callow

I had a bad experience recently with RAC as well.

I broke down on the motorway about 2 hours from home, myself and 2 children 7 & 9, at around 5pm. RAC said I was a priority and would be there in 30 minutes. They did arrive after 1 hour. I was towed off the motorway and put into a nearby lay-by basically in the middle of no where. There was a caravan park a little way down the road. Anyway, my car couldn't be fixed so I had to wait for tow-truck. I again was told I was a priority and someone would come in 1 hour. No one turned up. I kept phone RAC and they kept saying someone will be there in 30 minutes. Eventually they admitted they lost my booking. By this stage I had been waiting 3 hours in this lay-by in the dark. No toilet facilities, no food or drink. The children were very distressed, they kept crying and saying we would never be rescued. Eventually at 10.30pm the tow truck turn up. But due to their regulations they only took me so far. I then had to wait, (luckily in a motorway services this time) for another tow truck. Eventually I arrived home at 1am.

My children are absolutely terrified of breaking down again. I did complain on the phone, but never got around to writing a letter.

tig_woo

that sounds awful callow, its horrible to break down at any time but having kids in the car makes it even more stressful. I cant believe they left you there alone. ( well, actually i suppose i can now after this!) I think you should still write even though time has lapsed, if for nothing else but to tell them that the treatment has had an effect on the kids.

Thank you taking the time to write.

grannybroon

Tig woo

We have had really bad experiences with the AA - once involved a 12 hour transfer from Ayr to Edinburgh with two young children in car. Left in Glasgow for about 6 hours waiting for a handover of transporter. We changed after that to RAC and I must say have not had a problem. However, probably fortunate not had to have many callouts. Last one was about 18 months ago when I was bringing grandsons back here. They responded within 20 minutes, asking if I had water etc in the car! I always carry drinks and snacks for the boys just in case in road works, unexpected breakdown (as this was etc). Sorry you have had such distress on this one. I must admit I do worry in case I break down late at night in the dark on my own but always have my mobile and would lock myself in vehicle as extra precaution.

Hope you are OK. I have a pregnant friend who has PP (you will know what I mean) and if she goes into labour (she is only 32 weeks at the moment) it is a life threatening situation for the baby.

GB

tig_woo

because i had no choice. I couldnt stay with the car, I couldnt get hold of any of my friends, hubbie or a taxi service. it was time to take my meds ( which of course were at home) yes i know i, should have them with me but i thought i was doing a short trip and would be back in no time, its not a case of just swallowing a pill for me. wont be doing that again! and i have learnt lessons too.

I didnt think the orginal one was ott but there again i was there and in the middle of it and so probably not as able to see it from an impartial point of view like you. I wrote as truthfully and frankly as i could though. I think what i am trying to say is that if you are a women, preggi or have a preggi passenger or indeed someone with a medical condition then maybe you need to consider your choices of breakdown services and ask lots of questions. RAC have admitted total fault, i should have been recovered in less than an hour as they state is their policy and was not. They clearly couldnt deliver their service to me and i dont want anyone else to go through that. I said in my original post that i should have done things differently and should not have walked back to the car. I should have called more often and not relied on their promise. I want my experience to serve as a warning to others and yes of course if people still want to go RAC after nowing this thing can happen then of course they should be allowed to.