Who to escalate complaint to after RAC?

IndieSinger

Hi! I'll not bother you with the minutiae of my complaint to the RAC, just the basic details. The upshot is that I need to know who to complain to if I am unhappy with the RAC's resolution to a complaint.

When we broke down, we received terrible service from the RAC and ended up getting home (towed) 6.5hrs after breaking down. We have two young kids, one of whom is 15 months old.

Because we only have the very basic cover, we had to pay £238 to be towed. This is not the issue. The issue was with the awful service from the RAC and its contractors. At one point, we were abandoned in a service station for 1.5hrs.

I complained on the phone and was told all the calls would be listened to and the case would be reviewed.

After it was reviewed, I received an apology email and the promise of a cheque for £100. However, the apology didn't cover most of my grievances, only one small part. I also felt that £100 didn't cover my dissatisfaction.

They emailed back to say what they believe what they have offered to be fair.

On the RAC's website, it states that if you are unhappy with a complaint resolution, it may be able to be referred to the Financial Ombudsman. So I emailed back asking them to confirm that was their final response so that I could contact the Financial Ombudsman.

They replied with:

After the review, my manager has agreed with my decision and I am sorry to advise this decision remains and this is my final position. In your email you have advised you want to take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. Unfortunately these concerns do not fall under their jurisdiction.

So the question is, where do I go next? They may well be right, that this grievance doesn't fall under the Financial Ombudsman's jurisdiction, but there must be somewhere else to take a complaint about the RAC?

Any help greatly appreciated. If any of the emails would help, I could copy and paste them.

Thanks!

hollydays

Did you cash the cheque?

Oakdene

Why were you abandoned in a service station for 1 & 1/2 hours?

IndieSinger

hollydays - Don't know if they've even sent it yet. All very recent.

Oakdene - the company they contracted our recovery out to were useless. One guy towed us about 10 miles and said he'd need to swap over drivers at a service station because his shift was about to end and his wage would increase. His company didn't want to pay him overtime. There was no guy to collect us. We were then promised he was 20 minutes away, but he actually turned up over an hour and a half later, leaving us stranded. I know this was a different company, not the RAC, however they choose their contractors and the contractors represent the RAC and their service.

naedanger

IndieSinger wrote: »

Hi! I'll not bother you with the minutiae of my complaint to the RAC, just the basic details. The upshot is that I need to know who to complain to if I am unhappy with the RAC's resolution to a complaint.

When we broke down, we received terrible service from the RAC and ended up getting home (towed) 6.5hrs after breaking down. We have two young kids, one of whom is 15 months old.

Because we only have the very basic cover, we had to pay £238 to be towed. This is not the issue. The issue was with the awful service from the RAC and its contractors. At one point, we were abandoned in a service station for 1.5hrs.

I complained on the phone and was told all the calls would be listened to and the case would be reviewed.

After it was reviewed, I received an apology email and the promise of a cheque for £100. However, the apology didn't cover most of my grievances, only one small part. I also felt that £100 didn't cover my dissatisfaction.

They emailed back to say what they believe what they have offered to be fair.

On the RAC's website, it states that if you are unhappy with a complaint resolution, it may be able to be referred to the Financial Ombudsman. So I emailed back asking them to confirm that was their final response so that I could contact the Financial Ombudsman.

They replied with:

After the review, my manager has agreed with my decision and I am sorry to advise this decision remains and this is my final position. In your email you have advised you want to take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. Unfortunately these concerns do not fall under their jurisdiction.

So the question is, where do I go next? They may well be right, that this grievance doesn't fall under the Financial Ombudsman's jurisdiction, but there must be somewhere else to take a complaint about the RAC?

Any help greatly appreciated. If any of the emails would help, I could copy and paste them.

Thanks!

How did you pay for the RAC service and was the cost over £100?

If you paid by credit card and the cost was over £100 I think you can complain first to the credit card company about the bad service and ultimately to the FOS as the credit card company are jointly liable.

If you paid on debit card or the charge was less than £100 then I don't think you can complain to FOS. (You have already been compensated £100 which is the most you could claim under a chargeback.)

The only other option I know of is to take legal action. However I don't recommend it in your case as I think it will be more bother and risk than it is worth.

Oakdene

IndieSinger wrote: »

hollydays - Don't know if they've even sent it yet. All very recent.

Oakdene - the company they contracted our recovery out to were useless. One guy towed us about 10 miles and said he'd need to swap over drivers at a service station because his shift was about to end and his wage would increase. His company didn't want to pay him overtime. There was no guy to collect us. We were then promised he was 20 minutes away, but he actually turned up over an hour and a half later, leaving us stranded. I know this was a different company, not the RAC, however they choose their contractors and the contractors represent the RAC and their service.

Well Im inclined to think that in the grand scheme of things £100 compensation & an apology is fair. Yes you were left in a service station but at least you weren't left at the side of the road. It wasn't directly RAC's fault but they have apologised & offered you £100. Accept it & move on, life is far too short.

meer53

^^^ this !

What are you expecting in addition to the £100 ? I think £100 for "dissatisfaction" is more than fair.

IndieSinger

naedanger - Thanks, very helpful. We paid by debit card and a lot less than £100.

Oakdene/meer53 - Thanks for your advice. There were 8 parts to the complaint; being left at a service station with two young kids was only one part. I wasn't going to go into details of the full complaint here for brevity. Suffice to say that there was a catalogue of errors and outright lies and £100 doesn't even cover the actual cost of their mistakes, let alone any compensation for the frustration they caused.

Oakdene

IndieSinger wrote: »

naedanger - Thanks, very helpful. We paid by debit card and a lot less than £100.

Oakdene/meer53 - Thanks for your advice. There were 8 parts to the complaint; being left at a service station with two young kids was only one part. I wasn't going to go into details of the full complaint here for brevity. Suffice to say that there was a catalogue of errors and outright lies and £100 doesn't even cover the actual cost of their mistakes, let alone any compensation for the frustration they caused.

Well if you paid less than £100 they have refunded your premium & given you money on top of that. That coupled with an apology, I am not sure what more you want... You could argue that you want the amount you subsequently spent in the service station on top but I dont think you're going to get much more.

tykesi

meer53 wrote: »

^^^ this !

What are you expecting in addition to the £100 ? I think £100 for "dissatisfaction" is more than fair.

Unfortunately in this day and age people like to think of complaints to a company being a licence to print money, reality and any sense of proportion go completely out of the window. Of course £100 is fine but the OP's feelings were obviously hurt so they MUST be entitled to squillions!

pmduk

You need to check the next step of the RAC's own complaints procedure. You may well have exhausted it, not all companies have an independent ombudsman to appeal to.