RAC Ongoing Complaint

RickC182

Hi all,

I'll try and be as concise as possible and hope someone can give me some advice.

On 6th September 2019 my windscreen wipers stopped working as I was driving and as such, I pulled over and called RAC who came out to my vehicle.

The engineer got into the drivers side of the car and basically jiggled the stalk control up and down a few times until the wipers started working. He suggested that it looks like the connections just needed clicking in properly (verbatim). The wiper controls worked up to speed setting 3 (the fastest) and the engineer suggested that I am fine to drive as they are now working.

A couple of days later the wipers completely seized and had to be completely repaired (motor, mechanism and all) and the fault was nothing to do with the wiper control on the stalk.

I felt that I was given incorrect information and a poor standard of service was given (the engineer didn't look at any other possibility about why my wipers may be struggling to work).

I have since emailed RAC and spoken to them numerous times on the phone and have still not had an update (despite their 20 working day turn around policy).

Are there any other avenues I can go down to pursue this, because I feel that the bad advice has left me out of pocket and the service I received was not adequate.

Cheers.

davidmcn

What exactly did you pay them for? If it was "to get you home" then they achieved that by getting the wipers temporarily working (and I expect the alternative would have been towing you). Or did your cover include replacing the motor etc if necessary?

Aylesbury_Duck

The RAC aren't a substitute for preventative or permanent corrective maintenance. They got you home. That's what you pay them for unless you have some sort of extra cover level. I suspect the motor and/or mechanism was on the way out and a bit of jiggling or even just time did enough to get you home. You're responsible from that point and it would have been wise to check them properly rather than just assuming they were permanently fixed.

I can't see what they've done wrong unless you have a policy that includes full repair of such components.

bigisi

How has it left you out of pocket?

They wouldn't have fixed it for free if they had diagnosed it as a seized motor.

How much compo are you after for the obvious 'distress'?

JJ_Egan

Fairly normal for first look wiper problem to be the connections .


I dont believe your RAC covers you for what you think it does .

RickC182

To add, I pay the Premium service at £16 per month. The guy who sold this to me suggested they will seek to repair the vehicle if possible.

I appreciate that the mechanism may have been on the way out anyway, but I'm not the expert, he is, suggesting that my wipers are fine to me would mean that he has identified the issue and solved it. He didn't suggest to me that any further action was needed.

oldagetraveller

My thoughts are that the RAC are not there to fully diagnose a problem or fault with your vehicle, but to get you going in the event of a breakdown.
He got the wipers working and it looks like his advice re being good to drive was correct. It got you going and they lasted for a couple of days. He could only offer an opinion as to what was wrong, not a definitive answer.
If jiggling the stalk started them working again, that would have been my initial thought, a dodgy stalk or connection in or to the stalk.
Why has it left you out of pocket? They would have required replacing/repairing anyway in spite of what the RAC told you.
He did all that was necessary and got you going and able to reach your destination.
Sorry, I doubt you will get far with this, the RAC are a breakdown service. What more could he do anyway?Did you expect a full diagnosis and for him to source and fit a complete wiper mechanism?

foxtrotoscar_2

RickC182 wrote: »

Hi all,

I'll try and be as concise as possible and hope someone can give me some advice.

On 6th September 2019 my windscreen wipers stopped working as I was driving and as such, I pulled over and called RAC who came out to my vehicle.

The engineer got into the drivers side of the car and basically jiggled the stalk control up and down a few times until the wipers started working. He suggested that it looks like the connections just needed clicking in properly (verbatim). The wiper controls worked up to speed setting 3 (the fastest) and the engineer suggested that I am fine to drive as they are now working.

A couple of days later the wipers completely seized and had to be completely repaired (motor, mechanism and all) and the fault was nothing to do with the wiper control on the stalk.

I felt that I was given incorrect information and a poor standard of service was given (the engineer didn't look at any other possibility about why my wipers may be struggling to work).

I have since emailed RAC and spoken to them numerous times on the phone and have still not had an update (despite their 20 working day turn around policy).

Are there any other avenues I can go down to pursue this, because I feel that the bad advice has left me out of pocket and the service I received was not adequate.
how
Cheers.

Quoted....before it get deleted.
The RAC are a breakdown service and they did their job.
How are you out of pocket?

gettingtheresometime

foxtrotoscar wrote: »

Quoted....before it get deleted.
The RAC are a breakdown service and they did their job.
How are you out of pocket?

I'm guessing the OP feels that they are out of pocket because they eventually had to pay to get the issue completely fixed rather than have the RAC completely fix the problem 'free'.

RickC182

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

I'm guessing the OP feels that they are out of pocket because they eventually had to pay to get the issue completely fixed rather than have the RAC completely fix the problem 'free'.

I don't expect them to repair anything for "free" my issue is with the service received in regards to the information I was given by their engineer.

If they diagnose something that turns out to be something else (without inspecting any other element on the vehicle) then how is that adequate service?

bigisi

RickC182 wrote: »

If they diagnose something that turns out to be something else (without inspecting any other element on the vehicle) then how is that adequate service?

Completely irrelevant because they wouldn't fix it anyway and even if they did you'd still be paying for the parts so again, you're not out of pocket.