RAC Breakdown complaint

markjames

I am thinking of taking the RAC to the small claims court and opinions for and against would be much appreciated. At 08.43hrs on 7/1/20 I called the RAC following a puncture, I was advised that the wait would be up to 90 minutes which I accepted. At 08:48hrs I received a text saying an update would be sent soon (no text update was received). At 09:48hrs I received a call to say the estimated time of rescue would now be 12-12.30pm. I asked them to arrange a local firm as the wait was unacceptable and to call me back in 10mins. I was told no alternative would be arranged and to expect a call back in 1 hour. No further calls were received. In the meantime I called a local firm who came out within 15 minutes, took my wheel off, took me to a tyre depot and then replaced my wheel. At 11.15am I called RAC and told them I had sorted the issue and there was no need to come.
I sent a complaint to RAC requesting a refund of the alternative breakdown service (£82.50 their fee only, not the cost of a new tyre), a refund of my annual fee as I felt I could no longer trust them in the future and an amount at their discretion for my inconvenience. This was rejected. I sent them 10 questions directly relating to the matter but only received copy and paste generic answers with a final decision notice. I know it is a petty amount and perhaps it is silly to be worked up about it but I feel really badly treated by them. I very much appreciate if others feel this was fair service by the RAC or whether they have failed in their duty of care.

oldernonethewiser

markjames wrote: »

I am thinking of taking the RAC to the small claims court and opinions for and against would be much appreciated. At 08.43hrs on 7/1/20 I called the RAC following a puncture, I was advised that the wait would be up to 90 minutes which I accepted. At 08:48hrs I received a text saying an update would be sent soon (no text update was received). At 09:48hrs I received a call to say the estimated time of rescue would now be 12-12.30pm. I asked them to arrange a local firm as the wait was unacceptable and to call me back in 10mins. I was told no alternative would be arranged and to expect a call back in 1 hour. No further calls were received. In the meantime I called a local firm who came out within 15 minutes, took my wheel off, took me to a tyre depot and then replaced my wheel. At 11.15am I called RAC and told them I had sorted the issue and there was no need to come.
I sent a complaint to RAC requesting a refund of the alternative breakdown service (£82.50), a refund of my annual fee as I felt I could no longer trust them in the future and an amount at their discretion for my inconvenience. This was rejected. I sent them 10 questions directly relating to the matter but only received copy and paste generic answers with a final decision notice. I know it is a petty amount and perhaps it is silly to be worked up about it but I feel really badly treated by them. I very much appreciate if others feel this was fair service by the RAC or whether they have failed in their duty of care.

I am pretty sure they don't guarantee a time frame to come and sort an issue so I think you are on a hiding to nothing.



You chose not to wait and made your own arrangements.


I will not be renewing with them as I had to wait over 8 hours the last time I had an issue.



I did get money off them for my enforced overnight and onward transport costs but they took their time about sorting it out.

Aylesbury_Duck

Just use another provider if you don't think they looked after you properly, but I don't think four hours is totally excessive in some circumstances. If you were in a particularly dangerous situation then maybe it's a long time to wait. For many people and when in safe circumstances, a puncture is something they could and should be able to deal with themselves if the alternative was a four hour wait but I appreciate that not everyone has the ability to do so.

The problem with such services is that demand can fluctuate wildly and in order for them to be able to guarantee maximum waiting times they'd need a fleet of often redundant vans and personnel on standby which in turn would make your premium(s) much higher. I suspect that even if you were to try out one of the competitors, there'd be no certainty that the same thing wouldn't happen.

You may want to consider one of the gunk-in-a-can products that can deal with most minor flats and get you running so you can get to a tyre place. Wilko did one for £3.50 last time I looked. Stick one of those in the boot. Much better than changing a tyre on a wet and windy roadside or sitting waiting for recovery to do it for you.

markjames

I know they don't have a guaranteed rescue time. They sold me the policy stating 90% are rescued within 30-45 minutes. Wouldn't a reasonable man (the definition a court uses) consider an unconfirmed rescue time of 3 1/4 to 3 3/4 hours is too long. How long should I have waited before making my own arrangements? There are so many horror stories about the RAC online with much longer waits than mine (such as yours) I don't think they should be able to hide under an unfair term of no guaranteed rescue time.

markjames

The car came with the gunk but the tyre was wrecked by driving into a pothole and Honda doesn't provide a spare. I have bought a spare and tool kit now.

Tigsteroonie

markjames wrote: »

I sent a complaint to RAC requesting a refund of the alternative breakdown service (£82.50 their fee only, not the cost of a new tyre), a refund of my annual fee as I felt I could no longer trust them in the future and an amount at their discretion for my inconvenience.

But that would be refunding you twice, meaning that you pay NOTHING for the breakdown. You should ask either for a refund of the costs you paid to the alternate service, or they refund you the annual fee, not both.

Inconvenience? It's not their fault you broke down.

Aylesbury_Duck

markjames wrote: »

I know they don't have a guaranteed rescue time. They sold me the policy stating 90% are rescued within 30-45 minutes. Wouldn't a reasonable man (the definition a court uses) consider an unconfirmed rescue time of 3 1/4 to 3 3/4 hours is too long. How long should I have waited before making my own arrangements? There are so many horror stories about the RAC online with much longer waits then mine (such as yours) I don't think they should be able to hide under an unfair term of no guaranteed rescue time.

There would be a flaw in your reasoning, though. It's perfectly possible for 90% of cases to be dealt with in 30-45 minutes AND for some cases to take hours. They're not mutually exclusive and nor is it deceptive to state that statistic.

How long should you have waited? Up to you, but to use your 'reasonable man' example, I don't think 3-4 hours is too long under the terms of their service.

If there are so many horror stories, why did you buy a policy from them? You do have to consider that people are far more likely to relay their horror stories online than they are to post the "it was all fine, I was up and running in 30 minutes" type of story.

Aylesbury_Duck

markjames wrote: »

The car came with the gunk but the tyre was wrecked by driving into a pothole and Honda doesn't provide a spare. I have bought a spare and tool kit now.

Ah....now more details are emerging.

Who owns the car and decided to drive about without a spare tyre?
Who owns the car and decided to drive around without the tools to change a wheel?

I'm afraid that relying on breakdown services for a problem that you could have foreseen but did nothing about mitigating was unwise. I know someone with a Honda and the first thing they did when they bought it was to source a spare wheel and tyre off ebay.

lincroft1710

markjames wrote: »

The car came with the gunk but the tyre was wrecked by driving into a pothole and Honda doesn't provide a spare. I have bought a spare and tool kit now.

Not so very long ago, the major breakdown providers would not attend to punctures, unless a "serviceable spare was carried".

giraffe69

Irrespective of the performance of the RAC I've no idea why anyone in their right mind would travel around either with no spare or only with a can of gunk. My car came with a only a free can unless I paid more so the first thing I did was buy a spare and kit.

markjames

True. But when you open the boot well compartment of your new car for the first time and there is no spare wheel and when every car you've bought over the last 40 years has always had one, it takes you by surprise. As said I've corrected it now.