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Breakdown Company refused to attend - even though I was covered.
Nurselayer
Posts: 105 Forumite
in Motoring
Hi folks,
I hope this is the appropriate place for this. I took out an annual breakdown policy on my car with a company that were recommended on here. As I understand it they are a broker and they then subcontract the actual cover to various different companies. I paid them though. Halfway through the cover I bought a new car and made sure I changed the cover over to the new car. A couple of months ago it was my birthday (and it was my gf's birthday a week later), to celebrate our birthdays my gf and I went away for the weekend and stayed in a hotel and then on the way home we arranged a birthday dinner at Miller and Carters Steak restaurant (which was superb). On the way home from there though the car lost all front lights. We had to pull over to the hard shoulder of the motorway. I told my gf not to panic (she was driving) because I had breakdown cover.
I rang the breakdown cover emergency number and the person at the end told me that my car wasn't covered by them, but by a different company - they gave me the number to ring and I rang them. They seemed helpful and told me that a breakdown truck was on its way. Then 5 minutes later they rang and told me that my car wasn't covered, only my old car was covered. If I wanted breakdown assistance I'd have to pay £170. I told them that I was sure I'd changed the vehicle covered but they were adamant.
My gf is now in tears because she thinks we are going to be stranded and because we are stuck on the hard shoulder with lorries thundering past. Then she remembers that she might be covered by her bank account. She rings them and we are indeed covered on her policy however it takes the RAC 2 1/2 hours to come and recover us.
What with the stress and the tears and not getting home until hours later than I'd expected it really did ruin our weekend.
I make a complaint to my breakdown company as soon as I got back. They merely passed it on to the breakdown recovery provider who emailed me and told me that I wasn't covered. I then went back to my breakdown company and they said I was covered and they'd sort this. Originally they came back and offered £25 compensation, they told me they were sorry but gave no explanation for what had happened, I told them this was in no way acceptable. They then offered me £35 as compensation if I cancelled my policy with them. I told them that a) this was unacceptable and b) I didn't want to cancel my cover. Still no explanation. I then asked for their formal complaints procedure as I wanted to take this further. They came back to me and asked what I'd like as compensation and I said that in the past when I'd had a problem with Green Flag they'd sent me a box of 12 bottle of wine. I suggested that'd be acceptable, or a voucher for a meal for 2 at Miller and Carter, or a voucher for a 1 night hotel stay at a spa hotel. I feel that all of these things would be appropriate recompense for the upset that they'd caused.
The breakdown recovery provider have recently emailed me and told me they've sent me a cheque for £45. I still don't think this is acceptable. Firstly, I believe that I should be dealing with the breakdown company as it's them that I paid, secondly, I don't think that £45 is sufficient compensation for ending up on the side of the road for 2 1/2 hours with a crying and upset girlfriend on a day when we were supposed to be celebrating our birthdays. What should I do? I feel that whilst I've been asked what I'd consider acceptable, the recovery company have ignored that. The broker is now asking if I'm satisfied, and I am very obviously not. Advise please.
I hope this is the appropriate place for this. I took out an annual breakdown policy on my car with a company that were recommended on here. As I understand it they are a broker and they then subcontract the actual cover to various different companies. I paid them though. Halfway through the cover I bought a new car and made sure I changed the cover over to the new car. A couple of months ago it was my birthday (and it was my gf's birthday a week later), to celebrate our birthdays my gf and I went away for the weekend and stayed in a hotel and then on the way home we arranged a birthday dinner at Miller and Carters Steak restaurant (which was superb). On the way home from there though the car lost all front lights. We had to pull over to the hard shoulder of the motorway. I told my gf not to panic (she was driving) because I had breakdown cover.
I rang the breakdown cover emergency number and the person at the end told me that my car wasn't covered by them, but by a different company - they gave me the number to ring and I rang them. They seemed helpful and told me that a breakdown truck was on its way. Then 5 minutes later they rang and told me that my car wasn't covered, only my old car was covered. If I wanted breakdown assistance I'd have to pay £170. I told them that I was sure I'd changed the vehicle covered but they were adamant.
My gf is now in tears because she thinks we are going to be stranded and because we are stuck on the hard shoulder with lorries thundering past. Then she remembers that she might be covered by her bank account. She rings them and we are indeed covered on her policy however it takes the RAC 2 1/2 hours to come and recover us.
What with the stress and the tears and not getting home until hours later than I'd expected it really did ruin our weekend.
I make a complaint to my breakdown company as soon as I got back. They merely passed it on to the breakdown recovery provider who emailed me and told me that I wasn't covered. I then went back to my breakdown company and they said I was covered and they'd sort this. Originally they came back and offered £25 compensation, they told me they were sorry but gave no explanation for what had happened, I told them this was in no way acceptable. They then offered me £35 as compensation if I cancelled my policy with them. I told them that a) this was unacceptable and b) I didn't want to cancel my cover. Still no explanation. I then asked for their formal complaints procedure as I wanted to take this further. They came back to me and asked what I'd like as compensation and I said that in the past when I'd had a problem with Green Flag they'd sent me a box of 12 bottle of wine. I suggested that'd be acceptable, or a voucher for a meal for 2 at Miller and Carter, or a voucher for a 1 night hotel stay at a spa hotel. I feel that all of these things would be appropriate recompense for the upset that they'd caused.
The breakdown recovery provider have recently emailed me and told me they've sent me a cheque for £45. I still don't think this is acceptable. Firstly, I believe that I should be dealing with the breakdown company as it's them that I paid, secondly, I don't think that £45 is sufficient compensation for ending up on the side of the road for 2 1/2 hours with a crying and upset girlfriend on a day when we were supposed to be celebrating our birthdays. What should I do? I feel that whilst I've been asked what I'd consider acceptable, the recovery company have ignored that. The broker is now asking if I'm satisfied, and I am very obviously not. Advise please.
0
Comments
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A meal.at Miller and Carter, whilst not the best steak house by a long chalk will probbaly cost more than your cover. Ditto a spa, if not even more so. Not sure about the wine, antifreeze plonk is probbaly cheaper, decent stuff probbably not. Just agree a figure and get shot.1
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So far you are relying on the good will of the company and that seems to have taken you to £45.
If you are dead set on getting more then you have 2 courses of action I can see:
1. Be a pain in the butt (maybe loudly on social media or via a newspaper consumer advise column)
2. Sue
1. is effective and free. If you pursue 2. then you may well find that as you haven't suffered any out of pocket expenses you don't get anything apart from a fat legal bill.0 -
Take the £45. There's nothing else you can do unless you want to issue Court proceedings. Then how would you quantify your loss. Take the money and get over it.
1 -
How much was the meal? £100? Maybe go back and ask for that.0
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What's your actual loss? A bit of inconvenience, with your GF having to use her breakdown cover instead of you using yours. (And a useful lesson in having personal cover instead of vehicle-specific)
That's it.
Yes, somebody's clearly dropped one with the change of car. Was it the broker or the insurer? <shrug>
Take the money that's being offered, and make a mental note to move elsewhere when the cover expires.2 -
Also 2 and half hours waiting for recovery certainly isn't unheard of. After all it was your recovery that took that long.1
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I remember hard sholders1
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The point needs making to the original company that but for the cover your girlfriend had, you would have ended up paying £170 to be towed off by another recovery agent. If you had paid that they would now be owing you that £170 as they should have covered you, so perhaps something closer to £170 would be a better gesture.
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What I'm asking for is probably more expensive than my cover but it is to compensate me not only for the time that I was sat on the hard shoulder, but for the upset caused and that my birthday was ruined because of their actions. At this stage it's still at an informal level. Are there ways of escalating this? Should I be contacting the ABI for example?
As for it being a "useful lesson" what utter nonsense, I was covered, my car was covered, I'd done nothing wrong so please don't tell me that it's a useful lesson because they could equally have told me I wasn't covered if I'd got personal cover - what had happened was an error by their the broker or the recovery company.0
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