Breakdown Company refused to attend - even though I was covered.

KimJongUn88

Slinky said:

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.

Imaginary losses are unrecoverable.

KimJongUn88

Nurselayer said:

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.

You can’t recover compensation for being upset.

Slinky

KimJongUn88 said:

Slinky said:

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.

Imaginary losses are unrecoverable.

What they have already offered is a goodwill gesture, I'm suggesting a lever for a more meaningful gesture.

531063

452 said:

Scrapit said:

Also 2 and half hours waiting for recovery certainly isn't unheard of. After all it was your recovery that took that long.

It's not acceptable to be on the hard shoulder for 2 1/2 hours though. 

OP could have drove car off motorway, only front lights not working

AdrianC

Nurselayer said:

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.

Except it wasn't, was it?

You'd have had the same electrical problem if they'd not mucked up the car change.
You'd have been sat in the same place waiting recovery if they'd not mucked up the car change.
You'd very likely have been sat there just as long if they'd not mucked up the car change.

Literally the only difference is that you had to make a couple more phone calls and use your g/f's recovery instead of yours.

Apart from that, you'd already had the entirety of your celebratory weekend - the fault occurred on your return trip from the weekend.

And, yes, it should be taken as a lesson in the usefulness of personal cover.
Your girlfriend had personal cover - and it got you recovered.
If you'd had personal cover, not only would you have been covered if you'd been in her car or somebody else's car, but you wouldn't have needed to change car details in the first place.
And, no, your car wasn't covered. It should have been - but it wasn't. That's the whole problem here. Somebody dropped one in changing cover from your old car to the replacement.

531063

Nurselayer said:

I was sat on the hard shoulder

Why didn't you drive off the hard shoulder, I wouldn't sit on there for 2 1/2 hours

Scrapit

452 said:

Scrapit said:

Also 2 and half hours waiting for recovery certainly isn't unheard of. After all it was your recovery that took that long.

It's not acceptable to be on the hard shoulder for 2 1/2 hours though. 

So the complaint is against RAC then?

caprikid1

Lesson learned, Green Flag is a great company that deals with customer complaints very generously. 
Personal cover whilst more expensive always avoids mistakes and errors like this.
You have no quantifiable losses, there is no way they will compensate you more than you have paid them so that is not going to happen, I suspect you spent between £45 and £100 for the level of cover you chose.
On the one hand you want compensation for the 2 1/2 hours and distress and value you time accordingly on the other you are willing to waste your valuable time chasing a fictitious compensation level.
Take the £45 and move on.

Nurselayer

Thanks everyone for your input, and some of you for your help. I went back to the insurance broker and explained I wasn't happy and that whilst the breakdown provider had sent a cheque for £45 it wasn't enough. They have now agreed to pay an extra £35 to bring the total to £80 which is enough for myself and my gf to go and enjoy a meal out together when all this is over.  

AdrianC

Nurselayer said:

Thanks everyone for your input, and some of you for your help. I went back to the insurance broker and explained I wasn't happy and that whilst the breakdown provider had sent a cheque for £45 it wasn't enough. They have now agreed to pay an extra £35 to bring the total to £80 which is enough for myself and my gf to go and enjoy a meal out together when all this is over.  

Good for them!

It's always good to hear about companies who have such seriously good customer service.