RAC only sold me their "recommended" battery and didn't disclose there were cheaper alternatives

bogstandard2

I had a flat battery, and the only battery they offered me was £215. I thought this was steep, but I needed to get back on the road, what could I do? 
I've now looked on the website to find they carry a range of batteries that fit my car, as cheap as £140. 
I believe they took advantage of my situation (that I was broken down, and my only means of shopping around was to get towed to a garage at great personal risk in a pandemic) to trap me into buying the most expensive battery, without disclosing the availability of cheaper alternatives. 
I intend to complain to this effect, but can anybody advise me of any consumer rights it may be good for me to be aware of as part of my complaint? Thank you in advance

[Deleted User]

They don't have any obligation to tell you of cheaper alternatives but you may get a goodwill gesture.

williamgriffin

Maybe they only had one for you car on the van. You can't expect them to carry every battery for every car. 

bogstandard2

williamgriffin said:

Maybe they only had one for you car on the van. You can't expect them to carry every battery for every car. 

They had to go away to get one, and come back, so could have gone to get any battery.

Spank

Did you ask if they had any cheaper batteries?

DiddyDavies

williamgriffin said:

Maybe they only had one for you car on the van. You can't expect them to carry every battery for every car. 

Exactly.
They probably only carry the more expensive and higher capacity batteries because these can be used on a far wider range of vehicles than lower capacity ones.
They could safely fit a 140Ah battery on a car that needed a 100Ah one (provided the physical size allowed for it and it's an allowable alternative)  but they shouldn't fit the lower capacity unit on a car that needed the larger one so instead of carrying 2 batteries on their van, they might just decide to have the larger one.

Aylesbury_Duck

Complain?  By all means.  Consumer rights?  I don't think so, unless the contract obliges them to always offer the cheapest available solution.

jon81uk

Did you ask if they can fit a cheaper alternative at the time?

neilmcl

So every time you go shopping then later find you could've bought the item cheaper elsewhere you make a complaint do you?

Your consumer rights have not been violated and you have no cause to complain. Maybe if you maintain your vehicle better you wouldn't find yourself in this position.

Aylesbury_Duck

bogstandard2 said:

 my only means of shopping around was to get towed to a garage at great personal risk in a pandemic

There's been an explosion in the number of posts where people are citing covid risk as reasons for not doing things that might have been sensible to do.  It seems it's being used as a get-out and a reason to expect companies to do more than they're obliged to do or would do normally.

OP, in your situation you could have asked the RAC to tow you home, from where you could have bought a battery online and either fitted it yourself or had a mobile mechanic come and fit it.  

CardinalWolsey

The mistake the OP has made is in buying the product from the RAC. Like any service / good that you need immediately, the provider will sell at a premium, whether that be a car battery, door lock etc. In this case though, they may find that the RAC's battery may be better value over the life of the battery, as it will last longer than one half its price (perhaps).