Likely cause? Breakdown company refusing to come out (Emergency Assist Ltd)

Taiko

Hoping someone can help in the meantime, but had a bit of a car nightmare this evening. 
Driving along around 20-30mph, and the car splutters and stalls. Have a quarter tank of fuel in at the moment, and last drove it on Sunday. Started again, but just wouldn't pull away for a while, leaving me stuck in a junction of a dual carriageway. After a bit of trying, I managed to get enough revs to get some momentum, and got it off the main road and into a layby. 

I have a policy with Emergency Assist Ltd for homestart and recovery. In December, I had to call them as the car didn't start at all, and after some initial arguments with them suggesting my policy was invalid because I use my car for commuting to a place of work, which they deemed as business use, they eventually relented. Recovery came out, deemed it was a faulty battery, jump started me and followed me to Halfords where a replacement was fitted straight away. Car has driven fine since then. 

Emergency Assist were called tonight, and are refusing to attend unless I pay them £90. They cite the policy documents, which I've reviewed and confirm a maximum of 6 callouts in a year, this would be my 2nd. The paragraph they state for why they won't send as the following:

5. If requested You must provide evidence of your Vehicle’s MOT (where applicable) and/or receipts/invoices for any work that has been undertaken as a result of a Breakdown or in the recent past. 6. Further to point 5 above, any Breakdown as a result of inadequate repair, unsuccessful DIY or any previous Breakdown We have attended in the last 3 months where the fault is in Our opinion the same, related or similar, and where no remedial action has been taken to correct the fault, shall be attended on a paid basis only. 
The key point in that to me seems to be the use of "and"; a recovery operator attended, diagnosed the fault and I had this replaced by a reputable company on the same day. 
So, two questions really:
1 - What could the potential problem be? 
2- Am I right in thinking that Emergency Assist are wrong in their interpretation of their own policy?

Herzlos

I'm surprised you're still with them after the first argument, but what did they say the reason was? Or did they just reference the policy documents?

I'd assume they are claiming this sounds like the first callout and are using that to refuse, however you (1) got the battery changed after that callout and (2) a dead battery wouldn't let you limp anywhere, it just wouldn't start.

Taiko

They did just reference the policy documents. I actually asked them to email me so I had something in writing after the call, for which they wrote:
your fault on the 31/12/2021 was for a non start and the fault today 04/02/2021 was cut out loss of power, due to these faults being potentially related we would only attend on a precautionary payment which means if the faults come back from 31/12 and the 04/02 unrelated then we will refund the costs in full to yourself. 

I called the recovery company they sent last time, got the same guy and he remembered it all as definitely a dead battery jump. Check engine light was on, but was able to reverse it out of the layby under it's own power. Recovery truck then followed me in taking it to my usual garage and dropped me home, charging half the cost that Emergency Assist wanted. Weirdly, it drove perfectly fine there, no issues whatsoever. Still, dropped it with them and left the spare key for them to take a look. 

Grumpy_chap

Was the flat battery back in December?
And the spluttering to a halt this evening?

Taiko

That's correct. Flat battery on the 31st Dec, jump started then and replaced the same day, and the 2nd issue was tonight. Left me stuck in the middle of this trying to get it to pull away! 

Sandtree

Their policy says you cannot call them out twice for the same thing, because on the surface of your description (and you are talking to a call centre agent rather than a mechanic) it could be the same problem they require you to pay the call out fee in advance. If it turns out not to be the same problem then they will refund that fee.

Clearly they could do it the other way around and give you the benefit of the doubt but then chase you for the money after the call out should the recovery chap say its one and the same issue.

Firstly their position is fairly understandable as getting the money after a service has already been provided can be difficult and why most companies want paying in advance. Secondly, it give you the option up front to go elsewhere and not risk the £90 if you think it may be the same problem because as you've found paying a local company directly is cheaper..

HansOndabush

I don't think their position is understandable at all. The first call out was diagnosed as a battery problem and that has been replaced. In this second scenario, the OP did start the car but had trouble revving; so the battery was OK because the car started.

Anyway the point of breakdown cover is that it is there when you need it NOT for them to argue the toss about even attending.

You could take them to the small claims court to recoup your premium and expenses as they are in breach of contract imho.

As to your vehicle problem, not enough information to hazard a guess I'm afraid.

AdrianC

HansOndabush said:

Anyway the point of breakdown cover is that it is there when you need it NOT for them to argue the toss about even attending.

Breakdown cover from £24/year.
https://emergencyassistltd.co.uk/
Six callouts would be "Premium" membership - from £33/year.
https://emergencyassistltd.co.uk/premium/

For that price, how high do you want your expectations to be?

Sandtree

HansOndabush said:

I don't think their position is understandable at all. The first call out was diagnosed as a battery problem and that has been replaced. In this second scenario, the OP did start the car but had trouble revving; so the battery was OK because the car started.

You are talking about a call centre agent here having to make the call on if it could or definitely isnt the same problem and they have to consider the fact that a battery problem may have not been the right diagnosis or the battery problem was caused by another issue that was never repaired and still causing problems.

As they said, the call out charge is refundable if its not the same issue.

Car_54

HansOndabush said:

As to your vehicle problem, not enough information to hazard a guess I'm afraid.

I would hazard a guess that the original problem certainly wasn't the battery.

Herzlos

Car_54 said:

HansOndabush said:

As to your vehicle problem, not enough information to hazard a guess I'm afraid.

I would hazard a guess that the original problem certainly wasn't the battery.

The mechanic diagnosed it as a battery, a new battery was fitted and the car was fine for a while, so it's fair to assume that issue was the battery. The only common denominator here is "car won't move" and that probably covers most breakdowns.

Though with a £33/year break down plan I expect them to exclude just about everything and fight hard to reject any claim since a single claim is going to lose them money.