Have I got a case

eastham

REF: Membership reference:B757
Case reference: UF71968873

My experience with the RAC has caused me great stress and anxiety. I feel the service has been poor and everytime I call I have to speak to someone else who can't deal with it. Each time I call I get told they will send me an email to the customer care team, but still no one gets back to me for days. I have asked for managers but been told on numerous occasions there are no managers to deal with this. I feel like I'm stuck and no ones wanting to deal with this when its the RAC fault.
1) On the 26th July 2021 I broke down in Wales. I waited 6 hours on the dual carriage way with my 7 year old daughter for a tow truck, only to be told they had none that day. When I called them back they said I needed to arrange onward travel, but why could they not have explained this when I called at 12pm.
2) I was told my car would be with me then next day/ Saturday, I called the next day as my car was not back I spoke to two different people who didn't know what was going on, I finally got told oh sorry we still no trucks available. I explained to them over the phone that they are putting my car at risk of being compounded but they didn't care.
3) I called back Sunday to chase up again where my car was, and each time having to explain myself again and on hold. I was told the job was completed so I drove to my local garage yet still no car was there.
4) I called the RAC back again explaining myself. I was then told they had been to get my car but it had vanished. My anxiety at this point was high and I was upset. They told me inhad to call all the police compounds in Wales to find my vehicle when it was due to their negligence it had been compounded. I suffer with anxiety and told them this, saying they should be doing this but they refused. After another hour on the phone distressed I found my car in Llandudno compound. I then had to call the RAC back to get it released. This took days, then a further week to bring back to Bolton. Once st my local garage finally to be looked at, I had a call there where no keys to my vehicle.
5) You just could not write this, they had left my keys to my car on the motorway, and offered to pay for a taxi for me to go have a look for them on the hard shoulder 😱
6) I refused they them got the RAC patrol guy to go and look and guess what he found them, they had been totally crushed and drove over. So now my car could not be fixed due to the garage being unable to start my engine. My car was a BMW, after days of phoning the RAC and the garage back and forth me getting the quotes etc they decided pay for new keys to be made.
7) The keys where made however they still didn't work as apparently they needed to be programmed and my BMW now needs a new box in so the keys link and can be programmed as there is no active key.
8) I am still trying to call customer service and have emailed them to authorise this, but yet again 2 days and nothing. No one is calling me back, I've sent emails. I have been without a car now 6weeks and it has had a huge impact on my daily life. I only had 1 week off from placement to take my daughter to the zoo and away, and to drop her off for child care, in which I rely on my car for. It has cost me money for taxi, month insurance and tax when its been un driveable and ruined our summer holidays. I am seriously thinking of taking this to court. I would re think about going with the RAC as when something really goes wrong they don't want to know and takes weeks to deal with it not realising the impact it has on others.

mattyprice4004

Blimey, that's a heck of a situation!
I would work out exactly what it has cost so far - if you want to take anything to court you need to have a firm number in mind (with breakdown, and not with a random £500 slapped on there for 'suffering' etc) and you also need to have proven you've attempted to let them rectify the issue first. 

Get a total (and include an hourly rate for telephoning / legwork) worked out, and give them 14 days to reply and sort it out for good - then take to Small Claims if you wish. 
If the car isn't yet repaired, you don't know the total - so I would wait until it's sorted. 

theonlywayisup

eastham said:

REF: Membership reference:B757
Case reference: UF71968873

My experience with the RAC has caused me great stress and anxiety. I feel the service has been poor and everytime I call I have to speak to someone else who can't deal with it. Each time I call I get told they will send me an email to the customer care team, but still no one gets back to me for days. I have asked for managers but been told on numerous occasions there are no managers to deal with this. I feel like I'm stuck and no ones wanting to deal with this when its the RAC fault.
1) On the 26th July 2021 I broke down in Wales. I waited 6 hours on the dual carriage way with my 7 year old daughter for a tow truck, only to be told they had none that day. When I called them back they said I needed to arrange onward travel, but why could they not have explained this when I called at 12pm.
2) I was told my car would be with me then next day/ Saturday, I called the next day as my car was not back I spoke to two different people who didn't know what was going on, I finally got told oh sorry we still no trucks available. I explained to them over the phone that they are putting my car at risk of being compounded but they didn't care.
3) I called back Sunday to chase up again where my car was, and each time having to explain myself again and on hold. I was told the job was completed so I drove to my local garage yet still no car was there.
4) I called the RAC back again explaining myself. I was then told they had been to get my car but it had vanished. My anxiety at this point was high and I was upset. They told me inhad to call all the police compounds in Wales to find my vehicle when it was due to their negligence it had been compounded. I suffer with anxiety and told them this, saying they should be doing this but they refused. After another hour on the phone distressed I found my car in Llandudno compound. I then had to call the RAC back to get it released. This took days, then a further week to bring back to Bolton. Once st my local garage finally to be looked at, I had a call there where no keys to my vehicle.
5) You just could not write this, they had left my keys to my car on the motorway, and offered to pay for a taxi for me to go have a look for them on the hard shoulder 😱
6) I refused they them got the RAC patrol guy to go and look and guess what he found them, they had been totally crushed and drove over. So now my car could not be fixed due to the garage being unable to start my engine. My car was a BMW, after days of phoning the RAC and the garage back and forth me getting the quotes etc they decided pay for new keys to be made.
7) The keys where made however they still didn't work as apparently they needed to be programmed and my BMW now needs a new box in so the keys link and can be programmed as there is no active key.
8) I am still trying to call customer service and have emailed them to authorise this, but yet again 2 days and nothing. No one is calling me back, I've sent emails. I have been without a car now 6weeks and it has had a huge impact on my daily life. I only had 1 week off from placement to take my daughter to the zoo and away, and to drop her off for child care, in which I rely on my car for. It has cost me money for taxi, month insurance and tax when its been un driveable and ruined our summer holidays. I am seriously thinking of taking this to court. I would re think about going with the RAC as when something really goes wrong they don't want to know and takes weeks to deal with it not realising the impact it has on others.

Can you not use the vehicle you drove to the garage in whilst you pursue any claim?

sheramber

Have you followed the complaints procedure?

https://www.rac.co.uk/complaints

dcfc67

Are you in a trade union, if so most have legal teams to support members. no win no fee and you keep 100% unlike these where theres blame theres a claim rip off merchants who take 30% 

MalMonroe

What an absolutely awful experience! Yes, you certainly do have a case.

I'd do as mattyprice4004 suggests above, you have written down everything that's happened, so you only need to adjust a few sentences to send a letter to their complaints section. 

Follow RAC's guidelines for complaints - although I know that that must really be very frustrating but it does look as if you will be able to escalate things to the Financial Ombudsman, which is good and will cost you nothing. 

I wouldn't try taking them to court just yet because you will have to pay and also you will probably have to wait until the case actually comes to court, which could be much longer than waiting for the Ombudsman's involvement. 

That doesn't really help your current circumstances though so I'd get on to RAC and ask them for a courtesy car in the meantime. It's worth a try. I would call them and call them until they gave me the answer I wanted.

I'm with the RAC and have to say that the level of service I've received from them has always been first class so I'm really disappointed to hear about this fiasco. 

Sometimes insurance policies come with free legal advice, if yours has it you may want to try contacting them too?

Manxman_in_exile

MalMonroe said:

...Follow RAC's guidelines for complaints - although I know that that must really be very frustrating but it does look as if you will be able to escalate things to the Financial Ombudsman, which is good and will cost you nothing. ..

???????????????

Zinger549

Manxman_in_exile said:

MalMonroe said:

...Follow RAC's guidelines for complaints - although I know that that must really be very frustrating but it does look as if you will be able to escalate things to the Financial Ombudsman, which is good and will cost you nothing. ..

???????????????

Don't expect a reply. User has a habit of posting "advice" and not coming back to a thread (see signature).

MattMattMattUK

Zinger549 said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

MalMonroe said:

...Follow RAC's guidelines for complaints - although I know that that must really be very frustrating but it does look as if you will be able to escalate things to the Financial Ombudsman, which is good and will cost you nothing. ..

???????????????

Don't expect a reply. User has a habit of posting "advice" and not coming back to a thread (see signature).

I think everyone who has been on this forum has an idea of the kind of "help" this poster proffers, almost always "nice", but equally almost always "inaccurate". 

sheramber

Manxman_in_exile said:

MalMonroe said:

...Follow RAC's guidelines for complaints - although I know that that must really be very frustrating but it does look as if you will be able to escalate things to the Financial Ombudsman, which is good and will cost you nothing. ..

???????????????

From the link above

If you remain unhappy

In certain circumstances, if you are unhappy with our final response or we do not issue you with a final response in writing within 8 weeks of you contacting us with your concerns, you may be able to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Details of your rights will be provided to you as appropriate in your case.

Manxman_in_exile

sheramber said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

MalMonroe said:

...Follow RAC's guidelines for complaints - although I know that that must really be very frustrating but it does look as if you will be able to escalate things to the Financial Ombudsman, which is good and will cost you nothing. ..

???????????????

From the link above

If you remain unhappy

In certain circumstances, if you are unhappy with our final response or we do not issue you with a final response in writing within 8 weeks of you contacting us with your concerns, you may be able to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Details of your rights will be provided to you as appropriate in your case.

But that's to do with the purchase from RAC of financial products like car insurance, isn't it?  The FOS won't be interested in how the RAC run their breakdown service, will they?  (Perhaps they will... ?)