Appalling service from RAC

microstar

I and my two daughters have all been individual members of the RAC for many years. None of us has had reason to call the RAC until today.

Today my elder daughter was driving alone on a minor road in rural Lincolnshire when she suffered a blowout. She called me to ask what to do (I am 100 miles away). I told her to contact the RAC for assistance in putting the spare on (she has a spare, but she's smaller than average and probably doesn't have the physical strength to safely change a wheel).
Her phone data signal wasn't strong enough to be able to use the online breakdown reporting system (she said the website was just 'hanging').
She eventually got through to someone at the RAC Call Centre and was told that 'if she felt unsafe or vulnerable' she should call the police.  No RAC assistance could be given......!  She was very distressed.
She waited by her car and luckily managed to flag down a passing driver who put the spare on for her.
This is absolutely appalling service from the RAC and try to 'pass the buck' to the police is not acceptable.
Needless to say none of us will be renewing with RAC breakdown and we'll be relating this experience to as many others as possible!

fuzzything

They do change your wheel for you, so I’m struggling to understand what happened when your daughter called them.

This is from the RAC’s Breakdown cover guide:

https://www.rac.co.uk/breakdown-cover/breakdown-cover-guide

Q. Can you call breakdown for a flat tyre?

If you get a flat tyre we’ll come out to help you. We’ll repair the tyre if we can, or we’ll fit your spare wheel for you.

elsien

What reason was she given that they couldn’t come out and help with the tyre change? I always call the RAC to change the tyre if I’ve got a puncture away from home, for similar small person reasons.
It reads as if she told them she was vulnerable, and they said that if she felt particularly unsafe then to call the police, but that’s completely different to them refusing to come out at all. In my experience they do try to prioritise lone women, but that still can mean quite a long wait on a busy day.
I’m suspecting some miscommunication here somewhere.

sheramber

Did she explain she needed a tyre changed?

it sounds like they only got the message she felt unsafe and vulnerable, perhaps due to poor reception.

WellKnownSid

Speaking from a recent RAC experience it will be down to having no availability in the area.

I had a recent breakdown in a city (EPB stuck on, and I had no tools on me to remove the failed motor and wind back the calliper) and after saying they would be there within 30 minutes, the slot changed three times until they phoned (after two further hours) to tell me they had no-one in the area (it's a city, I'd counted six RAC vans pass me in that time...) and ask if they could pass me on to a "trusted local contractor".

I agreed and said contractor duly turned up in under five minutes and sorted everything out professionally.  Even torqued the wheel up properly.

Alfrescodave

Have you actually spoken to someone at the RAC and asked what the reason was for their no- show? It may have been a misunderstanding of the situation.

daivid

I also wonder about miscommunication here. 

Further to that who will you and your family go with in the future? I understand not wanting to reward poor service but look  up any breakdown provider and you will find horror stories, are the ones with the most the worst or just the biggest? I have family members with 20+ years of positive experiences with RAC, very possibly down to luck of where and when they've needed assistance. I've had universally positive experience of Autoaid but all my call outs have been within 5 miles of one particular sub-contractor who are well established and run. With any provider how will you know what they are like for you until you need them?

Johnmcl7

Difficult to rate breakdown services for those reasons but I had to use the RAC last year and it wasn't just the time taken to reach me (they never did, I had to give up) but the abysmal communication with no estimation or idea when a patrol would get to me.  I'm paying much less for a different breakdown company now and even if they're just as bad, at least it's cheaper get stood up.

Username03725

microstar said:

Needless to say none of us will be renewing with RAC breakdown and we'll be relating this experience to as many others as possible!

Well needless to say your anecdote beats the RAC's years of being one of the UK's biggest recovery services and the fact that it rescues 1000s of stranded motorists a year. Anecdote definitely beating data there. I expect.

forgotmyname

I was with the RAC for many years and had great service except one grumpy guy who didn't
want to try and see what the problem was.

A massive difference from the guy who spent hours trying to fix my car even taking me to the
dealers to buy the part.

But a couple of years back they stopped giving the discount so I moved to Green Flag for the
same price I was paying the RAC. Difference is I don't neet to phone GreenFlag and get the
discount every year.