RAC European Breakdown Service Problem

ashden1k

Just back from a disastrous French holiday.

On the way to our French holiday destination in the Loire Valley, our gearbox started to have problems, so I finished the journey carefully, keeping in top gear as much as possible, so as to avoid the clutch slipping. I called Barclays and we were put through to RAC Europe, who said that because it was Sunday tomorrow and French Bank Holiday on t
We are covered by Barclay Additions, who sub Contract to RAC in Europe.
Shortly before arriving at our holiday destination in the Loire Valley on Saturday 18th May at around 6pm, he Monday, they would start making enquiries about hiring us a car and getting ours sorted on Tuesday.
I called again on Tuesday morning and was told that they were looking for a suitable hire car which we could use for the holiday and then drop off at Dieppe when our holiday finished on the following Saturday. My car is a  Ford Kuga and  we hired a top box before we left for the holiday, as there were 4 of us plus lots of luggage and there would be a  dozen bottles of wine to take home with us. 
RAC Europe were able to arrange pick up of our car on the Wednesday and told us that we could have a taxi to pick up a hire car fairly locally. They arranged a taxi for us to collect the hire car, but shortly before this all came to fruition we had a call to say that, unfortunately, the hire car was not allowed to be dropped off at Dieppe. Our car was duly collected and taken away to a compound.
RAC Europe then told us that they would continue to try to source a vehicle for us which we could take back to Dieppe. Our worry was that the car needed to be able to carry all of our luggage, with the proviso that we were willing to leave some luggage in our own car if necessary. Bear in mind that we were, apparently, not covered for travel across the channel, even though we were entitled to a hire car at Newhaven, to get us home.
RAC Europe now told us (On Wednesday afternoon) that the priority now would be to get us a car so we could enjoy the remaining 2 ays of our holiday and then they would pay for a train journey back to Dieppe. We checked train times and found that the journey involved several changes on what was a 5 hour journey.
We had now been 4 days without a hire car, with little expectation that RAC Europe would come through for us, They had told us that they had checked all their contacts within a 70k area and nobody would rent a car from one location and allow it to be dropped at another. 
At this point I decided to try to source a car myself, which, with a 5 minute call to AVIS at Angers, was done.
On the Thursday morning RAC Europe called and told me the 'good news' that they had a car for us for the remaing 2 days of our trip. A Dacia Sandero....I have nothing against such a car, but it wouldn't have been adequate for us. I told them that I had sourced a car myself with no trouble. They congratulated me, which was nice, and said sorry about the problems that we had had.
I took the precaution of initiating a complaint to Barclays on the Wednesday, as by that time I was at the end of my tether. At first Barclays tried to convince me that my complaint would have to be addressed to RAC, but after nearly half an hour I was able to get a complaintt lodged with them.

Please, if anybody has any useful input, I would love to hear it!!1

tacpot12

Your complaint is with Barclays, but I suspect you know this. 

You will need to look at your contract with Barclays to see where RAC Europe let them and you down. 

I tend to agree that the Dacia Sandero would not have been suitable, because of the amount of luggage you had with you. The top-box would also most certainly not have fitted on the Sandero. If you left the top-box on your car, because it also would not fit on the car you were able to hire from Avis, I would mention this. 

I don;t think you should mention the wine if this was a planned duty free purchase. If you were expecting to be given a case of a unique wine, e.g. grown by a relative that lived in France and you couldn't bring it home unless you also have space for it, then that is a little more reasonable to expect a larger car from RAC Europe. 

One-way hires usually more expensive, because someone has to drive the car back to its base, but RAC Europe should have arranged a standard hire and allowed you to hand the car over to a driver that they had arranged to meet you in Dieppe to drive the car back to whereever. It does sound like they really weren't trying quite hard enough for you. 

mills705

Barclays will direct the complaint to RAC once their complaints team have assessed it. Barclays will not have a clue on the processes needed to follow to get the hire car etc or be able to understand why it went the way it happen. What do your terms say for provision of a hire car? Is it a similar size or a cat a vehicle? European cover is usually through a central agency such as ARC or similar as no one really has staff in a foreign country. It will always be some sort of stress inconvenience. You might find they were offering above and beyond a hire car and train tickets - just because it did not fit into your holiday plans does not mean it was not a fair solution. UK car hire is actually pretty bad right now given the new car market, if that's the case I would imagine the same for Europe. So they might have genuinely been struggling to obtain a hire car. All will be revealed when you get a reply.

ashden1k

Thanks both of you for your input and I take on board your comments about the wine and the difficulty getting us a hire car. However, I had no trouble at all getting hold of a Ford Kuga from Avis. I suspect that Barclays/RAC Europe doesn't deal with them.
The terms and conditions are deliberately vague, with phrases like 'help with costs'. The call handlers at RAC Europe were constantly checking what our 'entitlements' were, as if they were drilled to make sure they didn't overstep the mark.
Interestingly, I rang them again today, just to check when my car would be repatriated. I was told that once I had paid the 250 euros to repatriate the top box, the car would be on its way! Apparently it was too heavy.
I checked the weight with the company that I hired it from and it's 30k.
I contacted the garage in France that is holding my car and asked them if they would remove the top box and put it in the car. They did this and sent me a photo.
I rang RAC Europe again and spoke to an English or Welsh man, who told me that weight isn't a problem, but height is. So it turns out that the confusion was down to a language problem and he assured me that the repatriation is now processed!

andytrigwell

Just received final response from the Financial Ombudsman, which pretty much exonerates both RAC and Barclays.
Having not taken up £50 and £125 goodwill gestures respectively from each of them, for fear of prejudicing my case, I felt sure that right would prevail. Not to be.
Ah well! Best choose your battles....this was one I wasn't going to win!