ADAC - A Cautionary Tale

[Mike54]

I've been a member for a while, mainly due to their morocco coverage. Never needed it though until a couple of weeks ago in Switzerland.

A local woman effectively took me out on a roundabout (didnt see me at all, ran right into the rear side of my 1190R, nothing I could do) and during the crash the bike was pushed head on into a piece of street furniture (a post). I won't bore you with the details but the bike hit the post head on and the frame broke in two places. No, they are not designed to take that kind of of impact. How I have walked away from it I still don't know. I have a number of injuries but no broken bones

Anyway, to the point. I wanted the bike to go back to geneva (2 hours away) for onward shipping to the UK which was sorted before we left as we couldn't be arsed to ride all the way down there.

Now you'd think that moving a bike 2 hours (165KM) wouldn't be that tough, right? That a large breakdown and accident organisation with a global reputation and German efficiency would be all over this like a cheap suit and have it done and dusted by the time you could say "bratwurst". Not so.

It was a Friday around 3pm. The guy on the phone say hmmm its friday afternoon this will not be cheap. I said what are you on about wont be cheap? I have full cover for this, I want it to go to geneva, and I want it to go now please.

What happened next was pure farce. He basically told me that because it was friday afternoon (!) it would be difficult for them to find anyone to do it. Why the F was he even telling me this? Just make it happen FFS. The long and short of it was that they said they couldn't do it until Monday, thus stranding us in a small village for 3 nights. I ranted, I raved. I spoke to a Manager etc. There was nothing we could do. I had to give in.

But don't worry they said, you can get 80 euros per person per night for hotel and 52 euros per day hire car so you're covered anyway. Oh really? Well the Police had been kind enough to book us the cheapest hotel in the area, and further, they had actually got a great discount on the published rate. Top marks Swiss Police. HOWEVER, as Switzerland seems to be the most expensive country in the world, the hotel cost was still £190 per night. It was a reasonable 3 star, basic but ok. The food was also ok, but a basic meal for two (without alcohol or puds etc) was about 80 quid. The three night stay cost just under 1000 swiss francs. It wasn't possible to get a hire car. I mean seriously, just not possible.

However, we needed a car, I was/am injured. We took a cab to the hospital twice, a distance of about 8k each way. The cost of that was 290 swiss france (about 275 quid). Yes you read that right. Swiss cabs are the most expensive in the world. Oh by the way, this was after I had to pay 500 france to the police so they would write a report for insurance purposes.

Now to the really good bit (!)

Monday dawns. At 0800 I ring Adac and there was no one there who spoke english. I left it ten minutes and rang back. Same issue. That was when I posted on here asking for a german speaker. Step forward Ard (Dutchgit) who rang them for me (thanks again Ard). They remained unhelpful however, said they would ring back and eventually did, but the guy I spoke to still did not really speak english. I put one of the staff from the hotel on who spoke german and english. they wouldn't speak to her.

At 1030 I finally got to speak to an english speaker. He said yes no problem we can move the bike (note, singular) to geneva, someone from the swiss automobile club will call you in 5 minutes. Naturally, no call. Left it 30 minutes and rang back. Oh yes they will call you in 5 minutes. Well they haven't done so what is going on? Don't worry they will call you shortly. You can guess the rest. We rang about 8 times until 1400 - no call back. By now we were calling ADACs service centre in...Croatia. Still no call (the phone bill is going to good, even with europass etc)

At 1430 I rang again and went ballistic. We had checked out of the hotel in the morning of course, all our bags were there, we were just waiting. Don't worry they said, someone will call you in 5 minutes. I laughed. Time for Plan B.

I messaged a firm in Interlaken (2 hours, 2 mountain passes and a tunnel train away). Marc from MMD Adventures generously and selflessly said he would come and pick us up, the bikes, the kit and take us to geneva. Amazing. He said he would be there early evening. Awesome. Relief all round. This by the way is a round trip for him of 470km. We are in hero territory.

At 1700 I thought ok, I d better call those morons at ADAC and tell them we don't need their non-existent service. I ring and the guy says oh yes don't worry someone from swiss auto club will call you and they will pick up you and the bike on.. THURSDAY. I laughed hysterically, seriously. I said to the guy righto, you keep saying THE bike, but there are TWO bikes, me and the mrs. Oh no he says, we cant pick up that one there is nothing wrong with it. I said so you are telling me that despite the fact we are travelling TOGETHER, she would actually have to RIDE BEHIND the tow truck/van, and this large truck would not take both bikes? Yes. You could not make this shit up.

Needless to say, I told him to shove his tow up his arse.

Marc and his mrs Geraldine showed up just after 1900. If you're in Switzerland, go and see Marc, buy something, he is awesome and speaks fluent english: His firm is MMD ADVENTURES

For clarity, we only got one phone call from Adac during this process. One. We had to chase and chase and chase them. Their so called "service" was utterly pathetic in every conceivable way. All we wanted was for them to move two bikes 2 hours down the road, that's it. It would have taken them SIX DAYS to do this. SIX days.

You have been warned.

[Redmurty]

Good to hear your not to badly hurt (thumbs)

cheers Spud

[SteveW]

'Kin-hell nightmare mate.
I hate dealing with corporations when the situation is crucial to me and just another day at the office for them.
I've often thought that as bikers we should have some form of mutual non-profit-community-thing, whereby bikers stranded in similar circumstances to the one as you found yourself in, could call upon assistance from local fellow bikers.....even if it's just local advice or a language issue.
Glad the injuries won't be a long term problem, hopefully your insurance will cover the costs you encured, but that's a fight for another day.

[skipper]

makes me wonder if brexit had an influence on your treatment

[Andy A]

PRICKS !!

[micksea]

If you were travelling in two cars would you expect them to tow both cars? Why would they transport two bikes when only one is in need of recovery?agreed the rest of the caper was badly handled,had it happen to us in Germany though a few years back,no one communicating between deparodents seems like acceptable practice with desk zombies the world over.glad you got sorted (thumbs)

[bowber]

I wouldn't have expected them to move two bike if only one was damaged, the rest is pathetic though, you would have expected better service from a company like that.

Steve

[Andy A]

If you were travelling in two cars would you expect them to tow both cars? Why would they transport two bikes when only one is in need of recovery?agreed the rest of the caper was badly handled,had it happen to us in Germany though a few years back,no one communicating between deparodents seems like acceptable practice with desk zombies the world over.glad you got sorted (thumbs)

Why would a husband and wife be travelling in two cars? If the truck was capable of carrying two bikes then why not, Mikes wife had just seen him nearly wiped out I think that is grounds enough. Fair enough maybe not for a breakdown

[Mike54]

I take the point about the two bikes. However, Andy is right, my mrs had just been involved in something pretty traumatic, the truck / van / lorry / whatever could easily take two bikes whereas a van can only tow one car for example. The adac guy did actually say that they can only take one but to just tell the operator when he showed up it was two.

So in summary, I take the point, but I dont agree, and passions were running pretty high I can tell you, with police, hospital, doctors, tears and trauma. Anyway, this is not me telling a story for attention, its to show how fucking shit adac was, and the two bikes thing is not a big part of it, their lack of service overall is. So lets not debate that further please.

[Stewie]

Glad your OK, the service sounds terrible.