The RAC and the motorcyclist

[Brenhden]

Last Friday after lending my compressor to a mate earlier in the day after he had a sow puncture I had a blow out in the rear tyre on my little Yamaha while riding home through the Cotswolds. As it was only a couple of hours until nightfall and I was in a pretty remote location I wobbled along for seven miles until I got to Cirencester.

From there I phoned and then (as instructed) messaged the RAC for recovery back to Bristol. They acknowleged my contact at 4.27pm and then sent an ETA of 6.30 - 8.30pm. To cut a long story short that ETA and several others passed with no sign of them. By 9.30pm there was ice begining to form on the bike and I was a bit cold . Another call to them resulted in this new ETA

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I phoned them back and asked if they were seriously expecting me to stand around in the cold on the side of the road until 4.10am the next morning. After a heated conversation , but no abuse (as they tell you repeatedly that they will not except abuse and they will cancel your recovery) they agreed to get me a taxi.

The taxi came at 11.10pm and I got home just after midnight. The next day I phoned them again to ask when my bike would be recoverd to my house , eventually it arrived 6.30pm. That's 26 hours after they logged my call

This is not the first time RAC have failed me , about 20 years ago I had a similar experience with them but at least the bike came home just before midnight on that occasion.

They have since apologised and offered me £35 as way of compensation for their piss poor service . I shall not be renewing my membership when it comes up for renewal .

Should have called mate, I'd have come and got you.

I've had good service from SOS Motorcycle Recovery over the years, they seemed to be the service that came as an extra on my insurance.

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

This was down a country lane in Cornwall...with the holiday season over, no doubt the next person along in whatever direction would have helped her if she'd needed it. But with no wheel (not even a space-saver), she was utterly stranded.
BTW if you do get a puncture on a motorway, call from the roadside phone (not your mobile) and the HA will come and shield you while you change the wheel. They will even close a lane if necessary.

[Chalky723]

AA a couple of years ago - had a puncture on the Pan, you could put your little finger in the hole so it was unpluggable - told the AA this & that it'd need taking home.

They sent a small van to plug it - first thing he said was "you can't plug that"

Waited 2 1/2 hours for a Flatbed truck, they put the bike on it & then drove me 10 miles to South Mimms Services & offloaded me there as they didn't go outside the M25.

I waited (outside Starbucks luckily) for another 1 1/2 hours for the next truck to arrive & take me the remaining distance home.

To say I was unimpressed didn't cover it!!

D

[Alexhoc]

I had a lovely experience last year, involving both AA and RAC...

I'll keep it short as I don't remember all the exact timings, but I got a puncture 70 miles from home on Sunday at 5:30 PM, on the A1. The bike was fully loaded and on dual carriageways, so by the time the rear felt loose the tyre had properly overheated and the hole was not repairable. Thankfully this happened near a service station (though not a 24h one).

I rang the AA (policy with my bank account) just before 6, then RAC around 9 when I realised I had a breakdown on the bike insurance. What followed was a string of apologies, further delays, offers to leave the bike where it is with the key hidden somewhere, so they could get me a taxi to a hotel (RAC), then there are no hotels available apparently so taxi home, the AA said I should book a hotel and send them a bill! They wanted to recover the bike later. I refused to leave my bike unattended at the side of a busy road, which they struggled to understand!

I think it was about 2AM that the AA declared they couldn't help and were cancelling the call! To add insult to injury, I'd counted 4 empty AA flatbeds had driven past in the meantime.

About 5AM, a taxi turned up from the RAC, though by that point they'd already found a flatbed to take us 5 miles into Newark, where at least we could wait in a McDonalds for the next shift to start. The taxi driver was understanding and provided a bit of welcome company.

Eventually got home at noon on Monday, and the AA did send me £100 for the inconvenience.

[garyboy]

In a perverted sort of way, I feel good that you people have had just as bad experiences as myself, regarding the AA and the RAC, as I have been feeling that it was only me that was being victimized and marginalized by these supposedly British Bastions of national caring helping institutions.

Of course, they are actually only private companies simply out to make a profit, relying on their past name for caring assistance to the British driving public.

Abysmal performance however, is simply symptomatic of the poor state of the UK in so many areas.

Against my better judgement but pulled in by the sucker's cheap discount, which predates the next year's price hike, I took out a Personal cover, for any vehicle.

I didn't actually break down last year so can't give any horror stories of poor service. I took note of people on here who had better service for cheaper, Gem etc. and phoned the AA to not automatically renew, as Cancelling draws a fee, of course.

What a shit response.. yes they could offer a 10% lower (edit .. Higher) price quoted by a competitor but if that price was for a year, their price was for a year too, which is fair enough I suppose, but it meant I couldn't get that lower price on finance, ie monthly.

What got me was the supercilious superior attitude for their so called much superior product , when we all know its Shit.