Poor service from national recovery company
Discussion
Just wondering if I'm expecting too much here.
Long story short, a family member was bringing a vehicle down to me to be sold (to a friend of mine) whilst said family member is away. Unfortunately there was an issue with overheating on the way down (new hoses just before the trip, so probably an airlock somewhere).
RAC were called out to Grantham area yesterday afternoon and were asked to relay the vehicle to my home in NW Kent. Recovery firm (whose name is three letters) refused on the grounds that they were being followed by another vehicle, so had the means to continue their journey. They said the vehicle would be recovered to my address today.
Called today and it seems that the recovery company outsource this work to a third party. Said third party have been "too busy" to deliver the vehicle today (and too busy to call and let us know) and will "definitely" deliver tomorrow morning.
So a couple of things:
1. Should they not relay the vehicle to the requested destination at the time of breakdown if requested to do so?
2. I've recently signed up to the same recovery service, not realising that they outsource work in this way. Is this standard practice?
3. Would you bother looking for recourse for a wasted day's holiday in respect of this?
Not the biggest issue in the big scheme of things, but why are companies so often unable to deliver even adequate service?
Long story short, a family member was bringing a vehicle down to me to be sold (to a friend of mine) whilst said family member is away. Unfortunately there was an issue with overheating on the way down (new hoses just before the trip, so probably an airlock somewhere).
RAC were called out to Grantham area yesterday afternoon and were asked to relay the vehicle to my home in NW Kent. Recovery firm (whose name is three letters) refused on the grounds that they were being followed by another vehicle, so had the means to continue their journey. They said the vehicle would be recovered to my address today.
Called today and it seems that the recovery company outsource this work to a third party. Said third party have been "too busy" to deliver the vehicle today (and too busy to call and let us know) and will "definitely" deliver tomorrow morning.
So a couple of things:
1. Should they not relay the vehicle to the requested destination at the time of breakdown if requested to do so?
2. I've recently signed up to the same recovery service, not realising that they outsource work in this way. Is this standard practice?
3. Would you bother looking for recourse for a wasted day's holiday in respect of this?
Not the biggest issue in the big scheme of things, but why are companies so often unable to deliver even adequate service?
andy-xr said:
Sounds as though they've prioritised rather than given bad service to me. It's inconvenient, but wasnt emergency in my mind, can see how you'd look at it knowing what you'd like to happen
I understand the prioritisation yesterday that meant they wouldn't relay today (if this is standard practice). I don't understand the re-prioritisation today without letting us know (that is bad service in my book). I also (naively?) didn't realise the large national recovery firms outsource work to smaller local firms - if they all do this then I have know other option. If they don't all do this then I will cancel my own policy and go with one that doesn't.wiggy001 said:
Called today and it seems that the recovery company outsource this work to a third party. Said third party have been "too busy" to deliver the vehicle today (and too busy to call and let us know) and will "definitely" deliver tomorrow morning.
So a couple of things:
1. Should they not relay the vehicle to the requested destination at the time of breakdown if requested to do so?
Ideally yes, but the reality is that an unaccompanied relay gets very low priority.So a couple of things:
1. Should they not relay the vehicle to the requested destination at the time of breakdown if requested to do so?
You should think yourself lucky they didn't lose your car, as one of the major firms did mine.
(they found it again a few days later, after me phoning the destination garage asking how they were getting on with the repair, only to be told they hadn't received it yet
)scorcher said:
I know two people who have broke down on bikes at 3-4 o'clock in the afternoon and haven't been recovered until 10'clock at night and haven't got home until after midnight.Shocking service from the orange recovery service.certainly want be getting my money
I broke down coming out of Stoneleigh kit car show, around 3pm'ish. Too much showing off with my new twin 40's and I popped off the thermostat housing hose. Unknowingly, I'd also knackered the ignition module, so after around an hour of trying to start it, the AA guy called for a recovery truck. The first one arrived after a couple of hours, just as I saw him go past on the opposte carriageway with the thumbs up, it was sent on it's way again as another job had come up who'd been waiting longer. After a couple of hours, a new one turned up, and we set off back home around 7'ish. Wasnt AA branded, they'd put the job out to another firm. I think I got in around half 11 at night. I was cold, pissed off and fed up, but once I'd got to bed it was forgotten about til the next day. My car, my breakdown, they got me home and I was grateful for it. And the last truck driver let me smoke in the cab so that was a bit easier. wolf1 said:
Check the t&cs there will be a section indicating that they have a certain time frame allowable to deliver an unaccompanied vehicle.
I've been through the one piece of paperwork I have with my membership and cannot see anything related to this (might be me missing it though) and absolutely no T&Cs on their website or info in the website help section.We'll see if the third party do actually call me "first thing" as promised.
All the major clubs outsource to smaller companies.
I used to work for a smaller company and all of our work was from AA,RAC,Green flag,Mondial,National breakdown,ect.
These companys can only go on the information supplied by the club and you'd be suprised at the amount of misinformation from said clubs.I lost track at the amount of times I went out to a breakdown to be told by the customer that they had been there for several hours.
As for priority jobs,the weather will have had a huge amount to play in this.Clubs will always priorotise lone women,children,ect.Dont forget that it's a balancing act between hiring too many drivers and not having enough in an industry which is totally unpredictable.For example I remember I was on call one weekend and had one solitary job in 2 days.Two weeks later and in the same timeframe I was so rushed going from job to job that I probably only had around 6 hrs sleep from Friday to Monday.Completly unpredictable and any company will employ too few drivers than to many and just turn work away.
I used to work for a smaller company and all of our work was from AA,RAC,Green flag,Mondial,National breakdown,ect.
These companys can only go on the information supplied by the club and you'd be suprised at the amount of misinformation from said clubs.I lost track at the amount of times I went out to a breakdown to be told by the customer that they had been there for several hours.
As for priority jobs,the weather will have had a huge amount to play in this.Clubs will always priorotise lone women,children,ect.Dont forget that it's a balancing act between hiring too many drivers and not having enough in an industry which is totally unpredictable.For example I remember I was on call one weekend and had one solitary job in 2 days.Two weeks later and in the same timeframe I was so rushed going from job to job that I probably only had around 6 hrs sleep from Friday to Monday.Completly unpredictable and any company will employ too few drivers than to many and just turn work away.
When a driveshaft fell off a Montego I once owned, as I attempted to leave work (on the Bury/Bolton border) one day in 2005, I rang RAC and a FAM (based in Radcliffe) accident recovery vehicle turned up after 10 minutes; the driver listened to my description and had a look then dragged the car onto the back and took me home to Bury - allowing for the initial wait plus helping to manoeuvre the Monty around at home, my commute took about 15 minutes longer than the normal 30 minutes...
Can't fault that service in the evening rush hour, subbie or not!
I had the required spare bolts - the car had a VW 'box
- in my back bedroom, and the car was back on the road that evening 
.
Can't fault that service in the evening rush hour, subbie or not!
I had the required spare bolts - the car had a VW 'box
- in my back bedroom, and the car was back on the road that evening .Well, just as a quick update:
No call "first thing" yesterday morning so I called them. Got the same "we've been really busy" excuse and "we'll do everything we can".
It eventually turned up at 23:30 last night.
The guy I spoke to yesterday confirmed that the reason it'd been put to the back of the queue was because they can make a lot more money doing lots of local runs than they would from a single, long distance recovery. I'm sorry, but that really isn't my problem.
Not at all impressed with the subbie used or the breakdown company we are members of, who basically washed their hands of the whole thing once the vehicle was handed over to the subbie.
No call "first thing" yesterday morning so I called them. Got the same "we've been really busy" excuse and "we'll do everything we can".
It eventually turned up at 23:30 last night.
The guy I spoke to yesterday confirmed that the reason it'd been put to the back of the queue was because they can make a lot more money doing lots of local runs than they would from a single, long distance recovery. I'm sorry, but that really isn't my problem.
Not at all impressed with the subbie used or the breakdown company we are members of, who basically washed their hands of the whole thing once the vehicle was handed over to the subbie.
It will have been because your vehicle was unaccompanied
It will have pushed to the back of the Que.many times in the hope that another job came along going the same way
All in your T&C I reckon
Just to compound things further most of the big clubs now let their subbies, sub out to other operators
It will have pushed to the back of the Que.many times in the hope that another job came along going the same way
All in your T&C I reckon
Just to compound things further most of the big clubs now let their subbies, sub out to other operators
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