I echo numerous complaints on this site that are seemingly going un-noticed by RAC's "customer care" team such as the recent one...
http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthrea...l-print-taketh
... which mirrors my own story quite considerably.
I'm sure the RAC's service within the UK is great, not that I've ever had to use it, but their European service is dire. I don't understand why they would muddy their name so completely by even offering this as a "service".
We were doing a roadtrip around Europe at the end of July this year (2015), which saw us do... Normandy Beaches, Paris, Versailles, Monaco, Pisa, Venice, Munich and Berlin. My car had the misfortune to breakdown on a small French backroad the day we left Paris (A sunday). We called the European breakdown line and after the person on the phone argued that where I was didn't exist because she couldn't find it on Google Maps (Real professional operation that needs to use google maps...) she finally agreed my location did exist and dispatched a truck.
Now was it wrong of me to expect a nice van to appear with a guy who would at least attempt to fix my car. Alas no. A man arrived, who spoke not a word of English. When I pointed at my smoking engine (The turbo had gone) he merely shrugged and began loading my vehicle onto his flatbed. My wife and I assume we were being taken to a garage. Alas no, you see in France NOTHING and I mean NOTHING (Not even the supermarkets) open on a Sunday. So we were towed to a dump (Sorry, in RAC speak a "Secure Depot") where every other car had had it's windows smashed in with bricks. The Frenchman then disappeared. I rung the RAC helpline again to ask what was happened and was assured we'd have a hire car within 2 hours. So we were left, my wife pregnant, in the 30 degree heat with no access to toilets nor fresh water for the 2 hours. No call came, no hire car arrived. I called them again, apparently "You must understand Mr. Fenton this is France, nothing is open on a Sunday". so no hire car. They did however manage to arrange a hotel three towns over, but no taxi (guess what... they don't work sundays either). Another hour passed and a man who worked at the depot arrived in a Xsara Picasso (not a licensed taxi), he smelt of alcohol and verbally abused us for disturbing his day off. He took us to a hotel which was all paid for and promised a hire car in the morning.
Terrified and not really knowing where we were nor where our car was or was going we got maybe 2 or 3 hours of sleep. In the morning we were taxi'd (a proper taxi this time) to the hire car place and given our Opel Corsa. Now, I we were on a camping hotel. So my Peugeot 206 ESTATE had a towbar box (With tent and other wet stuff in) and a roofbox and the car itself was rammed full. And I'm given a opel corsa (A 1.0Litre petrol model at that, instead of my 60mpg diesel and with petrol being more expensive than diesel on the continent I ended up using ALOT more money in fuel). Now granted in the "terms and conditions", you know that small print that is as good as saying "You've paid your money, and we'll do as little as physically possible", it says "We normally try to get an equivilant car, but sometimes they aren't available". NOT AVAILABLE??? The lady in the hire place had a 2008 (A modern version of my car) in stock as she told us about it and pointed it out.
The time was early afternoon on the Monday. We immediately called RAC Europe to find out where our car was so we could retrieve our possessions. It was STILL in the "secure depot", we rushed over and retrieved as many of our belongings as possible and crammed them into our tiny little corsa. We were told to continue with our holiday and not to worry about our car as they would take care of it. So off we went, still assuming we'd see our car and possessions again.
So cost incurred number 1 totally because of the RAC: Extra expense in fuel as given a 30mpg petrol (with petrol some 30 cents per litre more expensive than diesel) instead of my 60mpg diesel.
Incurred cost number 2: had to leave all our camping gear in the 206 so had to shell out for 100 euro a night hotels instead of camping like planned.
Incurred cost number 3: Are my possessions still with the car? (The car which as I type is STILL in france, I hope so as there's £300-400 worth of camping equipment in it)
No call came as promised with diagnosis. I chased at 4pm, "We'll call you at 6". No call came. Called them at 6.30 "No diagnosis yet, it'll be tomorrow, we'll call you by 12"
No call came. Rung them at 12.30 "The French mechanics all have a 2 hour dinner 12-2, so we cannot reach them, we'll call you at 2.30"
No call came. Rung them at 3, "No diagnosis yet we'll ring you at 6"
No call came. Rung them at 6.30 "Yes it's been diagnosed. It's the turbo, it'll be £1500 to repair, and it'll be ready Friday. but it may not just be the turbo, but they won't know until you've spent £1500 already."
I asked to speak with a manager, "there is no manager in the office, they will call you back."
No call came. Rung them next day at 11, "there is no manager in the office, they will call you back - Why don't you get your car repaired? The repair is £1500, your car is worth £2,600 so it's worthwhile."
What? I say, I paid £1500 for my car 6 months ago so I doubt it's appreciated? "My guide says £2,600" which guide do you use "glasses". I check this on my phone, it says £2,600 in perfect condition from a Peugeot dealer. am I a Peugeot dealer? no, therefore it's worth less than the repair and I'd like my car repatriated please. (at this point this was the only reason given to us on which the repatriation decision was to be made, and yes it's in the small print in the handbook, but who reads this and why wasn't it re-iterated to us?).
Thursday comes, and finally around 3pm a manager calls me back. "We're not repatriated because ur car is worth more than the repair" - wait a minute mate no it ain't. "Yeah the repair is only 1200 euros and your car is worth £1500." well you seemed to have changed your story there a bit chap "well i'll have to review the call logs" well u do that "but also the other condition is that the repair has to not be able to be done before your return home date" this was never explained to us "it's in the handbook", I'm 1000 miles from my handbook, why wasn't this explained to us on the phone? "i'll have to review the call logs" (translation: I don't care, and you're a liar mr. fenton), but I've waited three days to talk to you and now the car can't be repaired in time "doesn't matter, u were originally told on Tuesday" yes and I wanted to speak 2 u first "that doesn't matter. if u get your car repaired and you've gone home RAC will give you £500 towards going to collect it" so if I pay for the repairs I get £500 towards collecting it? "yes" so why can't I skip the repairs and get £500 off the cost of repatriation (explained to me to be £959) "no we won't do that" what about if I pay for the repairs and it's not just the turbo and its more? "then we will repatriate free".
INCURRED COST 4: Cost of phone calls, as they'd never call me back. RAC response? Not their problem
Now, is it just me? The RAC are prepared to GIVE me £500 once I've sunk £1200 or £1500 into the repairs and it works. OR bring my car home FREE of charge if I spend the 1200-1500 on repairs and it doesn't work. HOW IN THE NAME OF THE BIG GUY UPSTAIRS DOES THAT MAKE SENSE. Every phone call we had and this crazy policy is geared towards US paying for those repairs (a repair I can do myself btw if I can get the car home). Every phone call began with "you should get your car repair", or "the cost is only £1200 why not get it repaired?". Even after we returned home, every call began with that.
Are the RAC being paid to throw work to these French mechanics? Did my breakdowns proximity to their European base in Lyon have anything to do with it? Are the RAC putting money on top of the repairs and making money that way ? Which would explain why our repair quote changed down overnight.
http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthrea...l-print-taketh
... which mirrors my own story quite considerably.
I'm sure the RAC's service within the UK is great, not that I've ever had to use it, but their European service is dire. I don't understand why they would muddy their name so completely by even offering this as a "service".
We were doing a roadtrip around Europe at the end of July this year (2015), which saw us do... Normandy Beaches, Paris, Versailles, Monaco, Pisa, Venice, Munich and Berlin. My car had the misfortune to breakdown on a small French backroad the day we left Paris (A sunday). We called the European breakdown line and after the person on the phone argued that where I was didn't exist because she couldn't find it on Google Maps (Real professional operation that needs to use google maps...) she finally agreed my location did exist and dispatched a truck.
Now was it wrong of me to expect a nice van to appear with a guy who would at least attempt to fix my car. Alas no. A man arrived, who spoke not a word of English. When I pointed at my smoking engine (The turbo had gone) he merely shrugged and began loading my vehicle onto his flatbed. My wife and I assume we were being taken to a garage. Alas no, you see in France NOTHING and I mean NOTHING (Not even the supermarkets) open on a Sunday. So we were towed to a dump (Sorry, in RAC speak a "Secure Depot") where every other car had had it's windows smashed in with bricks. The Frenchman then disappeared. I rung the RAC helpline again to ask what was happened and was assured we'd have a hire car within 2 hours. So we were left, my wife pregnant, in the 30 degree heat with no access to toilets nor fresh water for the 2 hours. No call came, no hire car arrived. I called them again, apparently "You must understand Mr. Fenton this is France, nothing is open on a Sunday". so no hire car. They did however manage to arrange a hotel three towns over, but no taxi (guess what... they don't work sundays either). Another hour passed and a man who worked at the depot arrived in a Xsara Picasso (not a licensed taxi), he smelt of alcohol and verbally abused us for disturbing his day off. He took us to a hotel which was all paid for and promised a hire car in the morning.
Terrified and not really knowing where we were nor where our car was or was going we got maybe 2 or 3 hours of sleep. In the morning we were taxi'd (a proper taxi this time) to the hire car place and given our Opel Corsa. Now, I we were on a camping hotel. So my Peugeot 206 ESTATE had a towbar box (With tent and other wet stuff in) and a roofbox and the car itself was rammed full. And I'm given a opel corsa (A 1.0Litre petrol model at that, instead of my 60mpg diesel and with petrol being more expensive than diesel on the continent I ended up using ALOT more money in fuel). Now granted in the "terms and conditions", you know that small print that is as good as saying "You've paid your money, and we'll do as little as physically possible", it says "We normally try to get an equivilant car, but sometimes they aren't available". NOT AVAILABLE??? The lady in the hire place had a 2008 (A modern version of my car) in stock as she told us about it and pointed it out.
The time was early afternoon on the Monday. We immediately called RAC Europe to find out where our car was so we could retrieve our possessions. It was STILL in the "secure depot", we rushed over and retrieved as many of our belongings as possible and crammed them into our tiny little corsa. We were told to continue with our holiday and not to worry about our car as they would take care of it. So off we went, still assuming we'd see our car and possessions again.
So cost incurred number 1 totally because of the RAC: Extra expense in fuel as given a 30mpg petrol (with petrol some 30 cents per litre more expensive than diesel) instead of my 60mpg diesel.
Incurred cost number 2: had to leave all our camping gear in the 206 so had to shell out for 100 euro a night hotels instead of camping like planned.
Incurred cost number 3: Are my possessions still with the car? (The car which as I type is STILL in france, I hope so as there's £300-400 worth of camping equipment in it)
No call came as promised with diagnosis. I chased at 4pm, "We'll call you at 6". No call came. Called them at 6.30 "No diagnosis yet, it'll be tomorrow, we'll call you by 12"
No call came. Rung them at 12.30 "The French mechanics all have a 2 hour dinner 12-2, so we cannot reach them, we'll call you at 2.30"
No call came. Rung them at 3, "No diagnosis yet we'll ring you at 6"
No call came. Rung them at 6.30 "Yes it's been diagnosed. It's the turbo, it'll be £1500 to repair, and it'll be ready Friday. but it may not just be the turbo, but they won't know until you've spent £1500 already."
I asked to speak with a manager, "there is no manager in the office, they will call you back."
No call came. Rung them next day at 11, "there is no manager in the office, they will call you back - Why don't you get your car repaired? The repair is £1500, your car is worth £2,600 so it's worthwhile."
What? I say, I paid £1500 for my car 6 months ago so I doubt it's appreciated? "My guide says £2,600" which guide do you use "glasses". I check this on my phone, it says £2,600 in perfect condition from a Peugeot dealer. am I a Peugeot dealer? no, therefore it's worth less than the repair and I'd like my car repatriated please. (at this point this was the only reason given to us on which the repatriation decision was to be made, and yes it's in the small print in the handbook, but who reads this and why wasn't it re-iterated to us?).
Thursday comes, and finally around 3pm a manager calls me back. "We're not repatriated because ur car is worth more than the repair" - wait a minute mate no it ain't. "Yeah the repair is only 1200 euros and your car is worth £1500." well you seemed to have changed your story there a bit chap "well i'll have to review the call logs" well u do that "but also the other condition is that the repair has to not be able to be done before your return home date" this was never explained to us "it's in the handbook", I'm 1000 miles from my handbook, why wasn't this explained to us on the phone? "i'll have to review the call logs" (translation: I don't care, and you're a liar mr. fenton), but I've waited three days to talk to you and now the car can't be repaired in time "doesn't matter, u were originally told on Tuesday" yes and I wanted to speak 2 u first "that doesn't matter. if u get your car repaired and you've gone home RAC will give you £500 towards going to collect it" so if I pay for the repairs I get £500 towards collecting it? "yes" so why can't I skip the repairs and get £500 off the cost of repatriation (explained to me to be £959) "no we won't do that" what about if I pay for the repairs and it's not just the turbo and its more? "then we will repatriate free".
INCURRED COST 4: Cost of phone calls, as they'd never call me back. RAC response? Not their problem
Now, is it just me? The RAC are prepared to GIVE me £500 once I've sunk £1200 or £1500 into the repairs and it works. OR bring my car home FREE of charge if I spend the 1200-1500 on repairs and it doesn't work. HOW IN THE NAME OF THE BIG GUY UPSTAIRS DOES THAT MAKE SENSE. Every phone call we had and this crazy policy is geared towards US paying for those repairs (a repair I can do myself btw if I can get the car home). Every phone call began with "you should get your car repair", or "the cost is only £1200 why not get it repaired?". Even after we returned home, every call began with that.
Are the RAC being paid to throw work to these French mechanics? Did my breakdowns proximity to their European base in Lyon have anything to do with it? Are the RAC putting money on top of the repairs and making money that way ? Which would explain why our repair quote changed down overnight.