New RAC Membership.

[simonelite501]

The other day, my AA membership ran out, I knew this was about to happen as they had recently sent me a snotty letter to that point. The letter went on to say that, although I had only had cause to use the service four times in the year, I should be aware that there would be surcharges leveled on me if I were to exceed the maximum of six call outs per annum. I was more than a little taken aback by the tone of the letter and vowed then and there, that I would use my last two call outs if it damn well killed me! Anyway, owning three vehicles, one of which is an old Lotus, that didn't prove to be difficult. So when it came time to renew the cover, I ignored the endless stream of post from the AA, and signed up with the RAC, and this moring my new members pack landed on the doorstep. A weighty tome indeed, the contents were quite amazing, an orange plastic wallet, about the size of a tool roll which contains all manner of information booklets, and three small silver packets. The first has a selection of boiled sweets, to give you something to suck on whilst you wait to be rescued, the second apears to be plastic macs in case of inclement weather, and the third has what seems to be playing cards to while away the 30 minutes that they promise not to longer than. My question has to be, what bloody fool comes up with this rubbish, and how much money was wasted on their salary. All I wanted was a little plastic card with my membership details recorded on it, not a compendium of roadside amusements. Maybe the market for the recovery of broken down vehicles is so tight that free gifts and novelties make the difference, personally I would have thought that a reduction in the price would see the RAC rise above the competition.

>>> Edited by simonelite501 on Saturday 10th August 18:13

[Dazren]

After the "RAC foundation" recently mouthed off that drivers want a higher cost of motoring in order to alleviate congestion I cancelled my membership. What we want is the new roads we've already paid for and the ones that have been stolen from us.

RAC breakdown insurance later stated that the foundation was nothing to do with the RAC breakdown service, but my attitude is bollocks to em. They are connected by brand identity. When the RAC foundation makes an announcement they give the impression they are speaking on behalf of motorists, they are not. RAC breakdown insurance should thus be more careful who they let mouth off using their brand.

DAZ

[miniman]

Britannia seem to spend all their money on rescuing people... gets my vote!

[Bruce Fielding]

Cost of cover is a seriously moveable feast, too! I was asked to renew RAC cover and offered a 'generous' 10% discount! After phoning them up and telling them not to be silly, managed to negotiate 40% off! So don't take their word for it that the pittance they suggest is "the best they can do, sir..."

[prancing]

You've Started me off now,
Wipers failed on my car the other day. I called the RAC 4 times in three hours and the WS never came to help me. I finally drove home when the rain had stopped.. at 4am. They even put the number of years which you have been a loyal member on your card.(eight Years !!) This is utter Bo!!ox and means nothing because usually a sub contractor is called out. I can't remember when a RAC employee helped me. Loyal member NO MORE. Rant over. Sorry chaps.

p.s Cause: loose nut on wiper arm took me 2 minutes to fix at home with a socket set. Thanks for nothing RAC.

[DrSeuss]

quote:
You've Started me off now,
Wipers failed on my car the other day. I called the RAC 4 times in three hours and the WS never came to help me. I finally drove home when the rain had stopped.. at 4am. They even put the number of years which you have been a loyal member on your card.(eight Years !!) This is utter Bo!!ox and means nothing because usually a sub contractor is called out. I can't remember when a RAC employee helped me. Loyal member NO MORE. Rant over. Sorry chaps.

p.s Cause: loose nut on wiper arm took me 2 minutes to fix at home with a socket set. Thanks for nothing RAC.

What a bizarre coincidence! Exactly the same thing happened to me a few weeks ago. Loose nut caused wipers to pack up while driving down the M40 in heavy rain & spray. Luckily I was only a few hundred yards from Oxford Services, so limped in there and phoned the RAC. Minimum wait 3 hours, they said. And this was a quiet Sunday afternoon in a not exactly inaccessible location.

Worse still, when all you want to do is nip into the service station for a quick pee, there's always an RAC bloke hassling you to take out membership, but when I actually needed him, he wasn't bloody there for once, was he?!?

I ended up having to buy a spanner from the shop and fix it myself. That's the first time I've called them out (or tried to) in 3 yrs of membership, so if that's their typical off-peak response time, I don't think I'll be renewing either.