A few weeks ago I broke down on the a1 on a Sunday afternoon with three children in the car.
I called the RAC. They answered the phone immediately, prioritised me as having children with me, had a payroll guy with me in about 20 minutes and when he couldn’t fix the car, had a recovery truck with us faster than we could buy and eat McDs food.
They were worth every penny we’ve paid them over the years.
This morning I broke down on the a14 with four children in the car.
After I’d been waiting for the rac to answer the phone for 19 minutes the call dropped out and I had to start over. It must have taken nearly 40 minutes before I spoke to someone. I’m not convinced she listened to me carefully, I don’t think she registered the bit about having four children with me. We certainly weren’t made a priority, and I was told it could be two hours before anyone arrived.
My friend arrived from 45 miles away to rescue the children before the RAC guy arrived. And he had no note about children so it was just as well she had.
I was safety towed off the road with a bar. It was an incredibly stressful experience. You’re too close to the vehicle towing you and you’ve absolutely no control over the process. Your life is in the hands of a complete stranger. Not nice. He took me to a tesco carpark and called in for a flatbed. This was after he’d suggested he take me and the car to a garage just up the road and leave it there while I went home in a courtesy car.
Um no.
Leave my car in a garage 50 miles from home? We have a relationship with the garage owner here. He has to go to chamber meetings with Tim. He’s not going to mess us about, and we can walk round to see him.
It was just after 12 when I was dropped off. I was told it would be at least an hour and more likely an hour and a half before I’d be picked up. After two hours in Costa I rang to find out what was going on.
The RAC rang the garage and told me there was someone on the way. The garage rang me and said they’d be an hour.
It was nearer two.
Eventually I was recovered to my door. Too late to get the car to a garage today. At least the kids had had fun, even if we’d missed out on our homeed science day.
But today I wasn’t at all impressed with the RAC. It was like dealing with a completely different firm. I will be asking them what went wrong.
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