RAC (robbers and cheats)! (RAC)

Member Name: D-RAY2000

Product:	RAC
Date:	18/11/08 (152 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very little, if anything at all.

Disadvantages: Oh where do I begin.

As I do a hell of a lot of travelling I have always been a member of the AA (not alcoholics anonymous I may add) but after a few times being less than impressed with them I decided to change roadside breakdown companies and move to the RAC, I got a free introductory offer to them which was basically 6 months free cover then I took a year's cover at the cost of £49.

After the first 18 months I had never had to use them so my second year's renewal was only £33 which I thought was quite good until a few weeks after renewing and I had to use them for the first time. I called from my mobile and told the lady on the line where I was and what had happened I then told her my membership number only for her to tell me that my membership had lapsed and it would cost my £45 to have a recovery vehicle sent out.

After around ten minutes she had sorted out the fact that I was indeed a member and agreed to have a roadside breakdown vehicle with me inside the hour. After 90 minutes I rang back and was told they were less than ten minutes from me and that they were sorry for my wait. When the guy arrived he asked what had happened and I explained to him that the car had just shut down completely with no warning.

He told me it was most likely the cars computer system shutting down and that this type of thing happens from time to time, he went on to tell me that this was the trouble with modern cars, they are all computer controlled and without the CPU in good order then nothing works. I asked him if it was normal for a 2 year old car to fail in this way to which he replied "no but it does happen".

He then went on to check the battery power and then told me that there was no problem with power but as I had no electrics it had to be the CPU. He told me we would need a tow truck to tow us to the nearest garage and as he was only in a van there was no more he could do for us. So he radioed for a tow truck then bid his farewells and left.

Although we were told the tow truck should be with us in around 20 minutes it was another full hour till we saw it and the grumpiest man on the planet was driving it, he hooked us up and me, my wife and my daughter got in the truck and off we went. The driver barely spoke a word other than "I will drop you guys off at home as it is less than 15 miles away then drop the car at the garage and they will phone you in the morning".

So that is what he did and in the morning the garage did indeed phone to tell me that my car was ready to be picked up. I was very surprised to hear this as it was only ten in the morning and I had expected them to price the job first and let e know what was wrong. The girl on the phone however told me it had been a simple repair so they went ahead and done it.

On arriving at the garage the mechanic told me that the power wire to the CPU had simply become disconnected and that if the RAC guy had bothered to look he could have had us on the go in about 5 minutes, it was such a simple job the garage never even charged for it.

So me and the RAC are now parting company just like me and the AA did, Although I guess these companies are pretty much all alike I am going to give Green Flag a go now as they can't be any worse than these jokers!

Summary: A waste of money!