...to be so, so cross.......

[BlackStoneCherie]

.....at the RAC?

My partner broke down in the car hours ago on his way to a special event. He called the RAC just after 5pm and was told someone would be there between 6pm - 10pm, so a maximum wait of 5 hours.

Got to 10.20pm he called again , only to be told they were now sending out a local breakdown service , which would be there imminently.

It wasn't. But no communication from the RAC to my DP to say why.

I then called them from home and got them to call him back, only for them to say it would be another 70 mins before help arrives.

He's out in the middle of the countryside, his phone charge is now low, and has been stranded for over 7 hours. He's over 120 miles from home, so even if they arrive now, it's going to be at least 3.30 - 4.00am before he get's back here.

Our renewal is due next week!

@AmazinglyGrace Please feel free to Twitter away, thank you. I'm not on there, and am not joining simply re this. We - me and DP - will be taking this further tomorrow.
It's ridiculous that we can't organise any repair for the car until we've got it back. And that is definitely NOT a criticism of the recovery service, who got to DP late, AFTER being given the WRONG directions by the RAC.

It's just that they are so busy on the weekend - dealing with the fall out from the RAC no doubt - that they can't bring it to us until tomorrow at the earliest.

I tweeted them a link but they said that as it’s an external link, they can’t comment. But it does mean that their followers can see the link which is good.

They are prioritising their resources incorrectly: they never fail to have staff standing at the front of the superstores trying to convince shoppers to join the RAC.

And those people are so pushy! The one at my local store has a cute dog with him, so people stop to make a fuss of the dog and he goes in with the hard sell.

I'm with Autonational Rescue which I get "free" with my insurance. He told me it wasn't free and would be costing me a lot of money. I said the insurance plus breakdown was only £8 more than the cheapest insurance, ie a good deal and he then tried to tell me that it was dangerous for a woman who travels alone to rely on a "cowboy" outfit like Autonational, because I'll be left stranded somewhere one day.

Even when I told him that I'd been with Autonational before and never had to wait more than 50 minutes, he tried to tell me I was wrong, at which point I just walked away.

Funnily, this was outside Tesco, and my car insurance is through ... Tesco. I wonder if they know he's slagging off their partner companies?

Finally! Got the car back yesterday (Monday) evening, and it's now being sorted at the garage, though have been told we probably won't get it back until Friday.

I spent yesterday morning calling all the different RAC numbers as I wanted to talk to someone re all this.
Most of the numbers simply gave me the option of 1.buying breakdown cover or 2.insurance. The third option was a recording of a list of how else I can contact them - email, text, letter etc, then just said 'gooodbye' and cut me off. How charming. Even the customer service number was included in that.
Another number put me straight through to breakdowns - who promptly put me on to the menu, which then cut me off. It felt a little like groundhog day, so I gave up after an hour &half.

So here ends the saga...or is it just beginning? who knows? We have yet to send in our email of woe.....we're working up the energy. Thank you one and all for sharing those small hours of Friday night, and of your tales of woe, and finally all of the advice and info. You were great!

Hmpf. We've gone back to the RAC following their issue of a paltry cheque and whilst they've acknowledged it, they haven't responded. So even emails don't get you anywhere.

Good luck!!

I'm with the aa. When I ran out of petrol they were there within half an hour. And they gave me 10 litres of petrol. For free. I am a woman though

I thought in this sort of situation you were meant to call the police as you and the traffic are in danger?

Rockhopper81

I was left on the side of a busy dual carriageway (A road) for almost 2 hours, at night, by the AA. I was blocking the inside lane (no hard shoulder)