Name: RAC
Rating: 1.43

“Please avoid RAC almost 5 hours waiting in the car they never turn up I rang they said they have no information how long will take. They done same last year. I'm very regret I left AA trust me avoid RAC avoid they should shut down”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Broke down on the M26 yesterday around 1300, I was with my wife and my two children, I was on my way to a wedding in Christchurch Dorset, however, we were staying in a hotel in Southampton, which I had paid for, I made around 6 phone calls over the next 6 hours with promises as to giving me an ETA when I would get picked up along with my two young children and my wife, no one rung me, no one gave me an ETA, despite promises made that we were top priority in the end I spoke to "Rosie" just about we were about to be picked up around 1830, who told me that the RAC would provide me with either a taxi, to London so that I could make arrangements with a car hire company to carry on my journey with my wife and children to Southampton, or they would provide me with free car hire but I had to make my own way to London with two children and my wife and my luggage, and there was nothing else she would do, take it or leave it, considering the circumstances, that no matter what I did I would not get to Dorset in time even for the reception, I left it. When I spoke to the recovery chap, he informed me that he was a contractor, did not work for the RAC and they were informed about this breakdown around 1720 hours, which would suggest that till then nothing had been done to pick us about despite the fact we had been there for a few hours. There was no offer from "Rosie" that despite I had been on the hard shoulder with my family for around 5 hours, she would organize a taxi and a hire car so that I could attend the reception, no apology that they had not rung me back despite my phone calls, and would not pass on my phone call to the manager who could perhaps expedite matters. If the RAC would have rescued me on time, I would have got to a nearer car hire centre and carried on with my journey and attended the wedding and the reception and not paid out for two rooms in a hotel pointlessly.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Both me my partner and daughter are in the RAC my partner broken 11.00 at night about 5 months ago on a Sunday evening on the A1470 a big main road just off the M4 . Being a female on her own late on a Sunday night probably the quietest time of the week you wouldn’t of thought it would of taken 4 hrs to get to her but it did. Yesterday my daughter of 22 broke down on the M25 6.15 in the morning with a puncture again it took 4 hrs to get to her. Find both cases Unacceptable. You have the Audacity to call yourself the 4th emergency service. Will definitely be cancelling the families policy for next year Regards Martin”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Terrible experience with RAC, extremely disappointing and poor recovery service! I called RAC recovery around 10:45pm on 29th August due to problem with flat battery, my car engine did not start after visiting a relative. I was told the support will arrive within 90 minutes. After 90 minutes at around 12:15am, when I called them again, they said it would be another 2 and half hours. I was given misleading information, as I was very unhappy with the support, I raised my dissatisfaction with the service to the rescue operator over the phone and requested him to ask a senior to call me because I would like to make a formal complain. However due to an urgent matter next morning I cancelled the rescue support job for tonight as I would not be able to wait for another 2 and half hours, I left my car on the spot on a safe location and came back home on a cab. I am so unhappy with their service, as so was given misleading information about the timing for rescue support by two rescue operators. I will raise the issue with RAC customer support team in the morning. I am utterly disappointed and disgusted with the service. As a valued customer for the last 14 years, I do not deserve to have this kind service from RAC!!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“I wouldn't advice anyone to subscribe to RAC for any reason. They are the worse I've ever seen. We broke down at 2 PM and were rescued at 7PM. We waited on the motorway for 5 hours and they did not even try to look at the problem. Please avoid this company if you can.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Without question the worst breakdown companies in the UK their lack of ability to run this type of service I personally question. I'm a 65-year-old female who was traveling down to Spain and took out the RAC top breakdown cover. It was a nightmare they cannot offer a good service in Spain as they use a 3rd party company in Spain and everything takes hours/days I had some small issues with my car, I was 100% sure it was a small problem but the car was not really safe to drive. They collected on Sunday and sent a Taxi Sunday night to take me to Valencia airport to collect a hire car but forgot to tell me who or which company I was just dumped at the Airport and had to get a Taxi back to my Villa. On Monday another Taxi took me again to the airport and this time the driver took us to the collection point. [Too be honest they just needed to tell us which hire company] The car was taken to a compound and never made a garage until the Tuesday 2 days after it was collected. We had a call on the Weds saying we needed to go to the garage to sign a form before the garage would look at the car. I refused as the garage was right in the centre of Valencia and I was not will to drive through the nightmare roads around the centre when I was not familiar with them and the RAC team said they would deal with the problem and give authorisation that they would pay any bill and we would pay them. We had no more contact and thought everything was going fine but as the week progressed and we kept calling the RAC and no one was returning calls the horror was staring us in the fact that the car was not going to be ready by Sunday afternoon and despite telling the RAC time and time again that we had to leave on Sunday early afternoon to catch out 8.20am ferry at St Malo but by 1am NO ONE AT THE RAC NEW HOW WE WHERE GETTING HOME OR WHERE WE WERE GOING TO STAY. I cannot print how I feel they are useless, in the end; i took over and wished i had sooner. I sorted an extension to the villa so we were not on the street. Told the RAC to get a Taxi to collect us from the airport on Monday when we will take the loan car back and drive us to the garage and we would drive the car back as it was... well the RAC forgot to pay the loan car and we had to pay £300 before we could leave [what if we had not had the funds] when we got to the garage we were told they had not received any notified about the work costs so the car had been stuck in the storage area and would have stayed there for weeks/months/years... who knows the garage was helpful and fixed that car that day and took them approx. 1 hour... yes 1 hour and been collected 7 days earlier. I had to rebook my ferry crossing as we missed the Monday and can you believe this i had to pay the RAC another £40 to cover the journey back to St Malo and my cover had run out... Nightmare and it still going on a month later and the RAC have still not acknowledged they have received the claim form and impossible to speak to anyone. The holiday has been the worst I've ever had due to the RAC, I'm £1000 approx. out of pocket due to the RAC mismanagement and incompetence. I'm driving down to Spain again in a couple of weeks but this time we're using another company for our breakdown cover.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Without question the worst breakdown company in the UK their lack of ability to run this type of service I personally question. I'm a 65-year-old female who was traveling down to Spain and took out the RAC top breakdown cover. It was a nightmare they cannot offer a good service in Spain as they use a 3rd party company in Spain and everything takes hours/days I had some small issues with my car, I was 100% sure it was a small problem but the car was not really safe to drive. They collected on Sunday and sent a Taxi Sunday night to take me to Valencia airport to collect a hire car but forgot to tell me who or which company I was just dumped at the Airport and had to get a Taxi back to my Villa. On Monday another Taxi took me again to the airport and this time the driver took us to the collection point. [too be honest they just needed to tell us which hire company] The car was taken to a compound and never made a garage until the Tuesday 2 days after it was collected. We had a call on the Weds saying we needed to go to the garage to sign a form before the garage would look at the car. I refused as the garage was right in the center of Valencia and I was not will to drive through the nightmare roads around the center when I was not familiar with them and the RAC team said they would deal with the problem and give authorisation that they would pay any bill and we would pay them. We had no more contact and thought everything was going fine but as the week progressed and we kept calling the RAC and no one was returning calls the horror was staring us in the fact that the car was not going to be ready by Sunday afternoon and dispite telling the RAC time and time again that we had to leave on Sunday early afternoon to catch out 8.20am ferry at St Malo but by 1am NO ONE AT THE RAC NEW HOW WE WHERE GETTING HOME OR WHERE WE WERE GOING TO STAY. I cannot print how I feel they are useless, in the end, i took over and wished i had sooner. I sorted an extension to the villa so we were not on the street. Told the RAC to get a Taxi to collect us from the airport on Monday when we will take the loan car back and drive us to the garage and we would drive the car back as it was... well the RAC forgot to pay the loan car and we had to pay £300 before we could leave [what if we had not had the funds] when we got to the garage we were told they had not received any notified about the work costs so the car had been stuck in the storage area and would have stayed there for weeks/months/years... who knows the garage was helpful and fixed that car that day and took them approx 1 hour... yes 1 hour and been collected 7 days earlier. I had to rebook my ferry crossing as we missed the Monday and can you believe this i had to pay the RAC another £40 to cover hte journey back to St Malo and my cover had run out... Nightmare and it still going on a month later and the RAC have still not acknowledged they have received the claim form and impossible to speak to anyone. The holiday has been the worst I've ever had due to the RAC, I'm £1000 approx out of pocket due to the RAC mismanagement and incompetence. I'm driving down to Spain again in a couple of weeks but this time we're using another company for our breakdown cover.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Left a festival at 11am with a 130 mile drive home broke down pretty much straight away, rang and was told it would be 4 hours maximum, got another call then to say 5/6 hours, finally got another call then saying 8.30pm which would have been 9 and a half hours later. Told them where to go and rang the AA instead and they were with me in 20 minutes. Don’t waste your money.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“THE WORST COMPANY EVER!!!!!! I been with them for about 7 years. I had personal cover and business cover for three vans. I’ll give you only 3 (but I have more) examples of how bad experience I had with them not a while ago, so you can decide to choose another company, but not RAC!!! 1st situation was with my personal cover for my BMW x5. There was a situation when my x5 stopped and I called RAC patrol. He arrived 60min (that’s fine) and said that there is a problem with fuel pump and it needs to be replaced. I said that I want it to recover it to my garage. He said, I will check if I can fix it. He did something and started the engine and told you are good to go.. I asked him if it is safe to drive? He said yes, it’s good to go, you can drive, even he told me before that I need a new part. What you think? – After 5miles, car stopped again!! I called them again and they sent me another patrol! After long discussion with patrol and telling them that if he start this car it still can’t be driven. Okay, he called a truck to tow my car to the garage with eta of 1 hour. What you think? Truck arrived after 7 hours!!! I called them more than 10 times every 30 min and they keep telling me that it should be soon. After about 6 hours, I received a call from separate recovery company and they informed me that truck is on the way, I asked them why it took so long and they told me that they just received my order… What?? So where my order was for last 6 hours??? I called RAC and asked for manager to explain me this and he was very sorry etc, etc… and offered my as an excuse some amazon vouchers. Do you think I got them??? NO, I didn’t… 2nd situation was with my business van. It broke down at (alternator problem) about 180miles away from my depo. I called RAC to tow it. They sent a patrol to inspect the van and told that they will send a recovery to tow it. Then story starts: We been told that truck should come within 90min, after 2 hours I called again and they told me to wait and they will come back to me because they will transfer some info to somewhere else. After another hour they called us and you know what they said??? That they won’t come tonight, because OUR RECOVERY TRUCK TOOK ANOTHER CAR.. Can you BELIEVE THAT!?!?1?... So, my driver been sitting in the van until the next day, in the middle of nowhere without food and drink, just a small bottle of pepsi… NEXT day; they sent patrol AGAIN!! Patrol checked the van AGAIN and decided that we need a truck to recover it :D And they sent a truck. Truck arrived after another 2-3 hours and took the van, BUT he was unable to deliver to final destination, so made only 1/3 of the way and dropped us to another service station, because distance was too far.. Then guys been waiting for another truck for another hour and GUESS what??? Another truck arrived and he also told that he won’t deliver us to the final destination… So he delivered us another 2/3 of the road and we been swapped to another truck which delivered our guys to the final destination… From the time we called RAC for help to destination driver spend in the van 26 hours!!! You can think and imagine if it is normal or not… 3rd situation, which happened 2 days ago was my final and let me decide to leave this company. On one of my vans we had smashed tyre and damaged rim ON THE M42 MOTORWAY. I called RAC urgently to inform that we need an urgent recovery, because my van and driver is on a busy motorway and in dangerous position. Also, I explained that tyre blow down on 60miles per hour and it completely smashed and rim damaged, so we need recovery truck not a patrol, because it is not fixable on the road, especially on the motorway.. And what you think? :D They sent me a patrol to check the vehicle!!! HE came and decide that we need the recovery truck…. I called office again and asked if they do understand that we are in dangerous location and van need to be moved out from there immediately… They assured me that truck is on the way. Truck arrived after 3 hours 15 minutes and guess what??? Truck was suitable for small cars, not for vans :D When he saw our van, he just sit in his recovery and left with no words and no information about what is going to happen next… I called RAC again, been waiting for 30min in the queue, when they answered and I explained the situation, they transferred me to someone else and cut the line… So called again, been waiting for 20min and they assure me that other truck is coming… Another truck came after 2,5 hours and took the van.. So, you can think by yourself if 7 hours breakdown on motorway and messing customer around all the day is normal??? I don’t think so… According my opinion, I would not recommend this company to anybody… I tried to be patient and do not complain by thinking, maybe this time something was not by the plan in the office and next time would be better, but… It is not about the plan, it is about the company management I guess, because it is happening again and again…”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“THE WORST COMPANY EVER!!!!!! I been with them for about 7 years. I had personal cover and business cover for three vans. I’ll give you only 3 (but I have more) examples of how bad experience I had with them not a while ago, so you can decide to choose another company, but not RAC!!! 1st situation was with my personal cover for my BMW x5. There was a situation when my x5 stopped and I called RAC patrol. He arrived 60min (that’s fine) and said that there is a problem with fuel pump and it needs to be replaced. I said that I want it to recover it to my garage. He said, I will check if I can fix it. He did something and started the engine and told you are good to go.. I asked him if it is safe to drive? He said yes, it’s good to go, you can drive, even he told me before that I need a new part. What you think? – After 5miles, car stopped again!! I called them again and they sent me another patrol! After long discussion with patrol and telling them that if he start this car it still can’t be driven. Okay, he called a truck to tow my car to the garage with eta of 1 hour. What you think? Truck arrived after 7 hours!!! I called them more than 10 times every 30 min and they keep telling me that it should be soon. After about 6 hours, I received a call from separate recovery company and they informed me that truck is on the way, I asked them why it took so long and they told me that they just received my order… What?? So where my order was for last 6 hours??? I called RAC and asked for manager to explain me this and he was very sorry etc, etc… and offered my as an excuse some amazon vouchers. Do you think I got them??? NO, I didn’t… 2nd situation was with my business van. It broke down at (alternator problem) about 180miles away from my depo. I called RAC to tow it. They sent a patrol to inspect the van and told that they will send a recovery to tow it. Then story starts: We been told that truck should come within 90min, after 2 hours I called again and they told me to wait and they will come back to me because they will transfer some info to somewhere else. After another hour they called us and you know what they said??? That they won’t come tonight, because OUR RECOVERY TRUCK TOOK ANOTHER CAR.. Can you BELIEVE THAT!?!?1?... So, my driver been sitting in the van until the next day, in the middle of nowhere without food and drink, just a small bottle of pepsi… NEXT day; they sent patrol AGAIN!! Patrol checked the van AGAIN and decided that we need a truck to recover it :D And they sent a truck. Truck arrived after another 2-3 hours and took the van, BUT he was unable to deliver to final destination, so made only 1/3 of the way and dropped us to another service station, because distance was too far.. Then guys been waiting for another truck for another hour and GUESS what??? Another truck arrived and he also told that he won’t deliver us to the final destination… So he delivered us another 2/3 of the road and we been swapped to another truck which delivered our guys to the final destination… From the time we called RAC for help to destination driver spend in the van 26 hours!!! You can think and imagine if it is normal or not… 3rd situation, which happened 2 days ago was my final and let me decide to leave this company. On one of my vans we had smashed tyre and damaged rim ON THE M42 MOTORWAY. I called RAC urgently to inform that we need an urgent recovery, because my van and driver is on a busy motorway and in dangerous position. Also, I explained that tyre blow down on 60miles per hour and it completely smashed and rim damaged, so we need recovery truck not a patrol, because it is not fixable on the road, especially on the motorway.. And what you think? :D They sent me a patrol to check the vehicle!!! HE came and decide that we need the recovery truck…. I called office again and asked if they do understand that we are in dangerous location and van need to be moved out from there immediately… They assured me that truck is on the way. Truck arrived after 3 hours 15 minutes and guess what??? Truck was suitable for small cars, not for vans :D When he saw our van, he just sit in his recovery and left with no words and no information about what is going to happen next… I called RAC again, been waiting for 30min in the queue, when they answered and I explained the situation, they transferred me to someone else and cut the line… So called again, been waiting for 20min and they assure me that other truck is coming… Another truck came after 2,5 hours and took the van.. So, you can think by yourself if 7 hours breakdown on motorway and messing customer around all the day is normal??? I don’t think so… According my opinion, I would not recommend this company to anybody… I tried to be patient and do not complain by thinking, maybe this time something was not by the plan in the office and next time would be better, but… It is not about the plan, it is about the company management I guess, because it is happening again and again…”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Over 12 hours and counting waiting for Rac recovery truck. Had 10 months baby with me. Baby and I had to get taxi home (NOT offered or paid for by RAC). Over hour at a time waiting to get through. Kept saying from 6 pm with in 2 to 3 hours. Then around 8.30 patrol came when it should have been recovery. He said recovery would be 1 hour. Nothing. Rac said by 2am. Nothing. Being fully aware baby there in hot weather. Then they said by 7 am nothing. Then by 10am. Still waiting. Absolutely disgusting, avoid like Ebola. They are liers. Finally managed to get hold of the outsourcing company at 7 they said we've just got the job from Rac. A total bunch of wankers. I would rather wipe my backside and flush the money than give it to Rac. No care or concern for the safety or welfare of the customers. Also "surprisingly" all negative feedback on waiting times has been removed from there website. (it was my birthday)”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“7.5 hrs stranded and still waiting. It is very difficult to get through to anyone. Called back to check on progress but gave up and hung up after 45 minutes waiting for someone to answer the phone.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Have been waiting over an hour so far (still waiting) for my call to be answered. One thing patrols being busy but not answering calls within an hour is very poor service!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“6 and a half hours so far, still waiting. Lots of broken promises. Appalling communication, poor organisation. They seem to have given up even pretending to be an emergency service.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Wish there was a no star review Currently 15 hours into the breakdown in a classic VW camper that is now requested to be taken to the garage for fixing after failing during a road trip. Currently stuck at the side if a busy road in central London with no facilities or food and drink. Requested a low loader flat bed at 4pm on Friday and after repeated calls (one way from us with no updates from the RAC) where they said it would be a 6 hour wait at 11.30 pm a contract crane lorry arrived and the driver agreed that it would be too risky to take us due to low bridges in the area and the age of the vehicle Multiple calls to the RAC followed only to be told that as "we" refused the recovery (which we didn't) it was now classed as a new call-out and it would be a further 6 hours Still waiting at 6.30 am but now been promised a RAC operated flat bed at 8.30am as the driver starts at 8 Potential for a 16 And a half hour wait for recovery Apparently was told during the night that they planned for a wet bank holiday weekend and didn't have enough staff on Madness doesn't even cover it They need to pull their finger out if they want my custom again”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Broke down 49 miles from home and it took 9 hours in total untill I walked through the front door. Recovered to within 25 miles of my home address to be dumped at a services and wait another 5 hours to be finally recovered home. Any update I got were by me ringing them dispute being told on numerous occasions that someone would contact me. Useless.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE Left stranded on the A1 for 8 hours AVOID!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Shittest company I’ve ever had that’s all I’ve got to say!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“If any of my facebook friends are RAC members then I hope you never have an experience like this! My parents have had the worst service I can possibly imagine from one of the market leaders in roadside assistance, 5 hours passed after an initial call to the RAC before they received any help! The help was in the form of a tow truck (not even a mechanic) to finally get them home! My mum is a type 1 diabetic who needs not only medication for short term care but long term too after 5 hours she was not expecting to have to administer this in a car park! The industrial estate they had to pull onto when the car lost power was dark and isolated by the time someone finally got to them! Unacceptable! The RAC's defence was that they were short staffed! They have clearly over subscribed a service they cannot provide if that's the case! The numerous times they called the RAC they were advised they couldn't get hold of the mechanic so continuously emailed him to see if he was en-route, surely modern day technology has moved on from this? Rant over but I for one will never positively speak of this company again, I urge anyone who is thinking of taking breakdown cover to overlook the RAC!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“completly agree that the service we asked for was made-up.we asked for 365 days cover for europe,as we work abroad for some of the year.we were told,and have it recorded that we had 365 days cover.when i broke down on the barcelona ring-road,they told my wife they would be there in a short time.5 hours later,they decided that we were not covered[only for 3 months now]and just left me there! we are now taking our case[as i assume many others are]to the ombudsman,to try and get our money back,as we were mis-sold a policy.since then i have joined the AA,where i get 365 days euro cover,with multiple recovery,very nice AA.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Own Driver, Courier
Average Delivery Time	Next Day
On-time Delivery	Greater than 21%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 75%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Over A Week
Customer Service	1.4 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult

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