Name: RAC
Rating: 1.43

“Absolutely rip off!!! My call got transferred 4 times!! Only to be then told I will have to pay for them to help me I had to tell 4 different people my exact location obviously lack of communication between themselves. Finally the guy arrived to tell me the cost will be £500 to pull my car back afew inches I was stranded with my kid in the car pitch black dark it's disgusting very appalling luckily a mate came to the rescue. The r.a.c wanted to take advantage of vunerable situation absolutely appalling!!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Absolutely rip off!!! My call got transferred 4 times!! Only to be then told I will have to pay for them to help me I had to tell 4 different people my exact location obviously lack of communication between themselves. Finally the guy arrived to tell me the cost will be £500 to pull my car back afew inches I was stranded with my kid in the car pitch black dark it's disgusting very appalling luckily a mate came to the rescue. The r.a.c wanted to take advantage of vunerable situation absolutely appalling!!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“The first time I had to have a recovery from the RAC I waited 5 hours to someone just to attended. Car was wasn't drivable and needed a recovery truck. After multiple recovery ETAs being pushed back I finally had someone arrive at midnight. I was 52 miles from home. I broke down at 6pm and finally got home at 4am. The second time I broke down at 10pm. I was told 90mins. I had my 8 year old daughter with me. RAC told me 90 mins. An hour later I got a call and they told me “we don’t have anymore one available tonight”. No one available? What kind of service am I paying for? The only option was to send a contractor to me, which didn’t arrive until 3am. My daughter was cold, scared, and distraught with the wait. This is the worst service I have ever ever ever experienced.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“I'm currently sitting on the side of the m25 in a live running lane with my vehicle broken down I contacted the RAC well over an hour ago and still no patrol no recovery vehicle all I've got is a bunch of sorrys and being told I've got to wait another 2 hours! How can this be acceptable with artic lorries coming up behind me doing 56mph... Safety is meant to be there main concern and yet I'm in a vulnerable position and dangerous yet that don't care whatever you do don't ever join the RAC!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Amazing service off of the gentleman that came to our rescue. After breaking down on the A52 on our way to the Peak District for a family holiday, we couldn’t have asked for a more helpful and friendly recovery driver. He arrived pretty much at the time we was told he would and the service he provided was excellent. Even though he couldn’t fix the car at the side of the road he went above and beyond, to make sure we were able to carry on to our destination. This included getting a hire car for us, taking our car to a RAC approves garage. Absolutely Amazing service from this guy... soo helpful.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“5 hour wait for them to turn up today. Ridiculous”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I'm not even sure where to begin really... The whole disaster started on a Thursday 01/08/2019 evening just after work when I found out that my car wasn't starting. Hence I rang the RAC Emergency Breakdown Cover to come and see what's wrong with my car. Since it was around 5pm they have advised me it will take roughly 1-2 hours tops and that was fair enough as I thought that is right having in mind all the traffic after a regular working day. Just after the phone call, I've decided to ring my friend who is a mechanic and see if he could come faster and have a look at the car. Unfortunately, he was in Birmingham at the time and was just heading to Huddersfield as he had a business meeting there. He said he would come as soon as he can if the recovery hadn't shown by then. After waiting for a good 2 hours (it was already 7pm) I rang them again to see where the recovery is and they have advised me the same thing that it will be another 1-2 hours. Slightly unhappy I've asked what's the deal and why am potentially going to wait for 4 hours since my first call, however, the customer support wasn't able to tell me the reason but only that they're busy. After 3 hours of waiting (it was already 8pm) and still no sight of the recovery truck my friend came and started inspecting the car. After a careful inspection, my friend diagnosed that the fuel pump was gone and advised that it is very unlikely a recovery truck will have one to replace. So I rang again to see where the recovery is, and I was advised AGAIN it will take another 1-2 hours before someone is going to come to me. So we waited and after 2 hours expired (it was already 10pm) I rang again, to see if someone is coming to help me at all and RAC has promised me someone will be with me within 1 hour tops. I was already waiting for 5 hours... After one hour have passed I've rung them again, at this time I've waited for 6 full hours and no one came. I was told they're too busy and they have no idea when the recovery is going to come, therefore I wasn't given any timeframe whatsoever which meant I may probably need to wait for another X amount of hours before someone shows up. Eventually, they have connected me to one of their contractors who were supposed to come and the conversation goes something like this: - Hello (contractor) - Hi, how far are you and when would you be able to have a look at my car? - Who dis? (yes, I've got a real professional) - I'm a customer of RAC and they've forwarded me to speak to you directly? - Oh, well, first off they shouldn't even do this... - Okay...well, they did and they said you would come within an hour and you're not here? - They shouldn't even tell you when someone will come as they don't know what I'm doing. - What are you doing? - I'm mad busy in Bradford, got a few other jobs to do before I can come to you - Oh ok, so you're not going to go to me now? - No, I've got other jobs and then I'll come. The rest is not important as I've thanked him and said I will be filling in a complaint to RAC myself. So the story is this, I've waited for 6 and a half hours and I've received no help. Not even once someone from RAC gave me a call back to update me on the situation as probably there wasn't anything to update on as no one was even coming my way anyway... I've asked my friend to take me home as I had to go to work the next day so did he and it was simply pointless to wait for this to be resolved by RAC. If I knew I would be waiting for 6 and a half hours I would have gotten into a taxi and went home while giving my friends my car keys so they would fix the car for me. However, I did not, therefore I've lost an entire evening, received no help whatsoever and what's most important haven't received a call the next day so someone could at least say sorry! The worst possible customer service and service, in general, I've ever experienced, if I can call this a service that is.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Horrible service. My car broke down due to transmission failure on the motorway at around 8 PM and the recover came after 10 hours. Initially, they said 90 minutes. A rescue officer came to check the vehicle and he said your car need to tow truck and he is initiating the request for it. When we asked for the timeline he just simply said 'I don't know ' and left. We again waited for their call but finally called them back after an hour. Initially, they said that the truck will come after 2 hours but after that, they kept on extending the time. Every time I call to check the status after the given timeline they kept on extending it again for 45 minutes. We were helpless standing and waiting on the motorway for the rest of the time, eventually, I reached home around 7 AM.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“This company is dreadful, one of our company vans broke down, so we called RAC, they charged us for it, and it has taken me over 2 weeks to get a copy of the VAT receipt for our accounts. I am still on the phone to them, and still waiting for it. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. They are so useless. I'm not sure how they are allowed to do this. It is legal requirement to provide a VAT receipt, and they are not doing it. Considering getting the police involved as they are acting illegally!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“This company is dreadful, one of our company vans broke down, so we called RAC, they charged us for it, and it has taken me over 2 weeks to get a copy of the VAT receipt for our accounts. I am still on the phone to them, and still waiting for it. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. They are so useless. I'm not sure how they are allowed to do this. It is legal requirement to provide a VAT receipt, and they are not doing it. Considering getting the police involved as they are acting illegally!!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Been playing around for most of the month, we tried to get a black box installed and they just didn’t turn up the first two times. Finally got it re arranged and they cancelled our policy without telling us, still sent an engineer and didn’t know we were driving an uninsured car for month of the month. The least friendly and unresponsive people I have ever come across you are such a joke”

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Posted 5 years ago

“I started calling them at 1230 am and and still on hold 30 plus minutes later. This is hardly peak breakdown time - no one has even answered the phone. What kind of emergency service is this ???”

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Posted 5 years ago

“My advise is to keep clear. Why, well on the 01/07/2019 I broke down on a main on a main carraigeway, I phoned for help and was told it would take 2hrs to get to me as they were very busy,so I nursed the car home approx 3 miles,at an average speed 15 miles per hr,I had another call and the operator told me it would be another 2 hrs,then at 21.15 I was called again and was told it would be the next day at 08.00 hrs because it was a bit late,so I waited until 10.00,still no assistance, so my friend towed me to his garage and diagnosed an egr valve problem, job done,I got back home and a mechanic called to my house at 12.15 and informed me that he was given the call out at 11.00 that day, not very good service, when I took the plan out I informed the rac that my car was a wheelchair access car,because my wife was paralysed and could not walk,it was a good job that she was not with me when I broke down,I received an apology by email from the rac, and said that it would not happen again,and that you can be sure of,because I am going elsewhere.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Would give 0 stars if I could. Broke down Sunday at 4.15 didnt get home until 17.5 hours later. Mechanic actually made it worse as didn’t have the right tools and broke the ignition rod. Never got any updates”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I started my car and it sounded dreadful - it loved, but only just. I called the RAC and had to pay £175 to join in a ‘pay as you go’ membership. The call centre said it would be three hours before a mechanic attended. While we were still on the phone dealing with the membership, someone else tried to call from a mobile number I didn’t recognise. The RAC call handler told me to answer the call in case it was the mechanic. It was and he said he’d be there in 15 minutes (not the three hours I’d been warned about). He arrived, diagnosed the problem and told me the car was just about ok to drive and he’d go ahead of me to accompany me to the local garage half a mile away. We did that and he left and I realised I could have saved myself £175 and called the garage the next day. A week later, my battery went flat and I called the RAC. I was told it would be a four hour wait for a mechanic and I would be charged £80 (or was it £85?) for the call out! I remonstrated and said I’d paid £175 just a few weeks ago. I was told that’s how ‘pay as you go’ works. There is a call out charge every time. I cancelled the call out and found a friend who made the drive to me with jump leads (something I’d been loathe to do due to the time of day). Hugely expensive!!!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“It's extremely rare for me to write an review, but I have to make exceptions for RAC. My car broke done on M1 six hours back. In last six hours I Must have called RAC more then 10 times but no sign of any support from RAC. Every time I called, am given only assurance that dispatcher will be sent in some time but they can not guarantee when dispatcher will attend my car. As per last call dispatcher will be free in 3 hours if he/she is not diverted to another call. Looks like one dispatcher is attending whole country. Never knew some organisation can be such pathetic.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“My wife broke down at 10pm in the car with only our 7 year old daughter, we weren't members by phoned RAC around 10:20pm and after 25 minutes on the phone finally managed to get an overpriced "pay as you go" membership costing £175 (compared to the £4.12 per month that is advertised on their website - not applicable if you have already broken down). I explained to him that it was extremely urgent as my wife was on her own with our young daughter and it was already 11pm, on top of the fact that they were stuck on the hard shoulder of the M40 in an area where the barrier is 6 foot high so they couldn't even step off the hard shoulder to get out of the way of other vehicles. Before setting up the membership we were told that recover could take "up to an hour". Longer than I would have hoped for but I thought it would be quicker to go ahead with this than trying to arrange another company. For 3 HOURS they waited there, scared out of their minds, always thinking that a lorry was going to not see them and run them over, I kept calling to ask where on earth they were, after an hour and a half it turns out they weren't even put on the priority list!! Then even once they were, they couldn't give us any estimate of when a recovery vehicle would be sent. Eventually at 2am they called and basically told us that they had nothing available (despite leaving a woman and young child in mortal danger for hours) and they would not be coming (despite us having been told it would be 1 hour and taking £175 from us)! In the end we had to call a different company who managed to turn up after about 90 minutes, finally arriving at 3:30am, getting them home at 4:30am! All that wasted time, stress, fear, money could have been saved if they had just told us from the start that they couldn't recover us. What an absolute disgrace of a company, who should really be ashamed of such awful service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Disgraceful service, took RAC 15 hours to attend our car which had a flat battery. Initially said we had an aged parent at home who needed our attention, fell on deaf ears. Two of us made our own arrangements to get home whilst the third person waited for information, eventually it came, "We are to busy and you are a low priority, we will arrange for a taxi to take you home" Next day (15 hours later) they arranged for a taxi to take us to the car where the RAC guy fixed the car, he was good. As for the overall service I was totally disappointed as I have been with the RAC for several years. NEVER AGAIN”

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Posted 5 years ago

“I was told 3 hours for recovery but they will prioritise as there is a 4 year old child roadside. We are now 5 and a half hours later and still no sign, called for update and now saying earliest will be another 1 and a half hours minimum. Disgusting treatment, no updates and I will be changing provider.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“**PLEASE DO NOT USE THE RAC** I broke down on 22nd June 2019 at 6:13pm. A very secluded road, surrounded by trees and fields which seemed to be shooting clay pigeons. At the time I was under the age of 18 and my friend was only just 16. I broke down in a very dangerous place, I was causing an obstruction, I called the RAC straight away, I wasn’t a member at the time so I was vulnerable with no breakdown cover. They charged me an extortionate price to become a member for the service they provided. We started off being told someone would be out to us to see if the car could be recovered or repaired. I was sure the car was not repairable so I was awaiting recovery in all honesty. We waited and waited we had no updates. Eventually a repairman arrived and said that the car needed recovery. At this stage I knew the vehicle he arrived in was capable of towing the car, I asked the question and he said he’d have to call a truck.. I was confused but went along with it as he said I’d have a call within thirty minutes to clarify a time they’d be with us. After waiting thirty minutes I was confused as to why we hadn’t had the call. I left it for another thirty minutes. After an hour in total I called, I was told another thirty minutes. We waited and waited and nothing happened. After waiting a while I then received a call around thirty minutes later. Telling me someone would not be out until around the hour of 11pm. I was furious and expressed this to the manager, I was spoken to in a very horrible manner and was then made aware that the RAC told the repairman not to tow the car because they were busy and we could wait. Two female minors, left in a dark, unsafe location causing an obstruction, with no toilet, food or water. We were genuinely concerned for our safety. The place had no lighting and we were in such a vulnerable situation. At 12:43am the following morning the truck turned up and recovered us. I did not get back to my home address until 2am. For 8 hours I was in an unsafe location and was stripped from all facilities of human nature, throughout this time we had no food, we didn’t have a drink and weren’t even able to go to the toilet. As two young females under the age of 18 we were extremely scared. After arriving home we went straight to sleep to then receive a notification from my INSURANCE company to tell me my policy was being CANCELLED! The black box I have doesn’t require the engine to be switched on for it to track so it tracks any movement. So even though the vehicle was on the back of a recovery vehicle, it tracked that the driver who was a contractor of the RAC. After panicking about this I had to then gain contact with the RAC to receive proof that my vehicle was recovered during the times which it was said to have been speeding. This driver was driving at ridiculously unsafe speeds doing nearly three times the speed limits! After receiving this documentation I decided to complain to the RAC - DONT WASTE YOUR TIME COMPLAINING THEY ARE NOT EMPATHETIC AND WILL NOT SPEAK TO YOU NICELY. A month later, I am still in dispute with the complaints team as they refuse to give me any sort of refund and I have been spoken to so rudely! I am extremely surprised that a company as reputable as the RAC treat their customers like this! DO NOT GO NEAR THEM!!”

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

RAC Reviews