• Damage repaired - replacement bars, control set, clutch lever - all caused by their contractors.
  

• Full Service and Replacement Tyre
  

• £35 + £50 + some form of compensation to the tune of 2 days wages for my time
  

Quote: Ref: Motorbike, vehicle registration T655 XBV.

On Tuesday 22nd September, my motorcycle suffered a flat tyre.

As an RAC member, I phoned for a pickup to take me to an address where I could store my bike overnight until I could get the tyre changed.

After calling the breakdown assistance line, I was told someone would be with me in half an hour.  A breakdown truck finally arrived after an hour - 30 minutes later than I was told it would be.

On arrival at the street my bike was on, the breakdown driver called me to say that he could not get his truck down to my end of the road.  He was asked to wait where he was and I would wheel the bike to him.  He agreed.

I wheeled my bike up the hill to him, only to find he wasn't there.  I called him back and he said he had found another road to use to gain access and had done so, despite being told to wait and without bothering to let us know.

He then refused to go back to where he originally said he would be, leaving me to push a motorbike up a steep hill, past over 50 houses with traffic on both sides of the road posing danger to myself.

When I arrived at the top of the hill, I was met by a man smoking and messing around with his phone.  He had a flatbed truck - the wrong type of vehicle for recovering a motorbike.  By this point, I was so relieved to have someone finally pick my bike up that I allowed him to load my bike and take it home.

On arrival home, I was asked to sign some paperwork and was told it was simply to acknowledge that the bike was collected and delivered as requested.

I signed the paperwork and then got out of the truck to get my bike taken off.  On removing the bike from the truck, I noticed that part of my indicator stalk was missing.  I brought it up with the recovery agent who informed me that it was not his problem.  He then unloaded my bike and on starting the engine, I noticed that there was the following damage:

Broken indicator stalk
Broken lighting switches
Broken horn
Broken clutch
Broken pass trigger
Bent handlebars
Damaged switchgear casing

The driver again reaffirmed that this was not his problem and simply got on his truck and left me stranded at the end of the road (the truck being too wide to get down the road to the house where I wanted the bike leaving).

I called RAC to complain and was informed that not only was the complaints department closed, but the RAC were unable to provide assistance in getting the bike to the address where I wanted it keeping.

After nearly half an hour of wrestling with it, I finally got the bike uphill and up the road to the address where I wanted it stored and locked the bike up.

The following morning (Weds 24th Sept) I called the RAC customer care team, who were less than helpful.  I was informed that I would not be given a courtesy car, I would not be given transport to get the bike reviewed and the RAC would not provide a mobile mechanic to look over the bike.

This was completely unacceptable as there is no mobile mechanic I could instruct to look at it, I was left without transport and had no means to pay for a recovery truck to move my bike to a place where I could have it looked at.

It took 3 full working days and several hours of phone calls before I was offered transport for my vehicle and me to the estimators and back again.

A few days later, and a week after I originally reported the damage, another truck was sent out to me to move my bike.

The truck was supposed to turn up at 8AM and finally showed up nearly 2 hours late despite being pre-booked.  Again, the wrong type of truck was sent out, but at least this time the driver knew how to secure the bike.

On arrival, I refused to sign the forms saying the bike was delivered intact as the driver managed to scuff my paintwork while unloading the bike.  The driver then left without providing me with transport back to my office as promised.

It took over an hour of phone calls to get transport home.  During this time I was offered told:
• Get a train (the town doesn’t have a station)
• Get busses (would take 6 hours, cost a lot and still only get me to just within a mile of my destination)
• get a taxi and apply for reimbursement (I don’t have £80 to throw at RAC incompetence)

Eventually, RAC sent a taxi for me which took another 30 minutes to arrive.

On arrival, the taxi had been given the wrong destination and I had to wait for the driver to get authorisation to take me to where I was supposed to be going.

I eventually got back to my starting point 4 hours later than expected - causing me to have to take a day (unpaid) off work.

A mechanics report was sent to me shortly after - detailing the damage, cost of repair and clearly stating that the damage was caused by incorrect securing of my bike resulting in excessive downward pressure on my bars - resulting in broken switch gear, bent bars and the rest of the damage mentioned above.

The garage sent this to the RAC who claimed it never arrived.  They sent it to me, and it arrived immediately.

I then faxed it to the RAC and got a receipt from the fax machine confirming delivery - yet the RAC claim it never arrived.

The following day I had to email the report to the RAC twice before anyone would acknowledge it had arrived - despite me having a pair of auto-generated replies from the RAC informing me that my email was received.

A week and a half after my bike was ruined by the RAC (Friday 2nd October) - the RAC finally agreed to give me a courtesy car, but only for that weekend - and I had to pay the fuel deposit, delivery and collection charges!  I was told I could expect these back IF a case was found in my favour.  This car has since been collected and when I requested an extension of the time which I could keep the car for, I was told that not only was it not possible, but I should be grateful that I was even given this as its not normal practise.

As things stand:
• I have been without transport for 2 weeks
• I have lost full days wage
• I have spent nearly £50 on phone calls
• My bike is still off the road

On top of this, I have been lied to by RAC, its customer service team and its Breakdown customer care department on several occasions.  I have been told that you have a no names policy, yet when I call back 2 minutes later I will be given the name I requested.  I have been promised repeated call-backs which never happened.  I have been told people, actions and departments do not exist – yet I have spoken to them shortly after.

I have been informed repeatedly that you are waiting for the 3rd party recovery company to put together a statement and present their case and that this will take a reasonable amount of time.  The recovery agent has been on holiday and has been unavailable - which has delayed this case.

However - after seeking legal advice, I have been informed that this is irrelevant.  I have conclusive proof from a mechanic that this damage was caused by a recovery agent and since my contract is with the RAC, it is up to them to get my bike repaired and then recover their costs at a later date… Not to make me wait while the RAC check whether or not its costs can be recovered before it starts the process of making good what it has damaged

Further proof that my bike was in good working order before the RAC handled it comes from its location.  If my bars, switch gear and clutch had been broken before the RAC handled my bike - then the bike would not have been moveable to get it to the location of the recovery from where it is kept - a distance of 40 miles. 

It is also impossible that this damage could have been caused by a crash as a crash would have damaged the bike fairings and would have not damaged the switch gear - the complete opposite of my bikes actual condition.

I have taken legal advice and have been informed that if you do not respond to this letter in a satisfactory way within a period of 7 days that my best option is to take the RAC to a small claims court.

This is advice I intend to take and have already acquired the forms necessary to start this process.

To resolve this matter in an agreeable manner, I expect the RAC to:
• Issue a formal apology for the way in which my bike, myself and this case has been treated
• Pay all costs related to getting my bike back on the road in a good working order
• Cover the expenses of my phone bills and lost earnings due to the RAC's actions.
• Offer a goodwill gesture in the form of an extended membership free of charge or a financial gesture to cover the stress and time taken to get this issue resolved.
Yours,
Ben Bell