So, a brief timeline....
8:45am - Break down about 4m south of Scarborough on way home from a week up there, get the car to a safe location.
9:10am - after their app failing to get through all the steps to report breakdown, and no answer from calling them, finally succeeded in reporting breakdown online. Then for 4 hours, you get the usual 30m updates about nothing happening, except the last about it being escalated to a dedicated team who do nothing. So, the start of pestering them, as its the only way to get action.
3:30pm - man turns up, declares it can't be fixed, and where did I want to be towed (no point going to a local garage, as it will be Tuesday at earliest before it will be looked at), as he would try to do the first stint - which was rejected by his control office. So he books a truck. Unsure if truck will relay, or do in one stint. He goes off to other jobs.
5:15pm - call from RAC saying they cant do the tow today, so booking hire car. Give all the details over to lady, including confirming I dont have my licence on me, which isn't a problem. Get email from Enterprise that car is booked at Scarborough (but have enough experience of Enterprise to know that its .not a confirmation of booking, just acknowledgement of receipt, given my 80% failure rate with Enterprise to get hire cars). RAC lady says tow driver will have all the info about it. Whilst finishing call to her....
5:20pm - Tow truck turns up. 3rd party. He says they are putting car in their secure compound, which is just up the road. He knows nothing of hire car or anything else though, obviously. So we get towed a few hundred yards up the road. Call the RAC, who tell me to return to original location, as Enterprise are picking us up from there to go to Scarborough to get the car.
Around 6:30pm, start regularly calling the RAC to get an ETA for them/Enterprise picking us up, as they have effectively left us stranded beside a busy road, with nothing. Each time to be told somebody would ring us shortly. Eventually get told there is a car for us in Leeds and Enterprise would ring to sort out a taxi. Keep phoning RAC to check progress, keep being promised calls back from Enterprise.
Around 9:30pm - Patience starting to wear thin, refuse to get off phone until the lady I was speaking to actually has spoken to Enterprise, rather than rely on emails or electronic updates. Its now dark and getting quite cold, and Mrs TB and I are dressed for a sunny day, which it was before the sun set. Woman cant get through to Enterprise, but will keep trying and call me back as soon as she does.
Around 10pm - same woman calls back, Enterprise won't let me have the car, due to not having my licence on me. For some reason in the previous 5hrs, this had gone from being no problem to being a show stopper. RAC woman starts suggesting accommodation, but I'm tired, cold, ratty, and can see the same sequence of events happening the next day. So whilst I know our moggies at home will survive an extra day (neighbours had been feeding them, but knew they were planning getting away for the long weekend), that was the excuse to avoid further shenanigans. Mrs TB had already looked at trains about an hour earlier, so we were already armed to answer that suggestion - fastest train option that time of night would have taken 14hrs, with a long wait sleeping on a platform on one of the stops. Taxi agreed, but had to be authorised, she'd call me back in a few minutes, which she did, saying her manager was just putting the booking through, and we'd get a text confirmation in a few minutes.
Approx 10:30pm - no text, so call RAC, they can't see its booked or even authorised, chap messages the woman, but clear something isn't right, he'll get somebody to call back
Approx 11:00pm - tired, cold, now getting a touch frustrated, called RAC back, answered by same bloke as last call, and I think he understood my frustration, and worked some magic to book a cab. Confirmation text arrived while he was still on phone. Obviously, its a busy time of day for cabs, so was expecting a wait, but...
12:10am - exactly, to the minute, 15hrs after reporting the breakdown, taxi turns up.
3:20am - arrive home. 18hrs after calling the RAC.
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Topic: The RAC (Read 2098 times)