[Dantheman32]

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice if anyone can offer any…

I lodged a complaint with the RAC regarding one their patrols, he attended my property after my car had overheated and after very little inspection he diagnosed it as simply an airlock, bled the system and was on his way.

The car overheated again the very next time I drove the car for over 10 minutes, the RAC attended again and did a through roadside inspection and informed that the head gasket had actually blown.

After getting towed home I raised a complaint with the RAC about why the first patrol had not done the same checks as the second guy, I explained that car was awaiting repair and that they could perform any inspection they wanted.

I had no response from them for over for 5 weeks until I chased it up, at that point they produced a patrol report from the first visit where the patrol;

Claimed he had followed me to a garage on the day

Forged my signage

Recorded milage that was incorrect

Advised that the root cause was the thermostat even though he instantly dismissed this when I explained that the water pump & thermostat had all been replaced two months ago, and he had watched the thermostat operate correctly

I offered CCTV evidence that contradicted his claims, and google tracking data that showed his recording of the milage was incorrect. Despite the evidence offered, the RAC complaints handler has kept referring to the patrolman’s report which I have already shown to be fraudulent, and will not progress the complaint.

Anyone know of the Financial Ombudsman will cover this kind of complaint, or have contract details for someone a bit higher up the chain?

Thanks in advance

[Marc]

Hi @Dantheman32
Welcome and thanks for posting.
Really sorry to hear of your experience.
I believe that complaints take up to eight weeks to resolve and after that a customer can refer it to the ombudsman.
This page on the RAC website has some good info.
And I have spotted this reply to a similar query posted by @NMNeil which has some good stuff in it.
I hope this helps.

[Dantheman32]

Originally Posted by Marc

Hi @Dantheman32
Welcome and thanks for posting.
Really sorry to hear of your experience.
I believe that complaints take up to eight weeks to resolve and after that a customer can refer it to the ombudsman.
This page on the RAC website has some good info.
And I have spotted this reply to a similar query posted by @NMNeil which has some good stuff in it.
I hope this helps.

Thanks for the feedback, I've now raised with the Financial Ombudsman

[Beelzebub]

Originally Posted by Dantheman32

Thanks for the feedback, I've now raised with the Financial Ombudsman

AFAIK the Ombudsman requires you to exhaust the supplier's (RAC's) complaints procedure before they'll get involved, unless the former takes more than eight weeks.

[Dantheman32]

To update.... in spite of the overwhelming evidence the RAC wouldn't progress my complaint and for the life of me I couldn't get past the initial complaints handler to speak to a manager. I sent the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman who advised they couldn't take it on, they can only act on certain conditions, if you have European Cover ect ect. Basically the RAC are free to treat people how they like, however never giving up I have began sharing all the evidence of the complaint online :-)