My RAA Experience
Submitted: Monday, May 02, 2011 at 12:14
ThreadID:
86015
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6518
Replies:
10
FollowUps:
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Member - aussichef (
As some might remember my car caught fire a month ago and my APIA/AAMI insurance experience
Yesterday I rang RAA I'm a RAA premium member to put a new battery in my Nissan patrol
Was told Barossa and
Gawler branches didn't have a N70ZZ battery and they could give me a jump start and if i drive 70 klm to the city then ring up one of their RAA contractors would come put a battery in lol
So the RAA come to jump start my car here at the caravan park and told me he had found a battery the size i wanted
While installing the battery he dropped a wing nut and lent on the radiator over flow to retrieve it & broke the overflow connection on the radiator
Now this was an accident and that's not what I'm angry about.I'm angry about
It's the after service.The RAA contractor who works for a
well known Barossa Holden dealership said"I will go speak to my bosses and get you a load car"
Comes back 2 hours later and says his bosses won't authorise a loan car to me.And after a few choice words he left.i rang RAA to complain and was told there isn't anything they can do as it has to be handled by their country service section that only operates Monday to Friday during business hours.Not bad for a 24/7 road side assistance lol
This morning a tow truck came to pick up my trol unannounced & take it to have the radiator fixed .The service manager who's Holden dealership also is the RAA contractor rang me & told me it might be a few days and they dont have a loan car to give me so your on your own.Now isn't that great service
I have complained to RAA who will pay for $55 a day taxi as long as i pay for them first & send them the receipts and they will reimburse me later
With my wife's health i can't be without a car. But apparently have to be now.
I'm sure i ran over a chineman some time in the past lol
Warren aka aussichef
Reply By: Fab72 - Monday, May 02, 2011 at 16:37
Monday, May 02, 2011 at 16:37
I broke an engine mount on my 5000 km
old car just out of
Beltana. We had seven of us in the car including our 12 month old daughter. It was a hot day and the
Beltana road house was just about to close for the day. All our luggage was at Wilpena where we were all staying.
The best roadside assist could come up with (from a call centre in
Sydney where the
young lady had no idea where
Beltana is) was the promise of a tow truck to come up from
Port Augusta and take me and one other person back to
Port Augusta where the nearest dealership was.
They would not help one bit in getting the others back to Wilpena (where the other 7 seater was and all our luggage), and was told I had to wait in
Port Augusta until the car was fixed. (Which ended up being 7 weeks to import a new engine mount).
In the end, thanks to the great people at
Beltana road house, I lifted the engine up as high as I could in car, ran a
star dropper across the engine bay from strut tower to strut tower and fence wired the engine mount to suspend off the
star dropper. Vibrated like toy from an adult book store, but got us all back to Wilpena and then
home to
Adelaide.
Moral of the story...who can you trust? Yourself, your tool kit and your ingenuity.
Fab.
AnswerID:
453063
Follow Up By: dbish - Monday, May 02, 2011 at 18:30
Monday, May 02, 2011 at 18:30
Roadside assist is totaly different to RAA. Here in the country Roadside assist havent a clue & try & get whoever they can to asist you.
FollowupID:
725829
Follow Up By: dazren - Monday, May 02, 2011 at 19:47
Monday, May 02, 2011 at 19:47
Thanks fab72 i read your running repair with geat interest, very ingenious, i have filed that solution away in my memory bank, [ hoping i do not need it ! ] but one thing has got me puzzled ????? what type of toys do you buy in a book
shop ????
Rgs dazren
FollowupID:
725840
Follow Up By: Fab72 - Tuesday, May 03, 2011 at 16:11
Tuesday, May 03, 2011 at 16:11
dbish..... Road Side Assist contract out to the RAA. So although the call goes to a brand specific call centre, the job is dispatched to the local RAA contractor for the area.
Essentially both are bound by the same resources and the same guys doing the job.
Fab.
FollowupID:
725921
Reply By: Pete Jackman (SA) - Monday, May 02, 2011 at 21:15
Monday, May 02, 2011 at 21:15
It that certain dealer was in
Tanunda we had a very unfortunate experience with them a few years ago after we blew a head gasket and cracked the head on our old Paj north of
Nuriootpa. We came out OK in the end but it cost us a lot of aggro and them a second replacement engine after the first one they installed was rubbish.
The first time we picked it up an adapter was left in the right rear spark plug hole and the plug screwed into that. It lasted 5 km before it blew the plug out. When we got it back from that nothing was tightened up, A/C compressor mounts, alt mounts, cable adjusters engine mounts etc.
The RAA head office stood by us and helped us deal with the dealership.
Hope you do better.
AnswerID:
453098
Reply By: eighty matey - Monday, May 02, 2011 at 21:24
Monday, May 02, 2011 at 21:24
Really sorry to read about your troubles Warren.
I'm a member of NRMA, in NSW, and I pay for their Premium Care. Covers us when we're over 100kms from
home and I've had to use it a few times. It gives us about $3000.00 of
services for about $170.00 a year and I'm in front for the rest of my driving life for sure. It may, or may not, have helped in your case but it definitely would have helped me if I was in Fab72's position.
We did the motor in our 60 series diesel with three kids, towing a camper near Benalla one evening, heading to
Melbourne for a week from NSW Central Coast. They got us towed, all transported to a motel, motel ready for us when we arrived, mechanic lined up, hire car next day with a towbar. We continued on our holiday and when we got back to Benalla the Landcruiser wouldn't be ready for a week, so the camper was stored, we were all transported
home by train, then my transport costs were paid for me to come back to Benalla to pick up the Landcriuser when it was ready.
I won't leave
home without it. As long as an affiliated road service organisation patrol can get to my vehicle I can access up to $3000.00 worth of benefits.
Hope things get better.
Steve.
AnswerID:
453099
Reply By: Member - aussichef ( - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 23:13
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 23:13
Yesterday afternoon i rang the RAA here in the Barossa because my Patrol was over heating (yes they just fixed the radiator they broke when installing a new battery)
They found the top tank hadn't been crimped properly when they sent it to the radiator repair place
So this morning they towed it up the Harge Holden and had the whole process done again
Imagine if we where starting on out way and had been a few hundred ks away
They brought the trol back this arvo and tomorrow i will be going up to see them about some paper work for warranty issues in case i have further problems with this same situation
Of course during this there has be no cost to me except inconvenience of not having the trol for 6 days out of the last 8 and the incompetence in the workmanship
Warren
AnswerID:
453912