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Breakdown recovery - listen to the man at the front!

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This is not really a gripe, but a story about the morons with twenty letters after their name whose basic intelligence is on par with amoeba's IQ and they apparently know better than the man at the front!

Twenty years ago I was a road patrol with the RAC.  We were summoned to a meeting about a new strategy on membership.  Instead of only being able to apply for membership either through an area office or any road staff, it was going to be sold through outlets like garages, Halfords and other places that basically had anything to do with motoring!

It was a membership pack and the price reflected what type of membership you had.  The only restriction was that car recovery was not available for the first 48 hours.  The general idea was you bought it, opened it and then phoned the RAC to give the temporary membership number in exchange for a permanent one.

We, the front men, all said it won't work! Knowing that people buy things for the car and just chuck it in the glove box till it's needed and what will happen if it's a recovery membership?  Technically they will not be allowed a recovery because of the 48 hour rule!  "No! No! No!" said the amoeba, we know better than you and we have done a lot of research in to it and we know what we are talking about!

A car enghine, vehicle breakdown and car recovery in the UK We just said it's going to cost you!  Sure enough after it had been running for about six months we started running into problems.  We would go to job, the engine had blown and car recovery was required!  They give you the temporary membership number.  Sorry temporary number now not available after three months and it's now not on the computer.  Recovery is not available because of the 48 hour rule.

With great joy we said, "...but according to the receipt he has been a recovery member for the last nine months irrespective of whether he did or did not phone in and you already have had his money!" As soon as Trading Standards, "I will sue, I'm going to get my car home and you will get the bill from my solicitor" was mentioned they got their recovery straight away.

It cost them a fortune and talking to AA blokes it appeared that they had an amoeba clone and it cost them a fortune as well!  So there you go folks, always remember, the man at the front does know what he's talking about!

By: Sewrobb


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Welsh nomad

Welsh nomad

Just unfortunately had my third breakdown with full RAC cover via my insurer. Last two a complete disaster and this going exactly the same way. First one, couldn't swap wheel for spare because of not being able to turn locking nut (key available). Call out took 18hrs from calling in spite of (originally) being on a single track road in heavy rain with no streetlights. Nightmare. 2nd occasion battery dead. Fortunately a friend turned up with jump leads. 3rd no start and engine warning light on. Not a chance of the RAC arriving.
20/04/23 Welsh nomad
0
Fred

Fred

Vehicle breakdown and recovery is big business here in the UK. Of course they're going to squeeze every last penny out of the punters. It's what big business does and to heck with the man at the front.
25/06/08 Fred
5
Votes for Workers

Votes for Workers

I'm with the poster of this gripe. The Sales people are blithering idiots. They dream up all kinds of so-called marketing schemes, without any consultation whatsoever with the other arms of the business. And they can kill a business in doing so. So many firms and organisations have gone under through the stupidity of these individuals.

The only way to prevent this kind of thing happening is if there was more democracy in an organisation, with the workers right to fire those in charge. Workers thorugh their pay packets are just as much "shareholders" as investors are. We have far too many dictatorships in the workplace, especially those from overseas where decisions are taken many thousands of miles away.
25/03/07 Votes for Workers
-6
Ronny

Ronny

So what if its another hairbrained scheme?
You work for the company on the front line, business decisions are not your responsibility.
You are employed to do the job you are paid for, so it hasnt worked out - the comapny takes the hit and you still have a job. Those that make the big decisons have to suffer the consequences if it goes wrong. Just do the job your paid to do, sure you might think you could run the company better than them just like every sports fan knows how to pick a better football team than the current England Manager.
Dont worry about - its just another chance to run down the company at tea break - if you dont like it you could always get another job...
19/03/07 Ronny
-6
Robbie

Robbie

Steal,

At least your an honest MD. You started your own business with no qualifications,and employ non educated people. Not like these MD's who come in from the cold and THINK they know how to "split the atom"

I know of a person,who was a barristers clerk, and went into the managers job of a horticultural firm.He got the job because his WIFE was MD, now she Knows the job inside out, but him, he didn't know a lawn mower from a sheep.

Needless to say, sales fell off, and OTHERS got the blame.Until they realized who was pulling strings.
15/03/07 Robbie
9
steal

steal

Joe, Im a MD of a business I started, and I have no degree, no qualifications, just a passion. I have had degree people working for me I have had people that failed school. and I can tell you, the people with degrees are more blinded by figures and £, and miss the point completely..
14/03/07 steal
24
Equitable Joe

Equitable Joe

Amazing how the 'guys on the shop floor', whether doing a manual or skilled job, always think they know how to run a multi-million pound opertaion better that the execs. Instead of spending tens/hundreds of thousands on recruiting MBAs and Chartered Accountants, for a fraction of the price the RAC/AA could just ask a mechanic to be CEO, the Post Office could ask one of the counter staff to head the operation and the Water Companies could just get a plumber to run the company. Actually, scrap the last - at the rip-off prices plumbers charge, being CEO would probably mean taking a pay cut.
14/03/07 Equitable Joe
-1
Mark

Mark

I used to work in the sales department of the RAC.. and I totally agree with this gripe!! they dont know there ass from the elbow the managment.

The said story of Temp. memebership used to give me headaches beyond belief.. theres also another thing called a WILL JOIN, and its an inflated price of the standerd membership, to people that have broken down and need assistance but werent members, but the 48hr comes into play in this too.
Break down companies are run by sales man, not service orientated people.

I lost my job because they shiped out the jobs to india.. another bright idea from the amoebas..
14/03/07 Mark
-5

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