Mayday - First call out today, NOT impressed

[Christhecaravanner84]

So I joined Mayday in anticipation of picking up my caravan in the next couple of weeks. Today, left my lights on in work car park and had a flat battery. Would have blagged a jump start off someone, but it was late and my battery was very discharged, didn't want to zap someone else's battery. Called Mayday on the emergency breakdown number at about 18:50, got through after four minutes. Was then told to wait for a text with eta. Text came through, cheerfully stating that my "trusty" technician would be with me by 20:30. Pff. an hour and 40 minutes?! Never mind, I was in a warm office and could sit and watch cat / dog videos until they arrive. Anyway, went outside about 20:30, no sign of any truck. 20:40 still nothing. Decided to call up again and find out what the hell was going on. Had to go through the usual "did you know you can do this that and the other on our website.... Covid 19... don't bother us with your enquiries etc." Got put in to a call queue., wait , wait, wait . Approximately 15 minutes later, suddenly a beep noise and then I was cut off. now nearly 21:00. Called back, put in another queue. After another five minutes of tedious twangy guitar music, hung up. After several deep breaths, I made a call to Cotswold Vehicle Recovery who were able to tell me that their guy was close, shortly followed by his final arrival.

I find it totally unacceptable to be kept on hold for so long on a breakdown line. Will be complaining tomorrow. Just as well I was not on the side of a roaring motorway waiting for my car / outfit to be crashed into any second. Not being able to speak to anyone was more stressful than the delay it's self. I'm wondering if I should just put this down to a one off or cancel and go to RAC. I've always been skeptical of anything that is cheap. Cheap things are unusually so for a reason IMO. Was I just unlucky this evening?

 

[otherclive]

That’s not good service by any standard. The lack of feedback to update you, combined with long call waiting times isn’t at all good. As you say you could have been on a motorway, or dark country lane. I only had to use Mayday once that was in 2007 when the exhaust o my wife’s Mondeo came off near Kemble. They got out quickly and removed some other bits. Then phoned around Swindon to get me an appointment for a replacement to be fitted that morning.

 

[Christhecaravanner84]

I must get back into the habit of checking my lights are off. I usually keep them on auto, but sometimes in the rain I have to turn them on manually. Usually the lights shut off when the car is locked but for either I didn't lock properly or something.

Got the battery on charge tonight. Checked the voltage in work car park when it was apparent the car was dead and it was down to 5V !!!

 

[Buckman]

We have called Mayday on a couple of occasions and found the waiting times to be acceptable. We always got updates by text. However our issues have always been around Worcestershire. Your waiting time was disgusting. As they were late you can make a claim and they send you £10.
Sod's law states that if you recommend an organisation it is bound to go pear shape!

 

[Raywood]

I am afraid that all the breakdown services do have the odd lip and this can happen with any of them. If conditions are bad they are all inundated and they all get behind.
We have been with them for many years and they have been exemplary on the three occasions we have needed them and overall they have a very good record. If things go wrong what you have to look at is how they deal with it as everyone will have the odd problem and I assume you will have got your £10 coming if you did complain. It is a bad start but I think you were just unlucky as it certainly is not the norm. They do usually look at prioritising calls though so if you were at the side of a motorway you might have done better and a woman with children might bet even higher.
When we looked at the RAC Arrival scheme, we did avoid it due to the bad reviews they were getting, and some of theirs were far worse.

 

[Christhecaravanner84]

I've come to the same conclusion as you Ray. Looking at the Trustpilot reviews, the big three all have their fair share of horror stories. I think I'll complain but stick with them. I could just as well change and have another bad experience. Again, it's not so much the delay which annoyed me, it's the lack of communication and not being able to get through to the call centre.

My main gripe with the RAC in the past is that I often visit beauty spots, and am often sat up on hills doing my CB radio hobby; their operators just can't seem to cope with the fact you are not on a street in a town with a postcode. I've spent ages trying to explain that I am on Uffington White Horse Hill in Oxfordshire, a national land mark which they couldn't seem to find on their maps. Mind you that was before the days of breakdown apps and What3words etc.

 

[Raywood]

I have added What3 Words to my phone as I believe all the major recovery firms do have this.

 

[woodsieboy]

Over20+years we have used Mayday, on several occasions, most were good, arriving in less than an hour, sadly the worst was a shambles, recovery company sent driver in small van, he admitted it was his first day working for them, took the damaged exhaust off wife's car and said it was driveable so wouldn't recover it, and left her and car in Melksham, which is not the end of the world, but not the best place to be left stranded. We arranged to recover the car privately, complained to Mayday and did get an apology. Don't think you get the £10 any more when they arrive late. So we have had 1 bad experience, others much better, including recovery of Discovery and caravan from North Wales to Wiltshire, at time to suit us. I suspect that many recovery companies work for more than one of the breakdown companies, so it is down to luck, where you are , what time of day and what vehicles /staff are available at the time you call. It frustrates me that so many companies, not just breakdown, assume that, as a customer I am happy to use an app or a website, when all I really need is to speak to a human being.

 

[Christhecaravanner84]

It frustrates me that so many companies, not just breakdown, assume that, as a customer I am happy to use an app or a website, when all I really need is to speak to a human being.

You could almost set your watch by it. Honestly, whilst I've been on hold, I've said to my self "In three, two, one..." Right on cue, "We're currently experiencing high call volumes at the moment", regardless of the time of day.. And guaranteed in another three seconds, a cheery voice saying "did you know you can do X, Y and Z on our website / app?" Thankfully now, I'm getting less of the "due to the on-going Covid situation, we're not going to do this that or the other, and you're going to have to wait half a century to speak to someone".

 

[Hutch]

You could almost set your watch by it. Honestly, whilst I've been on hold, I've said to my self "In three, two, one..." Right on cue, "We're currently experiencing high call volumes at the moment", regardless of the time of day.. And guaranteed in another three seconds, a cheery voice saying "did you know you can do X, Y and Z on our website / app?" Thankfully now, I'm getting less of the "due to the on-going Covid situation, we're not going to do this that or the other, and you're going to have to wait half a century to speak to someone".

Try getting through to the DVLA, 20 minutes at a time, eventually found a email request site for them that worked , got a reply next day.

Email DVLA

contact.dvla.gov.uk

 

[otherclive]

Try getting through to the DVLA, 20 minutes at a time, eventually found a email request site for them that worked , got a reply next day.

Email DVLA

contact.dvla.gov.uk

Unfortunately even after 2 years in which to get their WFH arrangements sorted the first thing you hear are “ we are experiencing a large number of calls, you could visit www……” Then you get the inane music that if used on enemy prisoners would breach the Geneva Convention. The only reason that I am ringing is because the website doesn’t enable me to answer my query; stupid.

 

[Buckman]

Unfortunately even after 2 years in which to get their WFH arrangements sorted the first thing you hear are “ we are experiencing a large number of calls, you could visit www……” Then you get the inane music that if used on enemy prisoners would breach the Geneva Convention. The only reason that I am ringing is because the website doesn’t enable me to answer my query; stupid.

Problem is many are probably using the same operator no matte which selection of the nine you pick. If they are really experiencing a large or high number of calls every day that should indicate that they do not have enough staff! Also indicates that they probably do not have a enough back staff to deal with your query anyway.

 

[woodsieboy]

So pleased it's not just me, getting to an age when I feel that companies are not really interested in me as a customer, there seems to be a trend for businesses to concentrate on what they consider is best for them, maybe it is my fault, or perhaps I am expecting too much in the modern age of social media influencers etc, but I was always taught that if I looked after my customers the business would follow, if I didn't look after them the P45 would follow

 

[Tobes]

I know it’s not the same as using the phone, but you can use the GreenFlag app with mayday. I am pretty sure it lets you track their progress to you when you call them out.
we have had to use GF three times. Two while towing and one while away. All three occasions they recovered us and got us back on the road successfully that same day.

 

[Buckman]

Some companies are now using a "chat" system for queries which may be great for young people who can type quickly and do text speak.
Sometimes when replying I get asked if I am still there. It is also easy to get misunderstood and then later being accused for supplying conflicting information.
Had that happen recently so phoned the organisation and the issue was resolved in a couple of minutes with a very friendly helpful agent.

 

[Raywood]

I did use Mayday last year and there was absolutely no problem in getting through or getting help. Their reputation is excellent, but they do have the odd blip, but so do all the others. Their cover is very wide and I would hesitate to go elsewhere other than possibly Arrival, which gives near enough the same cover.
I do appreciate that most firms roll out the high number of call outs answer sometimes, but at least sometimes it will be the truth.

 

[ProfJohnL]

It could be interesting to compare the number of staff/ phone lines companies have for dealing with sales vs claims or complaints.

 

[otherclive]

On this vein I have spent some of the morning at our daughters repressurisng her gas combo boiler. While it is firing the whine, drone is noticeable throughout the house. He neighbour has started to complain that it disturbs her sleeping. She goes to bed around 10 pm. Suspect that it is the burner or fan not working correctly. It shows no fault codes.

So since the system is covered by British Gas Homecare I booked an engineer visit. The earliest is 28 March....yes the 28th, as it is not broken down, or there is no smell of gas. Makes the OPs experience with Mayday look pretty good.

 

[Raywood]

We had a problem with Sky and were told it would take two weeks to send an engineer. I said we were out of contract and that the contract would be cancelled on that basis. Low and behold they said he engineer would call next day and they even gave us a further £10 a month off. Do complain, and threaten to cancel for beach of contract and see if it helps.

 

[Christhecaravanner84]

On this vein I have spent some of the morning at our daughters repressurisng her gas combo boiler. While it is firing the whine, drone is noticeable throughout the house. He neighbour has started to complain that it disturbs her sleeping. She goes to bed around 10 pm. Suspect that it is the burner or fan not working correctly. It shows no fault codes.

So since the system is covered by British Gas Homecare I booked an engineer visit. The earliest is 28 March....yes the 28th, as it is not broken down, or there is no smell of gas. Makes the OPs experience with Mayday look pretty good.

Say you keep getting headaches and feeling drowsy, they’ll soon be out then.

 

[Dustydog]

I wonder how many of the point of contact staff are still working from home rather than the call centre? The call centres I have visited on business matters have screens showing the longest time a customer has been waiting. The target was always less than 40 seconds for a human answer. Maybe post Covid things haven’t returned to normal.

 

[otherclive]

I wonder how many of the point of contact staff are still working from home rather than the call centre? The call centres I have visited on business matters have screens showing the longest time a customer has been waiting. The target was always less than 40 seconds for a human answer. Maybe post Covid things haven’t returned to normal.

If hybrid WFH. is projected to be the norm from hereon the companies have had two years to sort themselves out to ensure customers receive a suitable service. My sons partner has worked from home for nearly four years now, liasing with staff and customers in Europe, Asia and North America with the attendant time zone differences. She hopes for post covid travel to be reinstated but even so the main thrust of her work is from home. It can be done effectively providing the companies are prepared to put the efforts in to make it work. Unfortunately many seem unprepared to improve their performance to a decent level, even if it was rubbish before covid hit.

 

[Notmyvan]

Caravans over a certain length cant use Mayday. (apparently)
In my Lancashire/Cumbria area the main Breakdown Service seems to be Mackadam who all the main Breakdown Services use. Yesterday I saw a Makadam breakdown truck with a car on the back towing a Caravan, which prompted me to ring Green Flag who I am with, who it appears are part of Mayday and it appears that the length of my caravan at 7.52m is only just under the length which they will recover a caravan (said the Green Flag call centre operator) and apparently there are weight limits.
So its worth checking

 

[Buckman]

Caravans over a certain length cant use Mayday. (apparently)
In my Lancashire/Cumbria area the main Breakdown Service seems to be Mackadam who all the main Breakdown Services use. Yesterday I saw a Makadam breakdown truck with a car on the back towing a Caravan, which prompted me to ring Green Flag who I am with, who it appears are part of Mayday and it appears that the length of my caravan at 7.52m is only just under the length which they will recover a caravan (said the Green Flag call centre operator) and apparently there are weight limits.
So its worth checking

Our caravan has a shipping length of 8.16m and we are covered by Mayday which is the same as Green Flag however subtle difference.