Robbed by a tow truck driver

There are no free lunches in this world today.  It is unreasonable to expect a tow truck driver to hook up and move a vehicle any distance at all for free no mater what happened last year. As for minimum charge they were lax in not telling you before hand. Almost every kind of service, charges a minimum these days expect it and ask before hand.

I've not been so happy with Coach-Net since they became part of NMC (National Motor Club). Seems to me the level of service has declined, including the large number of calls needed that Seilerbird complained about.  I've been a fan of theirs for years, but their rates are up and the service down, so I no longer recommend them with my former enthusiasm. In fact, I am currently using Good Sam even though their service is mediocre as well. They offered me a low introductory rate, so I figured I may as well save money since the service is now much the same with both of them.

I'll be looking at FMCA's new provider, Vehicle Administrative Systems, for the future.

Just a note; Coachnet likely did not know there was a minimum. When I ran a wrecker service, I received a flat rate per call from AAA and similar organizations while charging an hourly rate, including minimum, for the general public. I expect it's still the same with Coachnet.

The wrecker operator should have stated his minimum when he was called (and may have) but after he is there, his $$ have been spent, he's entitled to collect. Indeed, the real culprit here is possibly the dispatcher, not the driver. After seven calls, I can even imagine the Coachnet dispatcher not being in the usual very helpful mode.

Ernie

First, I would never have considered asking CoachNet.  I would have expected the answer that it was beyond their contract.  I look at it this way: You ask your neighbor to help you move something.  They decline (they have no obligation), but they tell you of a business that does that kind of work.  They also tell you what they understand the business rates to be.  You contact the business and have the item moved.  Then you are presented with a bill that was more than expected.  How is that the neighbor's fault?

SeilerBird said:

I needed to get my RV moved about 200 yards to a new location in my RV park. I called CoachNet and they declined to get me towed. They would only tow me to a service center. Now how does that make sense that they would tow me 15 miles to an RV shop in Kissimmee but would not tow me 200 yards? Wouldn't it be a lot cheaper? So instead they sent me out some mobile mechanic who told me my battery was shot and would have to be replaced. He said this with no test, just looking at it. Then he smelled my gas tank and told me I would have to have my gas tank pumped since the gas was over a year old. He said I would probably have to have the tank pulled and cleaned and probably a new fuel pump. He said it would be cheaper to have it towed. So I called CoachNet and requested a tow truck that I would pay for. She called me back and told me she found a company that would tow me for $125 an hour. The driver showed up with a really bad attitude, he did not want to tow me but I talked him into it. He tows me, takes about a half an hour and before he took it off the hook he writes up my bill, $395.00. Huh? He says three hour minimum. No one told me about a three hour minimum. So I paid by debit card and I will be protesting the transaction. Meanwhile it took a total of 15 calls to get this done. I am done with CoachNet, I won't be renewing.

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I wouldn't blame Coachnet.  You asked for a wrecker (willing to pay for it) and they sent you one telling you the hourly charge beforehand. They no doubt were not aware of the minimum.  Wonder why you just didn't call a local wrecker yourself since you were going to pay anyway?  I recently used Coachnet while in Canada for a tire problem that turned out to be nothing more than a lose tire minder that allowed the air to bleed out of one tire but the valve extension and the bracket that mounted to the wheel simulator had broken away and allowed the tire minder to loosen.  Coach net sent out a tire service with a new tire and with a new valve extension to be sure they covered the possibilities.  The guy came from 35 miles away, remounted the bracket to the simulator and pumped up the tire - no leak at all.  He called his boss and asked if he could charge me for only the half hour labor time that he was there  (instead of the one hour minimum).  That got approved and I paid $45 (including that 13 percent HST).  Coach net got billed nearly $200 for the service call.  That alone is more than my one year subscription and Tire Protect policy with Coach Net.  I'll stick with them especially when I found out that I was covered even in the wilds of Canada.

Hfx_Cdn said:

    I beg to differ with Lou and Ernie.  While Coachnet are likely within their agreement to not move the RV from one site to another, I think they have an obligation to advise Tom that there would be a minimum charge of 3 hours, or $395.  Knowing that he was expecting to get moved free of additional charge under his policy, they should have told him that their operator was going to charge no less than $395 so that Tom could have agreed with the minimum, or shopped around for a less expensive option.
    In my experience with AAA's Canadian affiliate CAA, I had a leaky valve extender and had them come and re-inflate.  They told me up front that they would either install a spare, of re-inflate.  They would not allow me to take the tire in for repair, if required.  It turned out to be the extender, so removal was the only repair required, but I knew going in where I sat.
    This just feels like a "BAIT AND SWITCH" SCAM.

Ed

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  Seilerbird mentions that he had some words with the tow truck driver.  Could that be when the 3 hour minimum was added?

Just Lou said:

Read your policy, it clearly states that their responsibility is to tow you to safety and/or to the nearest repair facility.  It certainly does not state that they will move your broken down rig to a more convenient lot, every two years, for free.

Since when is it bad manners to state one's opinion of the facts?

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The first words the Coach Net rep asked me when she answered the phone were:  "Are you in a safe place?"  You were obviously in a safe place and just wanted to be towed to a place of your choice for your convenience.  No need to hit on Coach Net for doing as their contract clearly states.

One thing not mentioned here so far is the type of Coach-Net plan Seilerbird has. Coach-Net includes "appointment assistance" in their Basic & Premier plans, but not in the Basic plan.  None of the plans, however, include towing just for the sake of convenience. Nor do I think that "appointment assistance' extends to explaining the terms of the contract that you will be making with the service once you agree to hire it at your own expense. At that point, you become responsible for all the expenses and decide whether the terms & conditions are acceptable or not.

Maybe the real culprit in this mess was the mobile mechanic. He pronounced the battery a goner without any test whatsoever, and then made some absurd claims about bad fuel, replacing the fuel pump, etc.  I could maybe understand that scare story if he was trying to get the repair business, but apparently he didn't want to do that either and recommended a tow?  If asked, Coach-Net would have provided a free service to come and jump start the battery and likely Seilerbird could have driven the 200 yards.

Gary RV Roamer said:

.................
Maybe the real culprit in this mess was the mobile mechanic. He pronounced the battery a goner without any test whatsoever, and then made some absurd claims about bad fuel, replacing the fuel pump, etc.  I could maybe understand that scare story if he was trying to get the repair business, but apparently he didn't want to do that either and recommended a tow?  If asked, Coach-Net would have provided a free service to come and jump start the battery and likely Seilerbird could have driven the 200 yards.

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You seem to be forgetting that this motor home has been disabled (with a bad transmission) and undrivable for nearly three years.  The mobile mechanic was probably totally correct in his diagnosis and assessment of what would be required just to get that thing started.

I suspect that a battery that has been discharged for three years is truly a "goner".
I also suspect that three year old gas, in a tank in Florida, wouldn't be of much value.

From the standpoint of an old gearhead....

We don't pronounce any part dead without sufficiently testing it.  Yes, having something sit for that long isn't good....but I've brought them back to life after longer hibernations than that.  Yes, in all likelihood, the battery is a goner...but until there's been an attempt to charge and load test it, declaring it in need of replacement is what we call "throwing parts at the problem".  Declaring the fuel pump dead without a flow and pressure test is, again, guessing.  Mechanics troubleshoot, we don't guess.  I actually find it amusing when someone spends their whole day off dropping a fuel tank and replacing a fuel pump, only to have the vehicle still have a no-start condition because the pressure regulator is faulty....meaning they guessed instead of properly troubleshooting.

There was a huge lack of communication in this whole ordeal.

sides said:

There are no free lunches in this world today.  It is unreasonable to expect a tow truck driver to hook up and move a vehicle any distance at all for free no mater what happened last year. As for minimum charge they were lax in not telling you before hand. Almost every kind of service, charges a minimum these days expect it and ask before hand.

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I fully agree and 125/hr is not free. Since it took the driver just over an hour the proper price should have been either 1025/hr times the number of hours or 250 (more than one hour, less than 2 hours 1 minute) not 375 (3 hours minimum)

Had they stated 3 hours mininum there there would have been no harm no foul but because they did not state 3 hours minimum the price quoted was 125/hr time measured in 1 hour incriments.. that is
0 to 60 minutes 125, 61 to 120 250  more than that,, I'll let you do the math.

This, is, by the way, law in most states.. The O/P needs to report the tow company to the Department of motor vehicles for not giving a proper quote and overcharging.. Beyond that....

Well the joke I tell is based on another joke,, I will tell both

Airplanes: When the weight of the paper work exceeds the weight of the air frame.. It will fly.

DMV: when the weight of the letters of complaint exceeds the weight of the inspector, they will inspect the company and assuming the complaints are valid shut it down.

I'm proud to say at least one company upon which I sent such a complaint was shut down by the state (This was a car dealer).... I'm 1,000% sure mine was not the only complaint.

I am very surprised at the amount of attention this thread is receiving. There is a lot of misinformation here and a lot of that is on me because I did not explain all the ins and outs of this problem very well in my first post. I was in a very foul mood when I made the post on Thursday morning. Wednesday was the worst day I have had since my brain surgery two years ago. I have been having problems breathing and just last week I was diagnosed with emphysema. I spent the better part of Wednesday arranging to have my RV moved. The neighborhood I was living in became overrun by a gang of teenagers that were beyond obnoxious. I was located right next to the pool and every day a large crowd of people who are not residents of the park was having a party at the pool screaming, shouting and playing loud music. Park Patrol was not doing their job keeping the non-residents out. So I decided to move. Once the move was done I got hit with a $400 bill that should have only been $125. After he left I had to hook up utilities. My water pipe leaked and my sewer hose leaked so I had to go to Walmart to get them replaced. My internet wire was not long enough so I had to buy a longer cable.

Once I got my Internet hooked up I discovered it did not work and I got to spend two hours on the phone to Comcast customer service. If you have never had the pleasure of dealing with their service let me explain it to you. There is a saying. If you want to eliminate drugs in America simply make all drugs legal and require them to be purchased from Comcast customer service. After two hours on the phone I was almost suicidal and the Internet still didn't work. And in their final act they made it so I could not access XfinityWifi so I now have to travel to McDonalds to use the Internet. They are going to send someone out on Saturday. If I am lucky he will fix the Internet. Between the emphysema, the tow truck driver and Comcast customer service on Thursday morning I was not a happy camper.

The whole reason I am upset with CoachNet it took them so long to decide they would not tow me. I am completely blown away that they will gladly tow me 15 miles but will not tow me 100 yards. There just is no logic to that. Total stupidity. I do not blame them for the fact that I was charged three hours minimum. That is completely on the idiot tow truck driver. They had no idea he was going to do that.

When the mobile mechanic was done looking at my vehicle he gave me the number of a tow truck operator I should call. I called them. They said they don't tow anything over 27 feet. My RV was 32 feet. I was very pissed at this point and decided to let CoachNet find me a tow truck since they had volunteered to do so in one of my many calls to them. At 12:30 CoachNet called me to tell me that I had the option of one company who could be there in 3 hours and charged $135  per hour or another company that could be there in 60 to 90 minutes and charged $125 per hour. I chose the later. CoachNet called me back in a few minutes to tell me that the tow truck would be there in 60 to 90 minutes. I had sold my printer on Amazon and I needed to get it into the mail so I decided to run back into town to the post office and ship the printer. I got half way to town and the tow truck driver calls and asks me if I have a smart phone. I tell him yes and he says he wants me to take photos of the site I am moving to and the site I am moving from so he can be sure he can get his tow truck in and out easily. I tell him I am not at home and I was on my way to town. I told him there would be no problem with tight roads, he could get in and out with ease. I told him I would not be back until 1:30 since that is when he was suppose to be arriving. He was pissed. He tells me if he gets there and he can't get into the sites he will charge me $125.

So I get home at 1:30 and at 1:42 he calls and tells me he just came through the gate. I tell him I will be there in one minute to guide him in. I drive him to the new site first to show it to him and he says there is no way he can get out of that spot. I tell him there is no problem just pull forward and then turn left and then back out. He very grudgingly agrees with me. Now he is really pissed. He wanted just to charge me and not do anything. He is pissed he will actually have to work. We go over to my RV and he hooks it up. He does not disconnect the drive shaft. I have been towed at least 6 times in the last few years and this is the only time the drive shaft does not get disconnected.

He drives the tow truck and RV over to the new spot and gets it into the position I want it in and then asks me cash or credit card. I tell him debit card. He makes out the bill, $393.75. That's three hours labor and $18.75 for a "surcharge". I had a credit card but there was only $300 room on it so I give him the debit card. He runs the card and then drops the RV and leaves. You could have grilled a steak on my forehead.

After all this I get my utilities hooked up and get on the phone to Comcast. I must have repeated my address twenty times to a dozen different people. I told them my name, the mac number of the router, the serial number of the router, the model of the router over and over. I rebooted the router several times. Nothing would get the router to work. I spend a lot of time on hold listening to endless commercials, one of which tells me how moving is really easy with Comcast.

So this morning I wrote to CoachNet to find out why they would tow me 15 miles but they would not tow me 100 yards. I have not heard back from them. The first four calls to CoachNet were because in my first call they told me my membership had expired last year. I had to dig out my bank records to prove to them that I had paid my bill on January 2nd. I have the $99 Basic plan that says "Unlimited towing". I just read the fine print and found out it does say "no out of pocket expense when towing your disabled vehicle to the nearest qualified repair facility." That is not unlimited when there are limits as to where you can be towed. That is false advertising in my book. Kind of like unlimited data but they throttle you after so many gigs. That was not the case a year and a half ago when they towed me 75 feet when my engine died while moving from one space to another. Now that I know their rules I will not be renewing since I really love the place I am living and plan on staying there quite a while. I did not want to pay to get the RV fixed since I will not be driving it again. I know the battery is dead but that is not the problem. When it died it was a sudden and complete death. Turn the key and you get nothing. Not a problem a battery could fix. Batteries don't die like that.

I also called AATR Towing this morning to discuss this matter and ask for a refund of $268.75, the amount I was overcharged. There is nothing on their web site about a 3 hour minimum. He was on my property for less than a half an hour so I feel one hour is fair. I called and asked to get an estimate to tow a 32 foot RV. I was quoted $200 plus $5 a mile and $50 if the driveshaft had to be disconnected. No mention of three hours minimum. I told the guy I was overcharged yesterday and wanted a refund. He told me I have to talk to the owner, who was not there. I called back a few times and he was never there. Finally they asked for my number so the owner could call me back. I am still waiting for his return call. If he doesn't want to refund the money then I hope he is ready for me to wallpaper the Internet with my story. There are dozens of car and RV forums to join and many places to review their business. Meanwhile I will be making a complaint to my bank. I not only get mad, I get even.

" He says three hour minimum. No one told me about a three hour minimum. So I paid by debit card and I will be protesting the transaction.".

At that point you could have said NO.
Advised him of what you were told and if he did not agree send him on his way.

I have not read a CoachNet policy, however I have the understanding that it is for
emergency repairs. Your situation is in no way an emergency repair with a vehicle that
has been stationary for some time.

If the terms of your agreement with Coach Net state they will tow your disabled vehicle to the nearest qualified repair facility at no charge, then you were expecting them to do something above and beyond. You are trying to read into the "unlimited towing" something that simply isn't there. Unlimited towing means an unlimited number of times. You can't expect them to tow you anywhere you want when the terms of your agreement state otherwise. Would you expect them to tow you to South America? By your definition, refusal to do so would also be a violation of the "unlimited towing." You admitted that you scammed them before by having them move your coach to somewhere besides a repair facility; they are now simply catching up with you. The towing service isn't supposed to be used for moves. It is supposed to be used to get disabled vehicles in for repair. And don't waste your time waiting for the owner of the tow truck company to call you back. I'll give you 10 to 1 odds you're not going to get a happy resolution from him.

Wow.....

Here I go......
Seilerbird:
Your last posting says it all. It tells me that you brain is working well, and the medical world came through for you. What recall and organization you have. Thank your Higher power or something!

But, and we all go through this at times.....
Your emotions are (have been) going through a lot and may be the area to concentrate on.....
One must ask himself at times like this, "Do I want to be HAPPY or right."

Your Human and fragile just like us all, me more than you really.
Keep posting Seilerbird I enjoy most, but let's put this behind us.
See ya on down the road!

I have had similar experiences with Dish, Lowes Extended Service Plan and my local cable provider.  Because I could walk into the office of the cable provider, I solved the problem quickly.  Dish and Lowes were another story completely and took over 3 months of aggravation to finally rectify a situation that is happening all too often.  The problem with dealing with service providers on the phone is that you NEVER, I repeat NEVER, get the same person even if you ask for them by name.  When your case is extended with numerous calls, it takes the next rep a longer time to give you any information.  Dish had me on hold for over 1.5 hours talking to no less than 6 different people and all promising to fix the problem (none did). All I was trying to do was establish a Pay As You Go account.  I wound up with 3 different account numbers and overcharges of over $80.  I do now have the account I wanted but am hesitant to even call them to have it activated for our next trip (plus the charges are a ripoff - double of home service).

It is obvious you have lost confidence in Coach-net.  Since your unit has been not in service for over 3 years, I wonder why you even carry the policy.  In any case, you should just cancel the policy because you have lost faith in them and go find another service that would suit you better.

oldme said:

" He says three hour minimum. No one told me about a three hour minimum. So I paid by debit card and I will be protesting the transaction.".
At that point you could have said NO.
Advised him of what you were told and if he did not agree send him on his way.

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No I could not have said no. He had already informed me that if he could not tow me he would charge me $125 just for showing up. The RV was still hooked up to his truck and the front was a few feet off the ground. If I would have said no he would have towed me back to my old spot and demanded $125.

I have not read a CoachNet policy, however I have the understanding that it is for
emergency repairs. Your situation is in no way an emergency repair with a vehicle that
has been stationary for some time.

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Twice in the last five years they have towed me in a non emergency situation. I have only kept my policy active in case I needed another tow. I was wasting my money.

John Stephens said:

You admitted that you scammed them before by having them move your coach to somewhere besides a repair facility; they are now simply catching up with you.

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You are sure rude. Don't you have any manners? Haven't you read the line at the top of every page here that says something about being friendly? I did not "scam" anyone. I called Coachnet and told them I needed my RV towed 75 feet. They sent out a tow truck without a whimper. They also towed me to a Walmart parking lot one night when I broke down on I-40 outside of Kingman Arizona. Coachnet changed their policy without telling me. They are the scammers. I am done reading your insulting posts. I am putting you on my ignore list.

Bill N said:

It is obvious you have lost confidence in Coach-net.  Since your unit has been not in service for over 3 years, I wonder why you even carry the policy.  In any case, you should just cancel the policy because you have lost faith in them and go find another service that would suit you better.

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I was towed twice in the last five years that was non emergency. I didn't know they had changed their policy. It has been out of service for a year and a half. I am cancelling my service since the only reason I was keeping the policy was in case I needed to be towed. They don't want to tow me so I am cancelling my service.

Update. I tried all weekend to call and talk to the owner but he never was there and did not return my call so I went into my bank last Monday, the one that has the debit card that I used to pay for the tow truck, and I filed a complaint. Today the $268 that I overpaid was put back into my account. So I am a happy camper once again. I don't believe those silly urban legends about debit cards not providing as much protection as a credit card.