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Motor club calls up, asks if we can help a customer who is out of gas in "Someothertown"
Almost immediately, our hand is sliding the Molly-guard off the "ABORT" button on the metaphorical launch panel because we've never heard of "Someothertown" and that usually means it's someplace we don't service, i.e. nowhere near us.
"I have the zip code if you need to look it up" the cheerful motor club lady says
Wait, and you don't have a way to look it up? We remind her we're in the middle of the state, so it should be pretty obvious wether it's worth her time or not to even try dumping this on us. Can you at least give us a hint?
Nope, she can't look it up, her employer has apparently not found it fit to offer her that ability. Okay, fine, what's the zip
"It's 15......."
Woah, you can cancel it right now, any zip consisting of "15xxx" is Pittsburgh and the surrounding environs, Western PA, nowhere NEAR us. But, because they'll ask why we're turning down this call, we do run the numbers.
As expected, "Someothertown" is indeed about a half hour outside the Steel City, 100-some-odd miles away.
Sorry, we can't do that, it's over a hundred miles from us.
"So, you're refusing the call?" The lady asks, almost a bit shocked.
Uh, are the Cleveland Browns putrid? Of course we're turning it down! You expect us to drive 6 some hours round-trip?! To deliver TWO GALLONS of gas??!!! The ridiculous loss of man-hours and meager profit we'll see (Probably less than $10 when it's all figured out) means it's NOT WORTH IT.
More to the point. You really THINK your customer is going to ACCEPT a 3 hour ETA? At that rate, they'd have better luck WALKING to the nearest gas pump themselves. It'd be faster for them to just drag the car by it's bumper to the nearest Sheetz store with their teeth! And trust me, when you cheerfully tell them help is on the way from the OTHER SIDE OF THE ALLEGHENY FRONT, you know, where all the rivers stopping flowing east and instead flow towards the MISSISSIPPI? Well, you just might make them mad enough to accomplish that very feat!
This is hardly unique. As I've related before, considering the lackluster economy over the last few years, the motor clubs have become very determined to increase their profit margins and have decided to do so by frequently finding loopholes or paperwork mistakes to deny paying the tow services what they owe.
It's gotten so bad with some of them that they are refusing to pay for services it says right ON THE FAXES they send us that the member is covered for. They'll swear up and down that even though it says "Covered for $200" that someone must've goofed because that member only had $50 of coverage, so that's all they'll pay and we'll just have to eat the rest.
Uh huh, no. Hell NO! It can take up to 6 months of back and forth before they finally pay up, usually after you tell them that if they won't pay, we don't see any reason to renew their contract when it comes due.
Assuming we're not unique in our situation, between refusal to pay and the increased cost of fuel meaning profit on our side is almost non-existent for calls beyond 30 minutes of drive time, the number of towing services willing to put up with the teeth-pulling required to get paid by motor clubs has dwindled, rapidly.
Naturally, so many have abandoned doing roadside services altogether that it's not unusual for us to get calls for Philly, Pittsburgh and the like all the time, with clearly-frazzeled dispatchers trying in vain to find someone they haven't ticked off, and that list gets shorter all the time.
They've got no one to blame but themselves, how they can't see the link between what they're doing to cut corners and how it's affecting their ability to get their members the service they promised to provide in less than 4 hours, if at all, is a real mystery to me. But it seems to be endemic to the industry, when I came aboard about 5 years back, my binder had the rates/rules for at least 8 different clubs.
We're now down to 4, with one of them likely to get the boot for reneging on a $500 tow we did for them last month.
I feel bad for their customers, paying that premium for the joy of 2 hour waits on the phone and another 3 for a truck.
Almost immediately, our hand is sliding the Molly-guard off the "ABORT" button on the metaphorical launch panel because we've never heard of "Someothertown" and that usually means it's someplace we don't service, i.e. nowhere near us.
"I have the zip code if you need to look it up" the cheerful motor club lady says
Wait, and you don't have a way to look it up? We remind her we're in the middle of the state, so it should be pretty obvious wether it's worth her time or not to even try dumping this on us. Can you at least give us a hint?
Nope, she can't look it up, her employer has apparently not found it fit to offer her that ability. Okay, fine, what's the zip
"It's 15......."
Woah, you can cancel it right now, any zip consisting of "15xxx" is Pittsburgh and the surrounding environs, Western PA, nowhere NEAR us. But, because they'll ask why we're turning down this call, we do run the numbers.
As expected, "Someothertown" is indeed about a half hour outside the Steel City, 100-some-odd miles away.
Sorry, we can't do that, it's over a hundred miles from us.
"So, you're refusing the call?" The lady asks, almost a bit shocked.
Uh, are the Cleveland Browns putrid? Of course we're turning it down! You expect us to drive 6 some hours round-trip?! To deliver TWO GALLONS of gas??!!! The ridiculous loss of man-hours and meager profit we'll see (Probably less than $10 when it's all figured out) means it's NOT WORTH IT.
More to the point. You really THINK your customer is going to ACCEPT a 3 hour ETA? At that rate, they'd have better luck WALKING to the nearest gas pump themselves. It'd be faster for them to just drag the car by it's bumper to the nearest Sheetz store with their teeth! And trust me, when you cheerfully tell them help is on the way from the OTHER SIDE OF THE ALLEGHENY FRONT, you know, where all the rivers stopping flowing east and instead flow towards the MISSISSIPPI? Well, you just might make them mad enough to accomplish that very feat!
This is hardly unique. As I've related before, considering the lackluster economy over the last few years, the motor clubs have become very determined to increase their profit margins and have decided to do so by frequently finding loopholes or paperwork mistakes to deny paying the tow services what they owe.
It's gotten so bad with some of them that they are refusing to pay for services it says right ON THE FAXES they send us that the member is covered for. They'll swear up and down that even though it says "Covered for $200" that someone must've goofed because that member only had $50 of coverage, so that's all they'll pay and we'll just have to eat the rest.
Uh huh, no. Hell NO! It can take up to 6 months of back and forth before they finally pay up, usually after you tell them that if they won't pay, we don't see any reason to renew their contract when it comes due.
Assuming we're not unique in our situation, between refusal to pay and the increased cost of fuel meaning profit on our side is almost non-existent for calls beyond 30 minutes of drive time, the number of towing services willing to put up with the teeth-pulling required to get paid by motor clubs has dwindled, rapidly.
Naturally, so many have abandoned doing roadside services altogether that it's not unusual for us to get calls for Philly, Pittsburgh and the like all the time, with clearly-frazzeled dispatchers trying in vain to find someone they haven't ticked off, and that list gets shorter all the time.
They've got no one to blame but themselves, how they can't see the link between what they're doing to cut corners and how it's affecting their ability to get their members the service they promised to provide in less than 4 hours, if at all, is a real mystery to me. But it seems to be endemic to the industry, when I came aboard about 5 years back, my binder had the rates/rules for at least 8 different clubs.
We're now down to 4, with one of them likely to get the boot for reneging on a $500 tow we did for them last month.
I feel bad for their customers, paying that premium for the joy of 2 hour waits on the phone and another 3 for a truck.
Take 'em to court?
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