Dos and Donts for roadside assistance

[friendofjimmyk]

Just a little list I've compiled today upon some of the suckiness I have encountered - today and other times - I know that there are others on here who work where I do or in similiar industries - so please feel free to add some I may have missed. (I was going to say "may have not encountered" but I've been here so long that its hard to shock me anymore)

- If your car dies on the highway or in traffic, chances are a jumpstart is not going to help you. Please don't insist that I merely send someone with jump boxes and/or cables to help you in this case. If it doesn't work, then you are still stuck on the highway and/or in traffic and then what? Chances are the cops will tow you and you won't like that very much.

- Having to be at a birthday party, bar mitzvah, wedding, class, meeting, interview, or baby's soccer match is not a life threatening situation and, I'm sorry, is NOT considered an emergency that warrants getting you service as quickly as possible. Your situation will be documented, but there is no guarantee that you will get moved to the top of the list say, over police interstate calls because junior is playing in the symphony. Sorry, make other arrangements to have someone come get you.

- Please, for the love of all things holy - ANSWER YOUR FRICKIN' PHONE when we call. I know our number comes across IDs as an 800 number - but you are stuck on the side of the road....consider that it could be the company on the other side of the 800 number you just dialed to place your service. If it is a bill collector or a sales guy - do as I do, say "no thank you" or "I'm in an emergency right now" and hang up.

- We are roadside assistance company not Pizza Hut. We do not guarantee our service will arrive in 30 minutes or you get the call for free.

- DO NOT ask where the truck is coming from and when you do and I tell you that I do not have that information, please do not proceed to give me DETAILED instructions of how to get to you if he comes from every direction possible known to man in your area. These guys do this for a living - they will find you...trust me.

- DO NOT tell me that you know the facility is located right down the street/1 mile/around the block from your location. This may be the case. But, SURPRISE - they're a tow company and you are not the only person needing a tow today - or any day for that matter. They do not have a truck that just sits at the shop waiting for those calls that come in within stones throw of the facility. All the trucks are out and can be ANYWHERE!!

- DO NOT insist you know what kind of truck you need. If your vehicle is stuck in park, do not request a flatbed. Sure, there is equipment out there that can be utilized to ease the pain of dragging your vehicle up the bed - but there is no gurantee that damage will not incur. We are in the business of towing cars...trust the driver when he tells you he has brought the right equipment to help you.

That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure more will come sooner or later. Hopefully later...I'm tired today.

[tollbaby]

I had a blowout on the highway the other day (Canadian equivalent of an interstate). I slowly merged over to the furthest right lane (there was no shoulder on either side where I hit), and hobbled my poor car at 15km/hour to the nearest off-ramp, with my emergency flashers going, and phoned for roadside assistance (no, I do NOT know how to change a tire). I advised the operator that I had two small children with me (I did!), and he said he'd make it a priority, since we were in the middle of nowhere, and then I phoned my parents to come sit with the kids, since I had no idea how long it would take the guy.

I didn't ASK to be made a priority, but the guy was there in 20 minutes (awesome), changed my tire to the spare in 5 minutes flat, and after I had calmed down enough to drive safely, we went home.

So I'm telling this story to a friend of mine, and he asks how long the tow took... when I told him 20 minutes, he asked why, and stupid me, I told him. He said, "Gee, neat trick! I'm gonna use that next time I need a tow!" I'm sorry, I have a sucky friend. I did ask him how he would feel if he was left waiting for an emergency vehicle because some asshole lied to get faster service, hopefully that made some sort of impact.

[friendofjimmyk]

Stranded on the side of the road with your children is a priority. We do make sure that the call is handled as quickly as possible. However, unfortunately, due to the nature of this business, we still can't always guarantee speedy service.

[edit] now people like your friend get under my skin. They're usually the folks that change their "priority" request a couple times to see which one will stick.

[RetailWorkhorse]

- If your car dies on the highway or in traffic, chances are a jumpstart is not going to help you. Please don't insist that I merely send someone with jump boxes and/or cables to help you in this case. If it doesn't work, then you are still stuck on the highway and/or in traffic and then what? Chances are the cops will tow you and you won't like that very much.

Especially if it wasn't your battery, but your WATER PUMP that went out.

Yes, happened to Mum, EQ and I. EQ and i were about 14 or so. Highway I-75. Was NOT pleasant, but we got help in under 15 minutes (there had been a wreck up the highway from us and the Emergency Response Unit said he could help us first. Nice man).

[friendofjimmyk]

Especially if it wasn't your battery, but your WATER PUMP that went out.
.

Now, a water pump going out should be indicated by the temperature gauge - it would run really hot and quite possibly overheat if you are not watching the gauge.

Its just those folks that are happily driving along and lose power that think a jump will get them going again. It may, for just a few more minutes, but it won't last long.

[Bliss]

I thought that sickness was confined to my country only friendof. Here people (unknowledgeable people) think the solution to anything is a jumpstart, and a jumpstart will solve any kind of car problem at all.

[friendofjimmyk]

a jumpstart will solve any kind of car problem at all.

Reminds me of a Chris Rock bit where he's talking about how his mom used Robitussin for any problems....

"Got a bad cough? Put some 'tussin on it!"

"Broke your leg? Put some 'tussin on it!"

[Bliss]

That's absolutely absurd! Everyone knows the only true one remedy for all is Windex!

[calulu]

DO NOT ask where the truck is coming from and when you do and I tell you that I do not have that information, please do not proceed to give me DETAILED instructions of how to get to you if he comes from every direction possible known to man in your area. These guys do this for a living - they will find you...trust me.

Yeah, but that cuts both ways. LISTEN when the person is actually telling you where they are. I called roadside assistance back in February late at night because my car wouldn't start at work and was careful to tell the person on the other end of the phone that the business I worked at had a similar name to a grocery store just down the street and to MAKE SURE that the person coming knew it was not the grocery store. Three hours and many angry ranty phone calls later standing in the rain and sleet the driver called to tell me he'd been circling the parking lot of the grocery store for a good twenty minutes and wanted to know where I was. My head exploded. I have since canceled the service.

[friendofjimmyk]

Yeah, but that cuts both ways. LISTEN when the person is actually telling you where they are. .

Understandable....but not my department!

All kidding aside, the people who take the calls are in a separate department from those of us who dispatch the calls....so what you described ticks me off too because then I'm the one running clean up on a call takers mistake.

[tollbaby]

Stranded on the side of the road with your children is a priority. We do make sure that the call is handled as quickly as possible. However, unfortunately, due to the nature of this business, we still can't always guarantee speedy service.

[edit] now people like your friend get under my skin. They're usually the folks that change their "priority" request a couple times to see which one will stick.

To be fair, I wasn't stranded on the side of the highway.... the spot where I had my blowout doesn't HAVE a shoulder, and my only option would have been to lay up in the bus lane, which would have made me and my kids into a nice pancake as soon as the cross-town bus sped through. I hobbled my poor little car on its shredded tire to the shopping mall about 1km away, and waited there (which dispatch knew, since I had to phone FROM the mall and tell them where I was). I wouldn't have endangered the tow operator by having him change my left front tire on the edge of a busy highway

[It shouldn't]

May I expand on that?

- After calling for roadside assistance, DO NOT wander off to the nearby fast food franchise/coffee shop/ bookstore and then when you fianlly answer the phone after the driver called you 5 times while staring at your vehicle, nonchelantly tell him you'll be done eating in 15 minutes and then will grace him with your presence.

- DO NOT call for roadside assistance, claiming it a priority by any number of lies and when the driver gets there, it is for a car that has been in your backyard, unmoving for at least 2 years, as evidenced by the trees growing up through the floor boards. Quadruple points if it's at 2 am.

- DO try to be descriptive as to the nature of your problem with the car. "It won't start" could require a number of different type of services. If the roadside center sends out a tow truck/jump start and the problem turns out you broke the key in the ignition/lost the keys, do not get mad at you friendly neighborhood locksmith because you had to wait extra amount of time for us to get there.

I'm sure I'll think of more too, the day has just begun.

[friendofjimmyk]

. I wouldn't have endangered the tow operator by having him change my left front tire on the edge of a busy highway

No, and in some cases, if you are on a highway because you were unable to exit, the tow driver will hook up your car and tow you to a safe place to change the tire. They want to be on the side of the highway as much as you do.

When I was a driver- I had the unpleasant experience of getting a call on the interstate with two rear flat tires. Vehicle was front wheel drive. Now, I figured I'd just take the spare plus one tire from the front and put them on the rear and put the flat tire on the front, pick it up and tow it. But no! The tires had locking lug nut and the member did not know where the key was. So, on the side of the highway, IN SNOW!!!, with traffic whizzin by me at speeds past 65 mph - I had to throw dollies in order to tow!

{For those of you not tow savy - when a vehicle is front or rear wheel drive - you have to pick up the drive tires with the wrecker in order to tow. So, you would not want to tow a front wheel drive vehicle by picking up the rear tires. In this case, the rear tires were flat and unchangeable - so I couldn't tow by hooking up the front tires as that would mean I was pulling the vehicle behind me on two flat tires.

Dollies are tires kept on wreckers (wheel lift trucks) there are two sets. You set them on either side of the car and run two dolly bars underneath the car. The dolly tires weigh more than half my weight and the dolly bars, although lighter, are awkward as hell. You get the bars and dollies set and using a long metal bar - you lift the tires to a locking position, raising the end of the car up on to the bars. Long, heavy, tiresome, drawn out process for a girl my size. Not too mention, the highway, the large amounts of snow, and the impatient state patrol behind me who looked so upset because it was taking me so long. This was one of those moments I wanted to cry so bad - but I was a chic driving a tow truck - NO TEARS! Suck it up!}

[friendofjimmyk]

May I expand on that?

Please do, I cannot remember all the ones I encounter and I know that there are a few of us in this industry on the board.

- DO try to be descriptive as to the nature of your problem with the car. "It won't start" could require a number of different type of services. If the roadside center sends out a tow truck/jump start and the problem turns out you broke the key in the ignition/lost the keys, do not get mad at you friendly neighborhood locksmith because you had to wait extra amount of time for us to get there.

Oh. My. God. Tell me about it. Calling in for service and just saying "it needs to be towed, there's something wrong with the tires" or "It's not driving right" or INSERT VAGUE DESCRIPTION here - and we send service and your car is totalled/wheels are falling off/transmission is stuck....don't be upset if you have to wait longer for the right equipment.

Another one sparked from my last two calls...

- It's an ETA - ESTIMATED time of arrival - not a guaranteed time of arrival. If the driver is running 10, 20, or even 30 minutes late - it happens, I'm sorry, I feel for you being stuck where you are - but this is one business where anything that could happen usually does. A supervisor will not sympathize too much with your plight until the service is about 60 minutes late. In some cases, they'll start caring sooner, but bitching, whining, and moaning will get nowhere. ALSO, asking me to find someone else is futile. By the time I call around to find someone who can get there quicker, I've wasted AT LEAST 15 minutes, then provided the other station with the information - another 5 minutes, and then have them en route their driver - could be another 60 minutes.

[protege]

Yeah, but that cuts both ways. LISTEN when the person is actually telling you where they are.

I was ready to strangle someone due to a similar incident. I told the person I was near the Highland Park bridge (right by the zoo), the street I was on, the cross street (which she couldn't find...because the city renamed it!), that there was an Exxon station on the corner, etc. and she *still* had no idea where I was!

When the flatbed finally showed up an hour later, the driver kept apologizing. He was relieved that I wasn't going to rip into him. Why should I? It wasn't *his* fault his dispatcher was a dumbass