Motor Club Sucks it Down Again

[It shouldn't]

I've never signed up for a club, so I have no idea what's in the rules and regulations, but there has to be something there to somehow compensate a customer when they can't find anyone to do the service.

In fact, that's probably why so many try to avoid paying us, I'm betting a lot of this comes about by the club intentionally telling us they're member is covered just so we'll do it and they don't have to pay some large penalty, and are more willing to try and fight it out with us over pissing off the person who pays them their dues, if they can beat us down to only accepting half or 3/4ths of what they really owe, they probably still come out ahead.

And, as you can see, doing that leaves you in the same pickle, it just comes at you from a different direction.

We were the last locksmith in our area that would deal with the motor club that has 3 of the same letters. Boss just got tired of their bullcrap and opted to not renew as a provider. Now a days, it seems they tell members to go ahead and find their own locksmith and then turn in a copy of the receipt. Then they will reimburse the member $50 or $100 of that receipt, depending on their level of membership.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Also, if a club is calling you to help a member who's 3 hours away, WHY aren't they calling a closer provider? If the providers closer to the stranded member won't do business with that club, there's probably a good reason - i.e. the club would probably pull shenanigans with you as well once it comes time to send the bill.

From what I've read from Arga's previous posts regarding motor clubs (or at least this one; I'm assuming it's the same sucky motor club throughout most of his posts), there's no "probably" about shenanigan-pulling. They will pull shenanigans and find any excuse they can to not pay Friendly Neighborhood Towing their free for helping out the motor club's member.

[eltf177]

From what I've read from Arga's previous posts regarding motor clubs (or at least this one; I'm assuming it's the same sucky motor club throughout most of his posts), there's no "probably" about shenanigan-pulling. They will pull shenanigans and find any excuse they can to not pay Friendly Neighborhood Towing their free for helping out the motor club's member.

Agreed. And this sort of crap is why the closer towing companies want nothing to do with them and the club's have to look further out. Which of course screws their members. The circle of suck just keeps growing...

[Sleepwalker]

What, the three-top-letter-grades one is a sucky one?

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

What, the three-top-letter-grades one is a sucky one?

Bigger doesn't always mean better.

[Deserted]

Bigger doesn't always mean better.

See also: Walmart.

[Sleepwalker]

Bigger doesn't mean worse, either. I was interested in Arga's take on it.

[raudf]

Bigger doesn't always mean better.

Bigger means more layers of unreality between the customer and the corporate types. If the suits don't put in the effort to keep themselves grounded, then.. well, my example is the Family Last Name department store chain based out of Little Rock, AR.

[Argabarga]

I actually have nothing but good things to say about the three letter club, based on my experience they're the only one I'd ever sign up for.

[Sleepwalker]

I actually have nothing but good things to say about the three letter club, based on my experience they're the only one I'd ever sign up for.

I thought you'd mentioned them in a positive light before, good to have that straightened out. Certainly none of the trucks they've sent me have ever seemed surly, unprofessional, or taken an inappropriate amount of time to arrive. One did laugh at the half inch of twig stub that murdered my brand new tire's sidewall, but, tbh, it was kinda ridiculous(still don't understand the physics on that one. Perhaps someone fired it from a gun?)

[Cole's Law]

Three letter club has several regional offices-those are the ones that do all the customer/tow company contact. It's possible (likely) that the regional offices vary widely in quality.

[registerrodeo]

Two weeks ago, my sister slid on ice and put the front end of her car in a ditch, while the back end was still on ice. She calls Big Name Membership that she has paid for the top of the line package. They tell her 2 hours..ok, we got yet another blast of snow, roads were bad and the car was still running, it was daylight, she could sit there. 6 hours later, a tow driver for this company calls her and says "Well, we aren't driving down there if you already slid, so we can't help" Her husband, who drove out to check on her because she was waiting for so long, drove UP the hill, picked these 2 guys up, drove back DOWN the hill, and between the 3 men they rocked her out of the ditch and back on the road. Thankfully, car was drivable. My sister called the Big Name Company to tell them what happened so no one got charged for a tow and Big Name Company said tow company didn't have to come get her if they felt it was unsafe Other cars were coming and going on this hill, my brother in law had done the hill..WTF?? Oh, and sister had a big service call put on her account, even though they had done the bare minimum.

[Argabarga]

We are allowed to cancel/refuse calls if it's unsafe out. But, in the 5 years I've been at this, we only ever had to do it once.

Similar situation, we were the only tow service this club could find that was willing to do a winch out, it was about an hour and a half away.

My driver got 30 minutes out of town and the road turned into a sheet of ice, after sliding off the road the third time, he called me and said he wasn't sure HE wasn't going to need a winch out, so we had to cancel it. There was also the matter of him having to crest the summit of a mountain where 40+ mph winds were blowing.

Sometimes, it really is that bad.

[drjonah]

I actually have nothing but good things to say about the three letter club, based on my experience they're the only one I'd ever sign up for.

My only complaint about them is their auto-forwarding system. My cell phone is a Wisconsin based number (but I live in Ohio) so when I call the 800 number, I automatically get re-routed to the operator based in SE Wisconsin. It's bad enough waiting forever on the phone only to find out I have to hold AGAIN because I was automatically directed to the wrong operator.

Once I finally get to the correct operator, I've had nothing but positive experiences with them. Heck, when I accidentally let my membership expire and couldn't afford to renew at the time, they still helped me.

[paxillated]

I've had them all my driving years. (My mother signed up with them so long ago that her membership number had 3 digits!) All my experiences were good, except once. This happened BCP (before cell phones).

About 15 years ago, my car had died on my way south from my rural home to a friend's house. I took a back route, covering about 30 miles of gravel roads before I get to the tarmac. The road it died on was, let's say, Apple Hill road. There is a main artery in Big City to the North with the same name.

After I walked 3/4 mile to the nearest house, I spoke to the Three Letter operator. I made it very clear that the Apple Hill road I was on was NOT the one in Big City, that I was about 40 miles south of Big City, and on a gravel road, not a 6-lane artery with a nicely decorated median.

Did they arrive? Nope. I trudge back to the nice people's house and call again. She tells me the driver drove back and forth on Apple Hill road but never found me. I asked, was he driving up and down the one in Big City? Yup.

Repeat TWICE MORE. At that point, I called my hubby, who came to get me. The car spent the night on the road. Next day, I got an operator who actually, you know, LISTENED to me. Possibly because I was in a state of cold fury. No, I didn't cuss or yell.

After that, I received the usual good service I had come to expect. Yes, I'm still with Three Letters. I wonder when the operators will start saying, "Wow! You only have a 7-digit membership number!'