My former partner , my daughter's mother , from whom I parted some 30odd years ago , texted me out of the blue last night . Our daughter is now 38 , but her mother and I remain on good terms .
Her car , a 2015 VW Polo , DSG automatic , had been reluctant to move away from the pumps at her local Tesco filling station ; she'd tried three times before it finally moved off with a loud SNAP type noise , and by the time she got the two miles or so home there was a smell of burning , with the OSR wheel hot to the touch - just that one wheel .
I commented that sounded like the brake calliper had either seized on or the handbrake had stuck , then reminded her that I knew she was in the RAC , with full coverage including home assistance and recovery , and that she could get them out to look at it , and if not fixable , she had full recovery , so she could get them to transport her car to the garage of her choice - normally the VW dealership in Stirling , where she bought the car and still has it looked after .
I spoke to our daughter , who confirmed that her mum had an active membership , and sent me a document with all her details , and that she'd get her mum to call them .
This morning , I got a call saying that she'd ( my ex ) tried to call them and got an automated system directing her to the RAC website and offering various multiple choice options , which she couldn't cope with . She told me there was no option to just speak to a person on the other end of the phone . This is a lady in her early seventies , who does not have a computer , does not have an email address and isn't a fan of 'tech' .
Since I have all her details , I tried calling on her behalf . I initially got the recorded message directing me either to their website or to use the RAC App to report a breakdown ; however on holding for a few seconds there were then options to choose from by pressing buttons on the phone - one was to report a breakdown , which I selected , next were options whether you were a member , which I selected , this resulted in a text message , taking me to a link with a form to complete online - one of the fields asked for an email address , which June does not have , it was a mandatory field so I couldn't proceed any further !
Tried again , and there was eventually an option to report a breakdown if you were using a phone that did not have internet access , selecting that , I was left in silence for what seemed like an eternity , but was probably something more like 10 or 20 seconds , before I heard a phone ringing , and a real person answered , actually quite quickly .
I explained that I was calling on behalf of a friend , who was a full member , but being an older person did not work well with computers or internet , and really just needed someone to call her . The chap took her details , postcode , name and vehicle registration , then confirmed to me that she was a member and he would call her .
About 5 minutes later , June phoned me to say the RAC had texted her , asking her to fill in the same online form I'd tried to complete earlier
I phoned again , went through the process once again , and this time the phone was answered by a nice young man called David . I explained once again what had happened , and could he please telephone June and help her over the phone as she couldn't deal with websites , apps or online forms - to his credit he did exactly that - and June called me back to say an RAC patrol would come to her home tomorrow morning . David did apologise and took the time to explain that they had to prioritise people broken down at the roadside and potentially in danger , and given her car was at home , it would be a slightly lower priority , and would the next day be OK ? He did confirm to her she had home assistance that that the patrolman would see if he could fix the car where it was , but if not that her membership did include recovery to a destination of her choice and that they could recover the car to her chosen garage if it was not driveable .
So , in the end , June was able to get assistance , but not made easy for someone who is perhaps in a poor signal area when they need assistance , perhaps has an older phone which does not support apps or internet , or indeed someone forced to use a public payphone .
I count myself as reasonably computer literate , yet even I found it a bit of a chore to get help and to put her in touch with an actual person on the other end of a phone ; in fairness , once I did manage to speak to David , he was very helpful and professional , and once I explained the situation , he did telephone June and arranged assistance for her , which she called me back within a few minutes to confirm had been arranged .
I think some organisations seem to forget that there are older people still around who are not computer-savvy , or that , just sometimes , anyone can find themselves in a situation where they don't have internet access or a device which supports it .
Her car , a 2015 VW Polo , DSG automatic , had been reluctant to move away from the pumps at her local Tesco filling station ; she'd tried three times before it finally moved off with a loud SNAP type noise , and by the time she got the two miles or so home there was a smell of burning , with the OSR wheel hot to the touch - just that one wheel .
I commented that sounded like the brake calliper had either seized on or the handbrake had stuck , then reminded her that I knew she was in the RAC , with full coverage including home assistance and recovery , and that she could get them out to look at it , and if not fixable , she had full recovery , so she could get them to transport her car to the garage of her choice - normally the VW dealership in Stirling , where she bought the car and still has it looked after .
I spoke to our daughter , who confirmed that her mum had an active membership , and sent me a document with all her details , and that she'd get her mum to call them .
This morning , I got a call saying that she'd ( my ex ) tried to call them and got an automated system directing her to the RAC website and offering various multiple choice options , which she couldn't cope with . She told me there was no option to just speak to a person on the other end of the phone . This is a lady in her early seventies , who does not have a computer , does not have an email address and isn't a fan of 'tech' .
Since I have all her details , I tried calling on her behalf . I initially got the recorded message directing me either to their website or to use the RAC App to report a breakdown ; however on holding for a few seconds there were then options to choose from by pressing buttons on the phone - one was to report a breakdown , which I selected , next were options whether you were a member , which I selected , this resulted in a text message , taking me to a link with a form to complete online - one of the fields asked for an email address , which June does not have , it was a mandatory field so I couldn't proceed any further !
Tried again , and there was eventually an option to report a breakdown if you were using a phone that did not have internet access , selecting that , I was left in silence for what seemed like an eternity , but was probably something more like 10 or 20 seconds , before I heard a phone ringing , and a real person answered , actually quite quickly .
I explained that I was calling on behalf of a friend , who was a full member , but being an older person did not work well with computers or internet , and really just needed someone to call her . The chap took her details , postcode , name and vehicle registration , then confirmed to me that she was a member and he would call her .
About 5 minutes later , June phoned me to say the RAC had texted her , asking her to fill in the same online form I'd tried to complete earlier
I phoned again , went through the process once again , and this time the phone was answered by a nice young man called David . I explained once again what had happened , and could he please telephone June and help her over the phone as she couldn't deal with websites , apps or online forms - to his credit he did exactly that - and June called me back to say an RAC patrol would come to her home tomorrow morning . David did apologise and took the time to explain that they had to prioritise people broken down at the roadside and potentially in danger , and given her car was at home , it would be a slightly lower priority , and would the next day be OK ? He did confirm to her she had home assistance that that the patrolman would see if he could fix the car where it was , but if not that her membership did include recovery to a destination of her choice and that they could recover the car to her chosen garage if it was not driveable .
So , in the end , June was able to get assistance , but not made easy for someone who is perhaps in a poor signal area when they need assistance , perhaps has an older phone which does not support apps or internet , or indeed someone forced to use a public payphone .
I count myself as reasonably computer literate , yet even I found it a bit of a chore to get help and to put her in touch with an actual person on the other end of a phone ; in fairness , once I did manage to speak to David , he was very helpful and professional , and once I explained the situation , he did telephone June and arranged assistance for her , which she called me back within a few minutes to confirm had been arranged .
I think some organisations seem to forget that there are older people still around who are not computer-savvy , or that , just sometimes , anyone can find themselves in a situation where they don't have internet access or a device which supports it .
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