Another call from hell

[thtdon]

We all get a lot of calls from the evil motor club that are miles, if not states, out of our areas.  They drive me nuts with that.  That's why I quit answering the phone at night.  I don't like it when I get a call at 2:00am, wanting to know if I would be willing to handle an out of gas call in Kittery, ME (I am in Massachusetts).  Tonight, at 7:43pm, I accepted an out-of-area call in Salem, NH, which is about 10 miles from my shop.  The call sheet said that it was a battery jump start.  It was slow tonight.  So I accepted it.  When I got there, the father of the customer started yelling at me non-stop right after I got out of my truck.  He said that he instructed them to send a tow truck because they had already unsuccessfully tried to start the car.  On the printout of the call, it only stated that the call was a jump start.  They didn't tell me anything else. 

 

Generally I use my service truck, which is an F-250 pickup truck, to handle jump starts, lockouts, flat tire changes, and gas deliveries.  I can't see using the medium-duty flatbed for every call.  And I will not do so.  It is easier to get around town through traffic, etc., with the pickup.  He wanted to know why I didn't bring a flatbed.  I explained to him that is isn't like when you call 911.  When you call 911, they send out every truck in the building.  They send a pumper or two, a ladder truck, an ambulance, and a rescue truck.  You don't need me to tell you that they aren't paying us anywhere enough money to send out a response like that. Whereas, the taxpayers are covering the cost of a 911 response.  The guy did not like my analogy of the tow truck versus the fire department. 

 

Anyway, I attempted to start the car.  But I believe that the starter is fried.  I had 2 more calls in my area to handle with the service truck after this one.  So I instructed the guy to call his service provider again, Amica Insurance, and request a flatbed.  He was raving mad about the whole situation.  And I don't blame him.  But he was yelling at me.  And I was only following protocol.  So I finally left.  I called the vendor hotline to get a GOA for making the trip to Salem.  I was rotting on hold for over 30 minutes.  And the call disconnected.  So I called back.  This time I rotted on hold for over 45 minutes.  Finally a dispatcher answered me.  I explained what happened.  She couldn't give me a GOA on the original PO because they took that PO away from me and assigned it to another service provider.  So she assigned me a new PO number, and gave me a GOA from that.  Evidently, she notified the customer by text that I would be there in 5 minutes.  We had no such conversation.  All I did was obtain a GOA.  I don't know why she did that.  The dispatcher told me that a provider was coming down from Plymouth, NH, which is a heck of a long trip.  That's what I told him.  And he hung up on me.  What more could I have done? 

[goodmichael]

Stop and get yourself an ice cream cone. Triple scoop.

[mooresbp]

Call the customer first to see what the actual problem is. Motor clubs don't always ask the right questions, history is key

[thtdon]

I was out on the road this morning with a few calls.  I got a call once again about towing that car to New Boston, NH.  So it never got towed last night after all.  Truthfully I am busy in my own area.  And I don't generally cover Salem, NH.  So I passed on the job. 

 

My first call request of the day was to go to Milford, NH and tow a car a couple of miles within Milford.  The lady dispatcher said "i know that you are going to say no, but would you tow a car in Milford, NH, staying in Milford, NH?"  And I said no.  I get a lot of requests to go to Milford.  So whoever covers that town is basically useless.  I asked the dispatcher how many tow companies she will go through, before she gets somebody to do that call.  She said "dozens".  The original tower that she called is 3 miles away from the car.  My guess is that I am like 35 or 40 miles away.  How would you like to be the person stuck in that car waiting for help?  Not me.

 

 

[Stubborn66]

You did as they instructed, you should have been paid for the jump start, not a GOA.  You should not have had to even call to get a GOA for a service that you provided.  It should have ended for you when the jump start was unsuccessful. Customer should have been instructed, as you did, to call their insurance back for additional service.

Then, to have them dispatch you to cover the tow without you agreeing, they were just covering their asses with an irate customer and put you back in the middle of the shit storm. 

Not sure which club you were working for but the three that I have a contract with would have paid me for the jump start in that scenario for the first call, then, if I agreed, they would have sent me a second dispatch to cover the tow.    

I also call every motor club customer enroute, better than half the time there is something missing on the dispatch, and you get a feel for the situation before you even get there.  The customers are stressed, we get it, but I will not tolerate being yelled at by anyone, I would need to walk away.

 

I am in a rural area; my contract calls for a 20 mile radius from my shop and I get many calls outside that radius.  I will take them if we have a truck and a guy available, my rates are good enough that they are profitable.  I really don't care where we go and I wont let the truck sit hoping we get a police call, there is just not enough of them in my area to leave the trucks sit.  Yes, there has been a time or two where we missed a police call while we were both out on a motor club call or a private call but as long as the trucks are making profit I take it.   "bird in hand is worth two in the bush"  

 

Here is the one I like: 

I routinely get calls where they tell me jump start possible tow.  I tell them it is one or the other, if I am doing a jump start, I am taking a truck that gets 17mpg, if I am towing it, I will take a truck that gets 10mpg AND I am not tying up a towing vehicle to do a jump start.    Many times, the customers are trying to play mechanic, once it gets explained they just have it towed.

Or how about:

Jump start out on the Interstate, died going down the road but just needs a jump start.  Because I don't want to go play in traffic any more than I have to, I make it very clear that if it died going down the road, a jump start is not going to work.  Again, customer trying to play mechanic and a dispatcher that doesn't know any better.

 

It's all in playing the motor club game

 

 

 

 

[thtdon]

Here's another call from hell.  This was yesterday afternoon.  It was a flat tire change parked at the main entrance of the Lawrence General Hospital.  I arrived at the car.  The woman was waiting in the lobby of the hospital, where is was cool.  The car was a 2002 Toyota Echo.  I opened up the trunk, unloaded the crap that was burying the spare, and I removed the tire.  I jacked it up, and used my cordless impact gun to remove the lug nuts.  I removed the tire, and put on the spare.  A routine call up until now.  As I prepared to tighten the lug nuts, she started yelling at me.  She said that she did not want the lug nuts to be tightened by the cordless impact gun.  She wanted them to be left loose enough so she could change the tire herself, if she needed to.  That's ridiculous.  The woman is easily over 80 years old.  And she is never going to change that tire herself.  I told her that it is company policy to tighten the lug nuts as tight as possible with the gun.  I refuse to take a chance of the wheel coming off the car.  She told me that I don't know how to change a tire.  She said that I have no idea what I'm doing.  Ya, right.  I have only been doing this for 50 years.  She demanded a receipt.  I said no because no money has changed hands.  Anyway, I had that woman about 2 years ago.  Different car.  Same argument.

[thtdon]

And the hits just keep on coming!

 

This is another call from hell from July 7th.  The "from hell" part came when I went to submit the invoice.  I got a call to change a flat tire on a 2021 Nissan Rogue.  So I called the woman, to confirm that she was where she was supposed to be, etc.  The woman was very nice.  She told me that the evil motor club charged her $95 on her credit card to change the tire.  That made no sense to me.  The car was only a year old with 8213 miles on it.  She said that changing a tire was not covered by her roadside assistance.  I find that hard to believe.   Most of these roadside assistance policies cover at least 3 years.  Anyway she said that she had lost the locking lug nut socket.  I searched the car thoroughly, but I couldn't find it either.  I have a Snap-On battery operated air pump.  I put about 35 lbs. of air in the tire.  And she headed to the dealership.  When I went to submit the invoice for payment on Saturday morning.  I couldn't find the p/o number on Swoop.  I called Swoop.  And I was told that there was no such p/o number.  Translation- they won't pay.  I was busy today. And I never got to call those retards to find out why they won't pay me.  This time will be different.  If I can't get Swoop to pay that invoice, I am going after the customer. 

[Boomslang]

Wow ;  Reminds me of doing motor league in the middle of snow storms in Toronto .Stay Safe & All The Be$t

[thtdon]

I am beginning to think that our local drinking water is contaminated with something bad.

[Stubborn66]

Since this popped up again, here is an email that I sent to Agero.  Towbook is helping us to put an end this chargeback BS.

 

  

 

 

Hi All,

Just so you know, your dispatchers did it again.

 

We were called by the state police for an accident call on Saturday afternoon.  We completed that call for the state police and have that vehicle here on our lot.

 

This morning, Sunday, another driver was on duty and took a dispatch call from Agero.  He quoted a price and informed the dispatcher that we have a 100% GOA policy.   Agero called back and gave us the job and the dispatch came through Towbook at 8:27 this morning.  In the dispatch notes it says that the customer is with the vehicle, the keys are with the vehicle and there is no mention of this vehicle having been involved in an accident.  The towtruck driver then left, from his location and traveled to the breakdown location.  He called the customer while enroute and did not get an answer.  He arrived at the location and did not find the vehicle; he then traveled a couple miles past where the vehicle was supposed to be and still found nothing.  He tried to call the customer again and they did not answer, and the mailbox was full.  The driver then called in to our office to inform us what was going on.  We then were able to put two and two together and it was the same vehicle that we had already towed for the state police the day before.  We ran the card for the invoice total, we simply cannot and will not allow our time to be wasted like this.

 

The issue falls solely on your dispatchers not following through in their job.  How can a dispatcher not confirm that a customer still needs service a day later before sending any company out?

Something is wrong with your dispatch procedure; you need to correct that issue.

 

Again, it is not our intention to work like this, but you leave us no choice.  I will also be bringing this issue to the attention of our credit card company and will bring this to any dispute should you choose to proceed with disputing the charges on this.