Racq Rip Off  

Twat In The Hat

As for 'ripping her off' did you check the battery with a battery tester? I have seen many batteries that clean up and work again, but they don't last long. Chances are the RACQ guy had a tester which would have told him the battery is faulty.

lil_bobby_260

Yeah agreed. Unless you can check voltage and amps on the battery while its at rest AND under load, you wont know. Just because it shows voltage, or starts a car even, doesnt mean its not roooooted.

ajaay.

I asked her if he had any equipment and she said, and I quote " he was an old shitty man, all he did was pull out big wires and connected them to my battery and tried to start it. When it didn't work he said I need a new battery"

So I'd imagine no, however.. I could be wrong.

Wraith

All RACQ vans carry a proper battery tester which indicates pretty accurately the life of the battery. Doubt the driver would get anything for selling a battery so why would they bother.

VESV6

Hey mate I would be happy to chuck it on the battery tester on the north side I've seen it once before

Let me know pm me

J2

"RACQ came out and diagnosed my problem, then wanted me to PAY to have it fixed, arseholes just trying to rip us off!!!"

That's what you sound like OP... Just like that.

B Unit

^^^This.

I recently had a flat battery in my work car, so called RACQ. The guy recommended that I get a new battery, but certainly didn't say that I have to. I saw him test it, so I could verify that it was rooted and didn't have a problem with replacing it.

TwinCam16

Sounds like there is more to it.

Tried to jump start the vehicle and it still didn't work?

Come on...

VESV6

That's my point if it wasn't jump starting something else is wrong more then a battery!!

TwinCam16

Booyah

the shadow

Take it to supercheap, they will put the battery tester on it for free and give you a little print out to say if it just needs a good charge/dead cells/rooted and you can pick a reasonably priced battery from there.

The RACQ guys are always fairly high priced on batteries as the driver buys those himself, he is not supplied them as part of his issued kit from RACQ so they need to cover their cpsts of buying said battery.

(mr2)

Get the old battery tested, if it's all good phone RACQ and complain to them... or make another thread on Boost.

ajaay.

Had to laugh at the last part,
It wasn't just about the battery Inparticular, just a case that I've come
Across myself.
I probably should've elaborated and said has anybody else come across any cases of racq maybe jumping the gun of a diagnosis and perhaps not fixing the problem as such rather taking the easy way out and charging their over the price rates.


And I might take the battery down to supershit on the weekend, as said no to fussed on the money more the principle.


Edit ; for all I know, the 'big wires' could've been small wires attached to the battery tester and the jump start very well could've been him just trying to start it. I mean, the girl got up me for using excessive water to clean the windscreens because she doesn't know how to fill the sprayers back up

evilstuie

I wouldn't put it past them, some of them are just outright lazy pricks.
I had a VP commodore that had a dodgy belt go, and obviously wasn't charging from the alternator. Pulled it over, left it for the night, got the new belt and rang racq and told them it had died.
Guy came out, tried to jump it and nothing happened, no click nothing, tapped the starter motor and said yeah its stuffed and charged me for the tow home.

Bought a new car and told my mate if he had a starter and could get it off my front lawn he could have it.

When he took the starter off i wired it to the battery and it engaged fine and was looking around the engine bay and the belt had knocked the main harness out of the bonnet fuse box.

I'd already told him he could have the car so I let him take it.

All thanks to the brilliant racq guy that couldn't be funked testing anything.

If I'd have checked it out properly I might have found it and still be driving around in that piece of sh!t so it worked out in the end but won't be having racq membership ever again.

lil_bobby_260

Maybe get an answer BEFORE posting threads with titles like "RACQ RIP OFF" hey?
How would you feel if someone who obviously has next to know information about what went on, did something like that to your business?
A bit more common sense is needed on here sometimes. Everyone is just so quick to slander.

ajaay.

firstly, no*
secondly, however not the point. One customer that questioned their effort to do the right thing surely will not harm a multi-million dollar business.
thirdly, I quite clearly pointed out after commenting lower that this may not be the case and the it was an experience I had come across,but the REAL question was. Has anybody else come across a situation where this highly respected company has some what 'ripped' anybody off.. Some people are very quick to judge on this website..

DAL32

I find RACQ to be fine...

Sure I paid $105 once for a $65 battery but it was convenience at the end of the day. (In this case, night.)

Oh, one time I requested a low car suitable towie and they sent out a regular towie and the guy told me that it was apparently $88 to use the ramps to put the car on.. what a load. Thankfully didn't pay sh!t for that tow.

MotoXXX

So after the new battery, did it start? no more problems?

julio_vasquez

Thats exacly the right question. Once the battery was replaces were there any symptoms he same as before she called RACQ ???
If not id go as far to say as the battery was funked if the problem is fixed.

1600dave

Yes, they are indeed........

vk134

It all depends on the callout guy you get, some couldn't be arsed and others seem to care and look past the obvious.

Case 1. BAxr6, partner noticed odd handling, pulled over, flat rear tyre, RACQ took all the stuff out of the boot, changed tyre and organised place for tyre to be swapped, 5 star,

Case 2. BF fairmont, battery needed to be jumpstarted, I rang ahead, they had service depot stay open a bit later, 15 mins and swap out battery, they did full electrical test and battery was on charge, before I got there, well in lads.

Case 3. old RN46 hilux, 4x4, just stopped cold, no ignition, fwit rocks up, 1 hour later, from a Toyota place, said, ah it's the coil, mm odd, has relatively new coil, he was fast organising tow back to his workshop, errm, ta no thanks, to my place, it was the breaker plate earthing strap, 2 min fix.

Case 4. 93 Jackaroo, partner rings, car won't fire up, i'm down at Targa Tasmania, other car at airport, ring RACQ, 1 1/2 hours later, guy turns up with his kids in the RACQ car, spent 5 minutes and said, I'll organise a tow to the workshop. I get home 3 days later, quick check, spark, timing, mmm no fuel pressure, FFS it is the clip on the EFI pump in the tank, unclipped, cleaned and put back on, good as gold. I spoke to RACQ, they could not give a stuff, turns out the attending "mechanic" is one of those,"self proclaimed", but small place, just let it slide.

Case 5. EL Falcon, no start, attending guy, straight on on it, it was coil, he just tested for pulse on EFI plug, he gave me a lift to spare parts place, all sorted.

So it can really be a mixed bag with RACQ, not all of them are ripoffs, but if yours was a Euro, he was just taking, no chances, low batt volts fry them. but I must admit I have scored many misdiagnosed battery faults, a good boost charge and all sorted

synergy

RACQ are only good for getting keys out of locked cars

Except for one time he stuffed the inflatable thingamajigy in the door jam to pry the door open a smidge to reach in with his reachamajigy, it bent the door, never shut properly again

HP Plod

I jumped in my car once and it wouldnt start, had acc. lights but the turn of the key did nothing, RACQ came jumped in.....

Put said car out of drive into park car started fine...

RACQ said, " Don't panic mate, happens all the time."

I said, "thats good"

he said, "to girls"

BURN!!!!

Twat In The Hat

^^^ Hahahaha! I can't believe you admitted it on boost

VESV6

Haha HP Plod bet you felt like a dick haha I see it all the time at work cunts rushing to get out the car and I jump in like wtf next minute look down ahhhhhh !!

ajaay.

hahaha, that's awesome. I wonder how many calls out a day they get of circumstances like that ha !


Oh and a little update; had to call out racq yesterday in Chermside carpark, car wouldn't start again. I pulled the battery off and he still left corrosion on it ! The next racq officer came, tested the old battery for us. It wasn't in the best condition but he thought it shouldn't have interfered with starting the car. also, out of his own will he is putting in a complaint about the first officer she delt with because he didn't clean the battery properly resulting in him coming out for a second time. when there was no need for him to come out for a second time if the job was done properly in the first place ..

Twat In The Hat

Wait I'm confused.... You said in your original post that you kept the original battery and you cleaned it up with boiling water... You also said the officer recommended a new battery, did you have the new one fitted and also keep the old one? Either way. Whether it was a new one in the car yesterday or the one that you said you cleaned up, how can you blame the first guy for it not being clean when you took it home and cleaned it?!?

ajaay.

Yes, new battery fitted. Kept the original..
And he wasn't upset about the corrosion on the battery, On the positive and negative fitting that go on the battery weren't cleaned so they still had corrosion on them and because they were still 'dirty' it put the corrosion back on the new battery so if they were cleaned properly in the first place, he wouldn't of had to come out..

phoenix555

I've only had poor customer service incident with RACQ - I called them to get my tyre changed and the guy turned up and was like "aw, poor widdle girl can't change her own tyre". No bastard, that's why I pay my annual premium to RACQ, so you can dirty and hunker down beside the car at 1am in a deserted street.

M-EVO Nic

Not like your keeping him in a job or anything.. Plenty of women are quite capable of working on cars... I'd probably do the same and am also quite capable..

That said never had any bad experiences with racq

Have heard from someone about an racq insurance incident that seemed a bit off..

Person is parked in a car park, has just loaded child into back seat of car, second car drives into car park beside and crashes into the door damaging it.. (luckily not the person) apparently this is the fault of the person parked and not the one who crashed into the parked car.. they refused to pay the claim without them paying their own excess, clearly some insurance fine print, but needless to say the person felt well ripped off.. and is now looking to change insurers..

ajaay.

Wow, as Would I.
That's almost as that story on ACA about the girl not getting compo on the P&O cruise from slipping on due to 'insuffient trend' on her shoes, what a joke !

TwinCam16

Ok. Thread has run its course.
Now it's just turning into story time.