Good Sam roadside assistance was useless

[norty1]

Originally Posted by CAG

How did this go from road service to "I need new tires"?


We sure get off track with some of these threads LOL

Tire changes are the only thing I have ever used road service for since I started buying it. Buying good tires often has actually reduced my need for it so far.

[SmokerBill]

Originally Posted by Murff

Well, Bill! I suggest you buy someone's used China made trailer tires off of Craigslist or Facebook Market Place. Think of all of the money you will save. The date stamp on the tires really mean nothing!



Murff

Excellent idea!

[cmikal]

Originally Posted by Capt. Rich

I am writing these posts in segments because I think I get timed out.

There is a timeout that logs you out after a period of inactivity. One or 2 minutes, I think. Typing does not count as activity.

I usually write my replies in Notepad, then log into this forum, then hit the "Reply" link, then copy/paste out of Notepad into this forum and hit send. Saves a lot of aggravation IMO.

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

Needed roadside service for a broken spring on I-90 in western Minnesota. AAA sent Bornrtrager from Trimont within 30 minutes. Outstanding service from Borntrager!

Had hail storm total our Tahoe and trailer in Ogallala Nebraska. Good AAA service for getting things repaired and on the road again, and for buy-back of trailer, but really low-balled us on the Tahoe.

I'm still with AAA but try my best to do whatever I can to avoid gambling with their service again. I have the equipment to change a tire if needed.

[ErikB]

X2 on bad experience with GS. Was stranded in my hometown of 150,000 population, and GS could not find a tow service? Dropped them ASAP. Only takes once, and was my first and only time. Good bye GS. Hello CoachNet. Haven’t tested them yet 🙂

[RetiredLEO]

Originally Posted by Capt. Rich

Lesson learned. Don't rely on insurance. Start doing your own search immediately. I bought 2 new tires from the tire shop that helped us. The concern is they are Advanta. Never heard of them but they are load range H. I would like to buy 2 more steering tires(front) and move these Advanta to the rear. What would be the best tires? The blowout was my fault. BF Goodrich that were 7 years old, tread was good but the tires were tired, obviously.

For twenty years early in life I was a Semi Truck/ Heavy Equip. Op. Then off to the Sheriffs Dept for 17 years. There were times I ran over 100 Mph to respond. For Semi's it was always Michelin, Patrol Car was speed rated Goodyears. They were good road tires but gravel roads would eat them up.
For the last 30 years my wife's car always wore Michelins, as does my trucks. The only tire I'll ever own.

[Poppyof5]

Ok I’m going to just post this without reading all the hate outs about Goodsam…we had 2 tire issues 2 yrs ago. In the end I summit the invoices to gs roadside (who I called for both) they couldn’t find anyone to help. I did and I was completely reimbursed for both. So call em and ask

[Mikec557]

I add this post only for the sake of new folks researching for opinions...

I'll spare you the details. The short version is we had a wheel bearing go out on a new RV. Coachnet left us on the side of the road for over 5 hours. They were worthless for sending help. We finally found someone who came out to help us. The moral of the story is you need to be self reliant.

Make the repair if you can. Find help yourself if you can't.

[Rustynuts]

Originally Posted by Poppyof5

Ok I’m going to just post this without reading all the hate outs about Goodsam…we had 2 tire issues 2 yrs ago. In the end I summit the invoices to gs roadside (who I called for both) they couldn’t find anyone to help. I did and I was completely reimbursed for both. So call em and ask

These are not “Hate Outs” they are real life experiences ….

[norty1]

The real story is all the Road service companies contract with the same companies so the only Customer service the company sells is how they keep you informed and how they handle the calls they make to their contractors.

GS, Coachnet, Allstate, AAA and insurance companies are all accessing the same local companies.

[Mikec557]

Norty1 is right. They all sell Customer Service and Follow Through. And generally speaking, I don't want lip service from their call centers. I want Results. And I think that is what's lacking.

In the end Coachnet reimbursed us. But after being on the side of the road, until almost sunset (5+ hours), we found service and a solution in about an hour. They should have done that.

Said differently, they sell peace of mind, not results.

I saw a t-shirt once that says it all.
"I Am The Warranty".

[hikerjohn7]

Originally Posted by Capt. Rich

I called Good Sam and got a dispatcher I could barely understand, spoke very broken English. I should have politely hung up and called again. She took all my information and said help will be on the way. She called me back twice and wanted to know if I could change the tire on a Jayco Seneca RV. I told her I am the person in need of a tire. change.

I have had good service from Good Sam for roadside assistance a number of times over 20 years of RVing. Once is the Middle of Atlanta on a Saturday night I had to wait a few hours. But it's good that you let us all know when you got bad service. Hopefully Good Sam will see this and want to improve so as to avoid this type of bad publicity in the future.

As for getting agents on the phone with broken English, I am afraid that's the way it's going to from now on with most companies resorting to using agents stationed over seas.

[gkalmond]

Had a so-so experience with GS. Flat tire occurred on our White Hawk in a small town in Iowa. The second or third company they called arrived in a couple of hours. Guy shows up in a compact car with brand new tools and proceeds to place his jack under the axle - thank goodness I was paying attention. Guess this is a result of the job paying a relatively small amount. Anyway, we were back on the road.

[Rustynuts]

Originally Posted by norty1

The real story is all the Road service companies contract with the same companies so the only Customer service the company sells is how they keep you informed and how they handle the calls they make to their contractors.

GS, Coachnet, Allstate, AAA and insurance companies are all accessing the same local companies.

Getting timely service with any company all depends on where you are stranded at….resources and parts are not great say in the middle of Nevada vs being in Indiana.

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by Rustynuts

Getting timely service with any company all depends on where you are stranded at….resources and parts are not great say in the middle of Nevada vs being in Indiana.

And AAA RV Plus could not provide service 30 miles outside of Indianapolis for a tire change on a "C".

[SloPoke]

Originally Posted by norty1

The real story is all the Road service companies contract with the same companies so the only Customer service the company sells is how they keep you informed and how they handle the calls they make to their contractors.

GS, Coachnet, Allstate, AAA and insurance companies are all accessing the same local companies.

Well said... We had GS roadside assistance, but have let it lapse for a few years now. We were Westbound on the interstate in Kansas when we lost a tire on the trailer. We had two spares but were loaded at 8k on the trailer with the tire on the highway side.

We called GS roadside assistance and they promised us an ETA of 3- hours. We were only about 20 miles from our destination and made arrangements for a late arrival.

After about 5-1/2 hours on the Interstate shoulder we started calling mobile truck tire service companies along the interstate. We found one about a mile away at the next exit, and they came out and changed the tire within an hour of calling them, we were on our way with great service. While they were picking up tools and finishing up with us, Good Sam Roadside called him to see if he could take the job.

[TaftCoach]

Every roadside assistance eventually will leave you stranded, while simultaneously being amazing for someone else. Currently AAA has been amazing for me. USAA has also come through one year when I maxed out on AAA.

[ElRey]

Nothing to add on road service apps. We had a flat on the F150 (not towing). I got off the Interstate and pulled into parking lot next to a fire station. Road service said 4 hours to change the tire. My back does not do well changing truck tires. My wife went into the fire station to pee and 5 minutes later a young fireman came out and the tire in 10 minutes. I hope they enjoyed the cheese and meat platter I ordered for the station.