Told to wait up to eight hours for RAC – and then left with £100 bill

When my car broke down on 26 April, I phoned the RAC at 12.58pm. I was told to go online. I did this and received a message advising that I would have to wait for between four hours 40 minutes and seven hours 40 minutes before a vehicle was likely to be with me.

- By Jill Insley

I considered this timescale unacceptable, so contacted a local recovery company which quoted me 30 minutes for recovery. I accepted this and the car was duly collected within the stated timescale.

Rather than waste the RAC’s time, as and when it might turn up, I cancelled the callout online.

As I considered that the timescale the RAC quoted was far too long, I asked it to refund the £100 plus VAT recovery costs. It said: "Our patrol’s estimated arrival times are based on a variety of factors and can change at any moment. In your case, you cancelled our service within 20 minutes of your call, which didn’t give us the opportunity to reach you. I understand that this was a stressful situation for you, but I’m unable to uphold your complaint about the delay in our service.

"Regarding the costs you incurred, our terms and conditions state that we don’t cover third-party arrangements."