Rotten RACQ

So I was delighted when a bit more than a week ago, some guy rang from RACQ Insurance to tell me that the owner of the car I hit on Wecker Road had claimed, and everything would be taken care of. A guy would go out to assess my car and would ring me in the next couple of days to let me know the score and to take me through the next part of the process.

So I didn't hear anything and after maybe five working days I phoned them and said, hey, no one got back to me. Oh, the guy tried on this number, they said, reeling off a number that obviously wasn't mine. But why didn't you use my mobile, I said, which you've used more than once? Oh well, the guy said, anyway, I'll get the guy to phone you. Won't be today, he'll be in touch tomorrow. This was Wednesday.

So by this afternoon, I was beginning to think I'd have to phone them again. But they phoned me. Hi, they said, we have a settlement for you. And we got a wrecker to give a quote. By the way, you'd better get the car out of the holding yard because they're going to charge you a fee.

WTF?

So "we'll take care of everything" turns out to mean "we'll fuck you over". It's impossible to sort out a different wrecking company this afternoon -- the Friday before a long weekend, and if I don't get the car towed out of the holding yard first thing on Tuesday, it starts costing me a lot of money.

I was pretty upset so I wrote an email to complain. The same guy rang back to tell me he'd done everything by the book and basically tough shit.

So I ask to speak the guy's supervisor. She rings me back. She tells me I'm lying about the RACQ arranging a tow, I misunderstood when they said they'd take care of everything, they have no responsibility for the car or anything else.

So I said, why waste your time and mine with this shit? You just want me to go away so I will go away. So I have to add RACQ Insurance to my list of terrible businesses here who love to take your money but do not much like helping you when you need it (or giving good service to their insured, which in this case was the other guy; but I would hate someone to be treated the way I have if I ever cause an accident).

I am particularly unhappy that this woman just flat denied arranging the tow. The only reason my car is in the goddamn holding yard is these cunts had it towed there. No one asked me what I wanted. No one told me I would be stuck with an undriveable car not in my garage space, not in my yard, but in some guy's yard in Cooper's Plains. Instead, they all told me, it's fine, the insurance will take care of it. But no.

I hate Australia. I hate that people will lie to you to make you go away one day and then lie about the lies they told you the next. I hate living in a place where a guy tells you he will get back to you about a job and then never bothers, and then when you contact him, he says he'll get back soon; three weeks later, you are on the ignore list. That's Australia in a nutshell: a place where people think you're shit if they can't get anything out of you, where you basically have a dollar value, no more no less.

posted by Dr Zen @ 4:37 pm