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| [GMCnet] FMCA Roadside assistance [message #337566] |
Tue, 02 October 2018 20:52  |
JerryW
Messages: 256
Registered: August 2018
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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I am always amazed how often this kind of stuff comes up in the GMC community. Unfortunately such information is rarely accurate. I am am an FMCA National Director representing the GMC Cascaders club, my wife is an FMCA National Director representing GMC Western States. I also serve as the Chair of the FMCA Review Council (think Atty General) for this organization representing over 75,000 family memberships serving over 150,000 RVers - by far the largest such special interest group in or around RV owners.
As Jim H. Said, one important function is event liability insurance for all our GMC clubs. Other member benefits include contracted services like roadside assistance and exceptional assistance if you or someone in your family becomes ill or has an accident while traveling in the US, Canada or Mexico. This “free” member benefit comes along for the ride with your $60/50 per year FMCA membership fee. There are only two or three companies that everyone in the industry contracts with to provide roadside assistance. So, when you hear one tale about poor service and another about good service, chances are good the story teller is describing the same company. Go figure. Those two or three actual service providers have lists of towing companies who contract with them to respond when called. The operator looks at where you are and calls the nearest tow company on their subscriber list.
If that company is already busy, or doesn’t want the call for whatever reason, the operator calls the next closest tow company. Depending on where you are and when you need help the operator might have to call a bunch of tow companies before one says yes. Now, does that mean that tow company intends to rush right out? Or that they have any idea what they are doing? Or how to properly tow a GMC? Or are willing to tow you to someone knowledgeable about servicing our GMCs? Nope.
So, what do you need to do? Tell the operator on your first call that your GMC is unique and unlike most any other motorhome. Ask them to query the owner of the place they intend to tow you how many GMC motor homes they have serviced in the last 24 months. Once they get a tow truck willing (not necessarily able) to tow you, they will start calling around to find a nearby place to take your motorhome.
Finding none that have worked on GMC motorhomes in the last 24 months the operator will frequently ask you where you want to be taken. Tell them a destination within reason and most often they will say ok. Now, notice that you are not talking with an employee of the company that sold you the roadside assistance service, you are talking with an employee of they company they use to fulfill the service they sold you.
Makes not one whit bit of difference who you thought you were using, they all work the same way through the same two or three contractors who actually provide the service. Now, armed with this bit of info, be sure you use your mr. nice guy tone of voice if you really want to be helped. The person at the other end of the line has lots of ways to blow you off. Your job is to be so nice that they actually decide to help you. And, remember, it. makes little difference who sold you the policy, they all use the same small number of providers.
Bottom line, FMCA bends over backward to provide services to GMC owners as we represent a big part of their past and a respected part of their future. If in doubt, call the FMCA VP for your region and ask them to intervene on your behalf. Their names, phone numbers and email addresses are listed in every edition of the magazine.
Jerry
Jerry Work
The Dovetail Joint
Fine furniture designed & hand crafted
in the 1907 former Masonic Temple building
in historic Kerby, OR
http://jerrywork.com
.........
Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2018 09:50:05 -0600
From: slc
To: gmclist@list.gmcnet.org
Subject: Re: [GMCnet] FMCA roadside assistance
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
So I have been told that it's a good idea to join FMCA ----- but I thought joining the road service was one of the perks.
--If they are going the way of other road service companies and will deny older models like the GMC, ESPECIALLY a model like the GMC that is so well
followed by so many owners and cared for like a cult, maybe I need to take a second look. Now that FMCA is becoming discriminatory against older
RV's, especially GMC in that catagory, I would suggest that they have too much clout in this hobby. It almost suggest that anyone that is denied a
service just because of age should stay away from FMCA or anything they support as they are not supporting the GMC anymore.
Just saying.....
I have not yet signed up and I had trouble with their web sight when I was going to sign up, so I am having a second thought on that now.
I have the GOOD SAM road service and I have some rather odd experiences with them, the service is going bad, it has been on the decline from the great
service they once were when I bought my first SOB 20 years ago. I've filed complaints against their agents, one they supposedly retrained because of
her actions, the last one was involved with two agents, where because my phone battery was dying, the police that came by to check on me called them
to check on the tow truck. He was on about 15 minutes and when he hung up, he looked at me and said he understood my frustration. GS uses a GPS
locator now. I give them the intersecting streets in the northern town that I am in, THEY proceed to tell me I am 60 miles away from where I am, and
no amount of me telling them they are wrong will change their mind. Somehow we got through this, they send a truck but a block away to a McDonalds.
I never mentioned McDonalds as I told them I was in a strip mall by a grocery store. The truck finally pulls up says the only reason he found me was
because my emerg flashers were on. He tows me and there is the paper signing for GS and a small cash charge ( I still don't know why ) for the
driver. As I hand the cash charge over, the driver tells me that GS told him to charge me way more than they ask. THIS WAS GOOD SAM! ! !
With this latest information, I a scoping out other services. The list seems to be getting smaller as more people are reporting similar problems.
Its convenient to have a service but in the long run will we end up paying on our own for road service? would it be worth it?
-- I think the max GS wants to pay is about $100 but may go more but they only want to take you to A SERVICE LOCATION THAT SAYS THEY CAN SERVICE YOUR
VEHICLE. How many have ever seen the GMC motorhome? If we get to be towed to a particular location, will they now drop us???? Seems so.
-- If I were away, I'd prefer to be taken to a GMC dealer. They may not know the vehicle like they did in the GMC motorhomes heyday, but they know
GMC's. Being towed to a shop where the mechanic is missing his two front teeth, dressed in bib overalls, in the middle of the woods would be
uncomfortable to say the least.
........
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