CandFR
Jul 15, 2014Explorer
What is the purpose of Good Sam Roadside Assistance?
We have had Good Sam for nearly 20 years and have been more than pleased with their service until recently. In July 2013 we broke down 5 miles from home, called Good Sam, waited close to 3 hours only to be told that they could not find a company willing to tow our vehicle due to all the flooding in the area. THE SUN WAS AND HAD BEEN SHINING! We called a company ourselves a mile from where we were and they were there within 45 minutes, towing the car right to our driveway. We submitted the bill to GS, it was paid and we assumed it was just our unlucky day until 6/29/14 when we were involved in a near fatal accident on I-78 in PA. A man on a motorcycle came onto the highway going too fast and wound up in our lane. Realizing his mistake, he jerked the wheel to the right too quickly, dumping his bike 75 feet in front of our F250 4x4 Super Duty towing our 31 foot Forest River Cherokee trailer. How my husband managed to avoid both him and his bike is a major miracle, but we did run over debris causing severe damage to the rear of our trailer. I called GS knowing they represent the RV industry and was told that it would be at least 90 minutes for them to locate someone, another long period of time before someone could get to our location to determine the problem, and then another long period of time to have the vehicle towed. The woman I spoke to REPEATEDLY told me that it would be faster to have the police find us someone to tow the vehicle. We wanted someone we (mistakenly) thought had knowledge of RVs ("Designed with RVers in mind, Good Sam Roadside Assistance gets you the right tow truck for the size of your rig" as per website), so decided to wait on hold while a company was located. We also knew GS would tow the trailer to a service center. About an hour later with a 5+ mile backup on the Interstate highway, my daughter who was traveling behind us, used her phone to call GS to find out what was going on. No tow company had been located and we continued to wait. The people at GS we spoke to had very little knowledge of RVs and asked questions about our Cherokee SUV even though they were told several times it was a travel trailer. Despite giving the exact mile marker where we were she repeatedly asked about side streets and parallel roads to the Interstate, something totally unknown to most people traveling interstates, especially those who don't even live in that state. When my daughter described all the lanes of traffic surrounding us, the woman had the nerve to LAUGH at her. GS has our home phone number and our cell numbers and we've yet to hear a word from them! Having no other choice, the company that was removing the motorcycle had to tie up our axles and we then had to tow the trailer ourselves to their tow yard, causing damage to the other tire and rim and who knows what else! Here we are 16 days later and our trailer is STILL sitting in the same tow yard in Allentown, PA nearly 100 miles from our home. Neither our insurance nor the motorcyclist's has looked at it and we have no idea when they will. I realize that the hassles of insurance are our problem, but if GS had towed the trailer, it would now be at a service center (as per the website) and work could have begun, even at our own expense. We are now being told that in order to have the trailer moved to a service center/body shop, a special trailer and permits will be needed which will take considerable time to obtain and cost $2,000! Meanwhile, our summer is ruined and our August vacation plans (booked and paid for in 2013 as a Christmas gift) are in jeopardy. Again I ask, what exactly is the purpose of Good Sam Emergency Roadside Assistance???