My first experiance using Coachnet

[Jim_Sharon]

I have had Coach net emergency road service since 2006, and have never had to use it. Lucky me.
As a result of not using it, I never really understood how it worked until yesterday.
Now that I know what it does I am less than happy with it. But I suspect that all the other "emergency road service" providers work the same way.

Yesterday, on a camping trip from Annapolis Md., to Dutch country in Pa., I experienced a wheel bearing heating up on my fifth wheel camper.
I managed to pull off the beltway on to a grassy patch between an on ramp and the beltway, so I was safely away from the main road, but I needed to get the bearing replaced/repacked.
So I called Coach net. I figured it was about time I got something back from them.

I explained my problem to a nice lady, and she said a technician would be calling me soon. About 45 minutes later a guy from Texas called me.
I explained my problem to him, and he said a repair man would be calling me within the hour.

About an hour later a guy from Drack Interstar called me ( I don't know where he was located ). I explained my problem to him, and told him what axle I had so the repair man could arrive with the correct bearing. He told me the repair man would be there in an hour to replace the bearing.

By now I have been sitting near the side of the Baltimore Beltway in the hot sun for about 3 hours, but the repair man is on his way thank goodness.
About 3 pm. I called Drack Interstar back to ask where the repair man was. They said he got held up on the last job, but would be there in an hour.
About 4:30 I called Drack Interstar back to see what was wrong.

At first they told me that they were a commercial truck and trailer repair company, and did not work on campers.
When I convinced them that someone had indeed commited to fixing my 5th wheel, after my insurer called them, they put me in touch with the guy I had talked to originally. Good news, He will be there in an hour.

I called back after an hour or so. Went through the same routine with them wanting to know the commercial chassis number of my trailer. Me explaining that it was a recreational camper, but that I was referred to them through my E.R.S. company ( Coach Net ), and eventually talking to the right person.

He explained to me that they did not work on RV's, I explained to him that someone there said that they would, when he said " who did you talk to". I said "Issaah". He said "I am Isaah".

well, we finally got on the same page, he now remembers talking to me
,and put me on hold while he worked this out.
After what seemed like forever, he came back on the phone and told me that the repair man is not coming. He can not get the part.

Issaah explained how sorry he was, and said he would get a different repair person, and he would be there in an hour.....

I tried to remain calm as I told Isaah that I did not believe him.
I said to tear up the contract, or whatever it was, I would handle it myself.

I managed to limp back home on the bad wheel bearing 5 miles at a time.
I was only 25 miles from home, so don't look for a crippled camper on the beltway.

For the people with emergency road service like I have, you should know that the service will likely contact a repair center, who will contact a sub contracting repair provider.
The repair provider is actually working for the repair center, and does not really work for you, so doesn't care much about you.

I suspect that all of the E.R.S. companies work the same way, so it probably doesn't matter if you have Allstate,AAA,Good Sam,Coach Net, or any other ERS.

I think I would have been better off to find my own repair provider, but on the road, there is no way for me to find one.
You guys with smart phones could probably do it easy, bit I have a flip phone, Maybe I should have spent the money on a smart phone instead of ERS....Jim

[Jim_Sharon]

When I posted this report, I did not mean to blame Coach net.Good Sam AAA, they are all at the mercy of the repair contractor that gets assigned to the job.
The trouble is, the repair contractor has no loyalty to the guy sitting on the side of the road. I don't even know the name of the repair contractor so I can't even refuse to use that company in the future.
The repair contractor is isolated from the end user, so he feels no responsibility to me.
I think it would have been a different story if I had called the repair company direct. they would have been concerned for their reputation.

[garyp4951]

In August Good Sam ERS saved me a $450 wrecker bill, but the Ram dealer was double that.

[Bumpyroad]

jarata1 wrote:
Should have had good sam

probably would have used the same repair service.
bumpy

[SidecarFlip]

Never had any. I carry tools with me and if that don't work, I have my plastic tool.

[jarata1]

Should have had good sam

[wowens79]

I had a good experience with them. My fuel pump on my truck went out about 5 miles from the campground. I called State Farm for roadside assistance with the truck, and while we waited on the tow for the truck I called Coachnet, and explained the situation. They asked if I had the number for the company that was coming to get the truck, and they would contact them, and have them get the camper also.

Great driver for the tow company took the truck and came back and took the camper to the campground and backed it into the site.

Funny thing was the Coachnet was the free 1st year that came with the camper, and it had about 3 weeks left on it. When we got home the renewal notice was in the mailbox. My wife quickly renewed.

You never know how these things will turn out. You and the ERS company are both at the mercy of a contractor. That contractor probably doesn't get alot of business, from you, or the ERS company, and you are probably on the backburner.

[hotjag1]

It sounds like the policy holder is at the mercy of the towing/repair companies. In my case, I had exceptional service from Coach-Net. No doubt this was because they contacted a reliable tow company.

I had the misfortune of having the exhaust pipe come off the backside of the turbo and the resulting heat melted my air lines(no brakes). I should say, brakes were applied.

The tow company arrived in two hours and towed the motorhome about 160 miles to a repair facility that could get me in right away to accommodate my vacation schedule.

I'm guessing that it would have cost me well over a thousand dollars out of pocket if I wouldn't have had Coach-Net. It's too bad that everyone's experience wasn't like what I had.

[fj12ryder]

We've had to use Good Sam ERS twice, with results similar to the OP's.

The first time was with a flat tire. No one ever showed up after repeated calls, so I changed the tire myself finally. The second time was a bad valve stem, and the person arrived after about 4 hours at 10:00 at night. They did get the job done but had to borrow my tools to do it.

Needless to say we no longer have Good Sam ERS. Why pay for something the simply doesn't work?

[darsben1]

They are all dependent on the service company they dispatch for your problem. Since they all use about the same companies I doubt if you result would ahve been any different with another provider. I am well satisfied with Good Sam Roadside.
But as I related in a post last month I and a few other people ran over something on I80 in NJ. One had AAA, one had insurance coverage and I had Good SAm. The same guy showed up to change all our tires

[mockturtle]

The few times we had to use Good Sam ERS we got help within the hour.

[ScottG]

Sad to hear that.
For people like you and I, who very rarely use such a service (us/once in 27 years) I feel I'm better off just calling for help and paying for what ever service I need. Tow truck drivers and shops never say no to cash.