My horrible coach net experience... and my letter to the CEO
Subject: 29 Hours waiting for a tow
Mr. Ostlund,
Yes, we were on the side of the road for 29 hours and this was no rural country road. It was US 1 in Maimi-Dade county Florida with cars and trucks whizzing by at 60-80 mph literally a few feet from the side of our motorhome. To say I'm disappointed in the service and response from Coach-Net would be an understatement.
On Friday December 3rd we left our home in Apollo Beach, Fl to spend a few nights at Key Largo before going to Key West. At about 14:00 my coolant temperature rapidly rose and the alarm went off. I moved to the side of the road. This was at Mile Marker 122 on US1 south of Homestead, FL. The infamous 18 mile stretch. The road here is a narrow 2 lane highway with the lanes separated by Jersey barriers. The shoulder is very narrow and in many places not even wide enough for a car, fortunately I was able to find a spot that we could actually get out of the travel lane by about 5 feet without sinking into the mud .
After assessing the situation and finding a catastrophic water pump failure, I call Coach-Net at 14:30 for assistance.
The first person I spoke to asked a few questions and then passed me to a technical staff member. We discussed the situation and he said he would get a tow truck to the scene. I was told it would be about an hour before the truck would arrive. Well, that wasn't even close. At 19:30, a full 5 hours later, a truck shows up, the driver looks at the situation and says he isn't able to tow a motorhome due to the configuration of his truck.
I call back Coach-Net and after some discussion they start to try to find another tow truck. After a few more hours, they decide that it would be good to inform the Florida Highway Patrol of our situation. A trooper comes by and provides visibility to the oncoming traffic with his emergency lights. Another tow company was finally dispatched and when they got to the scene the driver said he could not tow from the front, but would tow from the rear by raising the coach by the trailer hitch. I told him and pointed out the label on the hitch, that the hitch was rated at 1000 lbs tongue weight capacity and that the coach weighs 42000 lbs and that there was no way I was going to allow him to even attempt to do that. If I hadn't stopped him, I'm sure there would have been tens of thousands of dollars damage. He left and soon afterwards, the trooper had to leave . It was now after 03:00 Saturday...over 12 hours since I called in the issue.
I called Coach-Net again. They decided there was nothing to do at this late hour and would resume their (feeble) efforts in the morning. I was told I'd be contacted at 07:00 .
07:00 comes and goes and a little after 08:00 I get a call and they are going to resume trying to find a wrecker. I was promised call backs on status, but never received them. I had to call back myself to find out what was going on. Finally at 16:30 Saturday a couple of guys show up and said they had it under control. These guys were super professional, efficient and demonstrated outstanding team work. After a short period of time, during which they showed me what they were doing, they had us all hooked up and ready to go. But, as we were staring to pull out, one of their airbags on the rear axle failed and in interest of safety, they decided to unhook and drive back to the shop to get another truck.
They returned with a different truck and reattached the motorhome and we were finally off the side of the road at 19:30 Saturday. A full 29 hours after the time I called in for assistance.
When we got to the repair shop they backed us into position and unhooked. As I was thanking them for their outstanding service , I asked why they hadn't been called earlier. They told me that they were not on Coach-Net's vendor list and were called in only in dire situations. These guys were by far the best. You should have them at the top of the list for towing large RV's. They are Edwin and Kevin from American Eagle Towing. The other companies that showed up should be removed from your vendor list.
The reason I am sending this letter to you is to make sure you are aware of how poorly this call for emergency assistance was handled and that hopefully you will take corrective actions to prevent this from happening to someone else.
Some thoughts to consider :
- make sure the vendor you dispatch understands what is being towed and make sure they have the equipment to do so.
- the second tow operator obviously had no experience in towing a motorhome and if he had tried to tow from the trailer hitch as he had wanted to do, he would have caused extensive damage. It is likely that if it had been another person in my situation they might have taken him for his word and their motorhome would have been destroyed. You need to thoroughly vet your vendors to help prevent unnecessary damage.
- we were in a potentially very dangerous situation on a heavily traveled road. Police notification by your team should not have taken over 10 hours.
- When your staff says they are going to call back in a certain period of time, they need to do so. Other than a couple times when they did call back as promised, in general, I had to call back and wait on hold to get status.
- Scrub your vendor list. You obviously have incompetent service providers that are wasting your time, my time and their time and at the same time destroying your reputation as a quality service provider.
- A 29 hour wait to get EMERGENCY service is not acceptable under any circumstances.
Try to put yourself in the situation that we were in and see what your reactions would have been.
I look forward to your response.
Joe
2013 Dutch Star 4338- all electric
Toad is 2015 F-150 with bikes,kayaks and Harley aboard
