RCR: Anybody had any serious problems with them?

[Jonkx]

3 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

Out of interest, if both gearbox and aquadrive are listed as being covered what was the reason given for their refusal?

They said because it was a bolt on the flange between the gearbox and the aquadrive that had failed/come off, and the bolt/flange wasn't covered. 

[Jennifer McM]

10 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I d contact RCR, tell them about the wrong diagnosis and see if they'll reimburse you. Won't hurt to ask. 

Good thought, though to be fair there wasn't any diagnosis made, we just explained that when the washing machine and the inverter was turned off, the batteries came up so we just assumed. Guess we jumped the wrong way.

 

Perhaps if we weren't moored in a bit of a dodgy place, and that the boatyard wasn't so close, we might have had the RCR engineer visit. 

 

We live and learn 

[Midnight]

18 hours ago, Jonkx said:

I had them for my first two years cruising. First time I needed them, when my Aquadrive broke, they came out but couldn't fix it. Another engineer visited the boat and he couldn't fix it. Finally they said they needed to take the gearbox and Aquadrive off the boat, send them off for repair or replacement, and they estimated the cost as £2,000 as they didn't believe it was covered - even though the free parts replacement policy lists both gearboxes and aquadrives as covered. I tried arguing with them but they were having none of it. 

 

In the end I found a local recommended engineer who fixed it for £300 and haven't had any problems since. I didn't renew with RCR and wouldn't recommend them to anyone else. 

I think this is the point. If you put your £175+ membership fee into a savings account after a couple of years you will have enough to cover most repairs. I was a member for about 5 years only called them out once for a broken gearbox cable. Now I carry spare cables, fan belt, fuel filters etc. for minor breakdowns and would simply call a local boatyard for anything major. I can fully understand those with little mechanical know-how joining but for the rest of us it's an expensive insurance policy with lots of get-out clauses. 

[Richard10002]

10 hours ago, Midnight said:

I think this is the point. If you put your £175+ membership fee into a savings account after a couple of years you will have enough to cover most repairs. I was a member for about 5 years only called them out once for a broken gearbox cable. Now I carry spare cables, fan belt, fuel filters etc. for minor breakdowns and would simply call a local boatyard for anything major. I can fully understand those with little mechanical know-how joining but for the rest of us it's an expensive insurance policy with lots of get-out clauses. 

You can pay £65 a year these days, and then £45 + Parts for each visit. So you would have saved about £400 in your 5 years on the cheapest deal.

 

Personally, if I were to break down in the arse end of nowhere, and called "the local boatyard", it would be my luck that they they would be very busy but might get around to it within a week or so, or just cant help. Whereas, with RCR, you can be pretty sure someone will come and, in most cases they will get you going for not too much money, if any.

 

If they suggested a fix that was somewhat over the top, in terms of money, I'd take advantage of the tow they offer, and get taken somewhere accessible where other opinions could be sought.

[MtB]

5 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

Whereas, with RCR, you can be pretty sure someone will come and, in most cases they will get you going for not too much money, if any.

 

^^^THIS^^^

 

The primary benefit of RCR is local engineers WILL come out on a call from them, whereas if you personally get on the phone looking for someone to attend you in the arse end of nowhere on a wet and windy Sunday, most engineers will say no thanks. Assuming you can get them to answer the phone in the first place. Or even find their phone numbers. 

 

 

[Midnight]

4 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

^^^THIS^^^

 

The primary benefit of RCR is local engineers WILL come out on a call from them, whereas if you personally get on the phone looking for someone to attend you in the arse end of nowhere on a wet and windy Sunday, most engineers will say no thanks. Assuming you can get them to answer the phone in the first place. Or even find their phone numbers. 

 

 

Yes I agree for some it's peace of mind. I did briefly rejoin when my son took the boat for a few weeks, but for me it's too expensive, too many caveats and too many horror stories. 

[MtB]

5 minutes ago, Midnight said:

Yes I agree for some it's peace of mind.

 

No its not woolly 'peace of mind', it is the practical benefit of someone definitely attending. 

 

 

[Lily Rose]

7 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

No its not woolly 'peace of mind', it is the practical benefit of someone definitely attending. 

 

 

I've always thought of it as peace of mind but I agree that it's "the practical benefit of...". And that's what gives me peace of mind.

 

I may consider my level of membership though, especially as prices seem to have increased much faster than inflation during my 4 years. I haven't actually checked the numbers but I may do when I go home at the end of the summer, although having no claims discount in some years and not in others may complicate matters.

[frangar]

I hope people realise there is a limit to the free tow service....unless it’s changed it was 3 hours...that doesn’t get you far on a canal....I’m not quite sure how they arrange a tow either....they don’t have a fleet of tugs....

[Lily Rose]

10 minutes ago, frangar said:

I hope people realise there is a limit to the free tow service....unless it’s changed it was 3 hours...that doesn’t get you far on a canal....I’m not quite sure how they arrange a tow either....they don’t have a fleet of tugs....

Unless I'm misremembering I think it's only 2 hours. Always wondered how they would do it but also always assumed that in the event of them being unable to fix a problem I would get them to arrange a tow as far as possible and then rely on helpful boaters for whatever else was needed. 

[Midnight]

8 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

No its not woolly 'peace of mind', it is the practical benefit of someone definitely attending. 

 

 

Yes I agree for some "it is the practical benefit of someone definitely attending"

[Jonkx]

On 10/08/2019 at 12:46, Midnight said:

I think this is the point. If you put your £175+ membership fee into a savings account after a couple of years you will have enough to cover most repairs. I was a member for about 5 years only called them out once for a broken gearbox cable. Now I carry spare cables, fan belt, fuel filters etc. for minor breakdowns and would simply call a local boatyard for anything major. I can fully understand those with little mechanical know-how joining but for the rest of us it's an expensive insurance policy with lots of get-out clauses. 

I agree completely with this. The one time I needed it, they were no use and the excuse they gave seemed tenuous to me. They more or less said take it or leave it. In the end, other boaters in the area were able to recommend me an engineer, and he was almost a tenth of the cost RCR were quoting. I won't be bothering with them again. 

 

I don't think the Free Replacement Parts policy is sustainable, I don't think they can afford to back it. Too good to be true maybe? Either way, it seems to be thay they try to wriggle out of it. So it's not much of an insurance policy in my opinion. 

[Mike Todd]

19 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

^^^THIS^^^

 

The primary benefit of RCR is local engineers WILL come out on a call from them, whereas if you personally get on the phone looking for someone to attend you in the arse end of nowhere on a wet and windy Sunday, most engineers will say no thanks. Assuming you can get them to answer the phone in the first place. Or even find their phone numbers. 

 

 

That's my reasoning as well.

[frangar]

19 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

No its not woolly 'peace of mind', it is the practical benefit of someone definitely attending. 

 

 

Not in the experience of one of the boats I towed....took a couple of days for the first engineer....who said it needed a new gearbox....then a few more all with different theories...in the end it was a stuck valve due to something being sucked into the intake. 

[matty40s]

12 hours ago, Midnight said:

Yes I agree for some "it is the practical benefit of someone definitely attending"

Unfortunately for the "some" I have seen, they are given incorrect advice and a possibly very costly solution to something that is an entirely different fix.

[frangar]

1 minute ago, matty40s said:

Unfortunately for the "some" I have seen, they are given incorrect advice and a possibly very costly solution to something that is an entirely different fix.

You are not alone in seeing that! 

[MtB]

So its a moot point, whether it is better to break down in the middle of nowhere and have no-one available to come and fix, or whether it is better to have an idiot from RCR come and do it all wrong according to Matty. 

 

 

[Mike Todd]

1 hour ago, frangar said:

You are not alone in seeing that! 

But the real question whether an RCR engineer is more or less likely to misdiagnosis a situation. I've rather experience from ANO boatyard before now, and one not so long ago.

 

[Lily Rose]

If a few engineers turn up, via RCR, all with different theories (all of which are wrong), what is to say that another engineer, not via RCR, would have the right theory?

[Midnight]

22 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

If a few engineers turn up, via RCR, all with different theories (all of which are wrong), what is to say that another engineer, not via RCR, would have the right theory?

Nothing, but you wouldn't have been paying out lots of money for the previous X number of years

[MtB]

13 minutes ago, Midnight said:

Nothing, but you wouldn't have been paying out lots of money for the previous X number of years

 

So on balance, you'd prefer to have no-one come out, to someone from RCR come out who will probably (but not definitely) get you going again?

 

Jeez.

 

 

[Richard10002]

My perception is that RCR use engineers from a variety of boatyards around the country, and dont have their own employed engineers waiting for the call. If that's the case, presumably, the chances are that you are going to get an engineer from a boatyard, in just the same way as you might get one if you call a boatyard independently. Thus, as with many diagnostics, it's possible that the engineer you get independently, may make just the same "mistake" as an RCR engineer, and may even be the same person.

 

Or does RCR contract with cheap, poor quality, engineers, thus increasing the odds of a poor outcome, as against the engineer from the local boatyard.

[TheBiscuits]

19 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

My perception is that RCR use engineers from a variety of boatyards around the country, and dont have their own employed engineers waiting for the call. If that's the case, presumably, the chances are that you are going to get an engineer from a boatyard, in just the same way as you might get one if you call a boatyard independently. Thus, as with many diagnostics, it's possible that the engineer you get independently, may make just the same "mistake" as an RCR engineer, and may even be the same person.

 

Or does RCR contract with cheap, poor quality, engineers, thus increasing the odds of a poor outcome, as against the engineer from the local boatyard.

Yes to the first bold, no to the second.

 

If RCR don't have local engineers -  which is in most parts of the system - they have a call list of engineers from local boatyards, and quality does vary.

 

I also personally know several of the experts who get called in if the RCR bod or the local boatyard bod can't fix the issue.

 

Third line support costs more, which is why they always run you through the cheaper people first!  If you get going again by bad diagnosis you are happy.  If your sunk boat isn't refloated or recovered in 6 hours you get cross ...

Edited August 11, 2019 by TheBiscuits
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[Jennifer McM]

6 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

My perception is that RCR use engineers from a variety of boatyards around the country, and dont have their own employed engineers waiting for the call. If that's the case, presumably, the chances are that you are going to get an engineer from a boatyard, in just the same way as you might get one if you call a boatyard independently. Thus, as with many diagnostics, it's possible that the engineer you get independently, may make just the same "mistake" as an RCR engineer, and may even be the same person.

 

Or does RCR contract with cheap, poor quality, engineers, thus increasing the odds of a poor outcome, as against the engineer from the local boatyard.

We asked last week when we trying to make up our minds whether to use RCR or the boatyard that wasn't far away, we wanted to know if it was possible their engineer would be the same man from the boatyard we thought of using. They said they have their own dedicated engineers and they don't use engineers from boatyards that's local to where the boat is.

 

I've no idea how their system works though.

[Rob-M]

We have always had RCR engineers visit as we have mainly been in Staffordshire so near the head office. The experience has been mixed, some appear to have just left school and some are much older with what appears to be more years of boat experience.