Complaint Review: Coach-Net - Irving Texas

I decided to take a weekend trip with the family from Ft. Lauderdale to Lake Placid, FL.  On a Friday night at 6pm, the tire on my trailer blows half way to my destination. The total trip was 2 hours and the blow out happened 1 hour in. Lucky for me I thought, I had purchased trailer insurance from Sea Tow. Unlucky for me is that Sea-Two uses Coach-Net roadside assistance, and even less fortunate for me is that Coach-Net uses Total Roadside Services out of Okeechobee, Fl.

I called in my claim and they said that it usually takes about 45 minutes to get a new tire and all I would have to do is pay for the parts, which in this case was a tube for my tire.  15 minutes later they called back and said it was going to take 90 minutes to get a tire there from Okeechobee.  No problem I said. I told them that I was on highway 27 just outside of Belle Glade, Fl but the gps has the road marked as highway 80 so the road has two numbers. We were right at the crossroad of Mutt Thomas rd though so we should be easy to pinpoint.  It took a minute but she said that she found our exact location. 

90 minutes later we get a call from the tow truck guy. He is just leaving Okeechobee and wants to confirm where we are. I ask if he has a gps so I can give him the location but he says he does not have a gps because he was shopping and was about to by one but had to stop his shopping to come assist us. I would guess this implies we ruined his night. Nice thing to tell a customer. I tell him the same thing I told the dispatcher about our location.  He tells me he spends lots of time in Belle Glade and knows exactly what I am talking about.  Great I thought.

Two hours later I get a call from him saying he is still half an hour away because of the rain. It had rained earlier in the night but it was clear at this point so I was a little confused. Alas, another hour goes by. I call him again. He says he is just driving slowly because of the rain and he would be there in 30 minutes. I hang up and then his boss calls me 15 minutes later.  He tells me that I said I was on highway 80 but that he just used his gps and realized I was actually on the 27 in Clewiston and his guy had been driving around Belle Glade for two hours looking for me.  I informed him that the 27 and the 80 were the exact same road and I was right where I said I was from the beginning a few miles past Belle Glade heading to Lake placid.  I called his bluff.  He apologizes and hangs up quickly. My guess is that they did another service call right before mine and they were trying to feed me false excuses to make up their unprofessionalism.

60 minutes later, the tow truck guy finally arrives.  It takes him forever to change the tire and then he disappears for 20 minutes.  I go look for him and he is writing up a receipt.  At this point it is a comedy of errors because he is writing one letter every 5 seconds. I have never seen anything like it. He finishes writing the receipt, I am ready to run, and he grabs another blank receipt to make a duplicate. I ask him if he can do that later so I can go.  He says sure and that I need to pay 55. I ask if he takes American Express. He says yes.  He calls it in through a phone system which takes 5 minutes.  The card is declined. He tries two more times. Declined and Declined. Tick tock, tick tock. He calls customer service. Oh wait, they dont accept American Express. He says that no one ever told him.  Great. I dont mind the extra wait, right? So he has to run my Visa. 5 more minutes. He finishes and then grabs the duplicate receipt and starts filling it out again. I let him do that for about 30 seconds and 6 letters of the alphabet and then I ask if I can go.  He says he is filling out my copy.  I tell him he can have it.  Can I go?  He says sure.

So, its 11:30 at night and I have missed the first night of my vacation.  At least I will get there.  I drive 30 minutes and the brand new tire blows.  At this point I say F*** it and I drive the last 30 with a flat and I drink myself into a stupor when I get there to forget the incompetence I had just experienced.

Alas, I have to wake up eventually.  I call Coach-Net and tell them my tire didnt last long. They said they will see what they can do. They call back and tell me that they found me a tire but it was 60 miles away in Okeechobee and that it would cost them too much to go get  it so I would have to go get it. This sucks that I have to drive 120 miles on the second day of my vacation. But it is my only choice.  I do just that.  Another 3 hours off my trip. I forget about this for the rest of the weekend and try to get it resolved come Monday.

So  I call Coach-Net and tell them what happened. When it comes to the 5 hours on the side of the road, they say it was my fault because I gave the wrong location.  They do not care because they think I made a mistake. This is totally false as I will prove it in a moment. They call Total Roadside Services. Total roadside services said it is not their fault.  They bought the tire from someone else so I would have to drive up there and that place would have to check on the warranty of the tire to replace it or maybe get $17 dollars back. Keep in mind that Okeechobee is 2 hours from my house and I am not going to drive that and spend 50 in gas to get 17 of the $55 dollars back.  Alas, now it turns out that they want me to pay for the labor to put the tire on? Shouldnt my insurance have covered that? There story keeps changing. Parts only you morons!

Coach-Net calls me and tells me that I am responsible to get everything fixed. They did their job perfectly and so did Total roadside services.  The person in the wrong was me.  I asked if a 6 hour response time was a good job?  They said I gave my wrong location.  I asked if a tire lasting 30 miles was a good job?  They said Total roadside services did everything just fine.  I get pissed and hang up and write an email.

I get a call back from Coach-Net customer something department. He has about half the details as he was only quickly briefed.  He says sorry about the 6 hours but that it was my fault. I tell him that is lie and ask if the conversation was recorded when I gave my location.  He quickly says yes. I challenge him to listen to the tape and write down what I said because I knew I was 100% correct. He agrees.  He listens to the tape and low and behold I gave my exact location just like I said. We both look at Google Maps and see that I was exactly 6 miles outside of Belle Glade. Victory was mine! Wait for it But wait he says. No, you were in a town called Lake Harbor so that is why we were confused.  Lake Harbor was the next town up. The following link shows the exact location where I was in relation to Belle Glade. It can be seen that I was 6 miles past Belle Glade at Mutt Thomas Rd. Was I in Lake Harbor? No. Was I close to Lake Harbor? Yes.  But how the hell would I know that being broken down on the side of the road. Alas they are sticking to the story that I made a mistake somewhere.  I do not see it.  Complete incompetence.

(((link redacted)))

So anyways the guy keeps on going and tells me that I am going to have to be a part of the solution and drive the tire back to Okeechobee.  I tell him I already drove 120 miles to pick up the tire on Saturday. I want a refund because my tire only lasted 30 minutes.   He tells me and I quote, Your wanting it your own way only." Excellent customer service!

This is a bunch of crap. I paid 55 dollars for a tire that lasted a half hour. Every customer service rep at Coach-Net was rude and did not care about the customer. This is an attitude that gets passed down from management. Their way of thinking is that the only thing customers do is try and take advantage of them.  This is a horrible position for the company to have. The customer service and management need to clean house if this is the pennies first, customers last approach they want to take. These two companies want to blame me for everything. 

The owner of Total Roadside Services is a complete and total liar. He lied to me straight up on the phone and I was able to prove that he was wrong.  Then he lies to Coach-Net and rather than taking their customers back, they believe the owner even though they have all the evidence showing that I did not make one mistake.

I am furious. This was a complete service failure from the beginning to end by both companies.  I would highly recommend that both companies be avoided at all costs. Consumers have no time for this in their lives and they can find much better service elsewhere.