pezimm
Forum Member
Hey all,
I will start this tale from when disaster struck my Foz...
The VIC crew was out at Big Desert climbing the dunes to reach Thomson Peaks Lookout. This is a video of Venom going up:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGwJmhOC9I4"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGwJmhOC9I4[/ame]
He got up on his first go. I was next and unsuccessful on my first attempt at about 80-90% throttle. My second attempt was much better at 100% throttle, but still came to a halt about 5m from the top. Third go wasn't so good and to bring insult to injury, a thick plume of white smoke came gusting out of the engine bay when I stopped. Venom was watching and came to assist. We popped the bonnet and found a pretty badly damaged radiator header tank, with a 6-inch crack visible from the inlet hose mount:
There was coolant everywhere!
By this time, the car was off and rolling down the dune in neutral. With me were Venom, Dulagarl and subaruby. The guys were great in towing me out to a graded road just outside Big Desert. A big BIG THANK YOU to you 3 (I'm just sorry I didn't have any petrol left in the jerry can to fill subaruby's tank, but I'll make it up to you, mate!).
Waiting for the tow:
As a Total Care member, I contacted RACV on a Sunday 2.30pm with hopes of getting the radiator changed on Monday somewhere in the area. Towing was organised from Pinnaroo, SA (the closest township) and I was picked up by Chris at 4.20pm. He told me he had to take me into town of the night, which I was fine with.
Problems started when we arrived in Pinnaroo. Both Chris and I were on the phone to RACV trying to organise a follow-up tow for the following day. Chris told me the RAA wouldn't hesitate to send a tow truck out for one of its members, but the RACV attendant informed me there was no way I could be towed to Mildura (my initial preference for a quick repair) in a hurry - that was not their "practice" for breakdowns over 100kms from home.
The Pinnaroo Motel innkeeper, Cheryl, was great and very helpful with transport options out of Pinnaroo and even loaned me a phone charger, but given the difficulties with the car my night wasn't great. I had to make contact with RACV the following morning to find out what my alternatives were. They in contrast, were not helpful at all. Basically, the only thing I could do was:
1) Get transported back home by bus from Pinnaroo to Swan Hill, overnight stay and then V-line train back to Melbourne.
2) The car would stay at Chris' depot and be collected by a company organised by RACV on 1/Oct and delivered to me in Melb by 8/Oct
I was not happy about this. I don't think anyone would be happy to leave their car behind for just over 2 weeks!
Having no alternative, I went to the depot to ready the car for transport. Repacked a few things, threw my food away and left the car keys with Chris. I left it after taking heaps of photos of my belongings inside it and the condition of the vehicle in general (I hope nothing happens, but I have to be prepared to argue in case something goes wrong).
This is the last photo of the car as I walked back to the motel:
I got on the bus and headed to Swan Hill, a long and sleepy 4h journey:
When I arrived at the train station in Swan Hill, I collected my ticket for the following morning and headed for my second motel overnighter. I contacted RACV once again to verify my options upon arrival in Melbourne. My expectation was that I would have a replacement vehicle (even a cheap runabout) paid for until my car was returned to me. To my surprise, this was not the case! The ever cranky attendant informed me that they consider me arriving home as the "end of the incident", by which time no further benefits are available. This astounds me as my car has not yet "arrived home", nor have I reached the limit of expenditure on my incident. Is it unreasonable for me to expect a loaner as a TOTAL CARE member??? Apparently yes.
Following day (this is now Tuesday), I jumped on the train and head back to Melbourne, a 4.5h ride:
I finally arrived home on Tuesday, around 1pm. As we only have 1 vehicle in my household, I had no option but to fork out for a car hire until my beloved Forester is repaired. Hopefully I'll get it back on the road sooner rather than later.
SO WHAT HAVE I LEARNED FROM THIS:
1) The mates I made through this forum are absolutely great! I'm very happy to know you all!
2) Country folk are exceptionally helpful, even when they don't have to (I already knew this, but once again got it reconfirmed).
3) RACV TOTAL CARE is passable, but probably needs a new name to more accurately describe the service on offer.
4) Never, ever lose your cool on the phone to these RACV attendants. They are only following procedure and don't have a lot of leeway to support their customers.
5) I think RACV should spend a little less on TV ads and direct these funds to improve its assistance services - after all, that's what it's there to do!
Pedro.
I will start this tale from when disaster struck my Foz...
The VIC crew was out at Big Desert climbing the dunes to reach Thomson Peaks Lookout. This is a video of Venom going up:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGwJmhOC9I4"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGwJmhOC9I4[/ame]
He got up on his first go. I was next and unsuccessful on my first attempt at about 80-90% throttle. My second attempt was much better at 100% throttle, but still came to a halt about 5m from the top. Third go wasn't so good and to bring insult to injury, a thick plume of white smoke came gusting out of the engine bay when I stopped. Venom was watching and came to assist. We popped the bonnet and found a pretty badly damaged radiator header tank, with a 6-inch crack visible from the inlet hose mount:
There was coolant everywhere!
By this time, the car was off and rolling down the dune in neutral. With me were Venom, Dulagarl and subaruby. The guys were great in towing me out to a graded road just outside Big Desert. A big BIG THANK YOU to you 3 (I'm just sorry I didn't have any petrol left in the jerry can to fill subaruby's tank, but I'll make it up to you, mate!).
Waiting for the tow:
As a Total Care member, I contacted RACV on a Sunday 2.30pm with hopes of getting the radiator changed on Monday somewhere in the area. Towing was organised from Pinnaroo, SA (the closest township) and I was picked up by Chris at 4.20pm. He told me he had to take me into town of the night, which I was fine with.
Problems started when we arrived in Pinnaroo. Both Chris and I were on the phone to RACV trying to organise a follow-up tow for the following day. Chris told me the RAA wouldn't hesitate to send a tow truck out for one of its members, but the RACV attendant informed me there was no way I could be towed to Mildura (my initial preference for a quick repair) in a hurry - that was not their "practice" for breakdowns over 100kms from home.
The Pinnaroo Motel innkeeper, Cheryl, was great and very helpful with transport options out of Pinnaroo and even loaned me a phone charger, but given the difficulties with the car my night wasn't great. I had to make contact with RACV the following morning to find out what my alternatives were. They in contrast, were not helpful at all. Basically, the only thing I could do was:
1) Get transported back home by bus from Pinnaroo to Swan Hill, overnight stay and then V-line train back to Melbourne.
2) The car would stay at Chris' depot and be collected by a company organised by RACV on 1/Oct and delivered to me in Melb by 8/Oct
I was not happy about this. I don't think anyone would be happy to leave their car behind for just over 2 weeks!
Having no alternative, I went to the depot to ready the car for transport. Repacked a few things, threw my food away and left the car keys with Chris. I left it after taking heaps of photos of my belongings inside it and the condition of the vehicle in general (I hope nothing happens, but I have to be prepared to argue in case something goes wrong).This is the last photo of the car as I walked back to the motel:
I got on the bus and headed to Swan Hill, a long and sleepy 4h journey:
When I arrived at the train station in Swan Hill, I collected my ticket for the following morning and headed for my second motel overnighter. I contacted RACV once again to verify my options upon arrival in Melbourne. My expectation was that I would have a replacement vehicle (even a cheap runabout) paid for until my car was returned to me. To my surprise, this was not the case! The ever cranky attendant informed me that they consider me arriving home as the "end of the incident", by which time no further benefits are available. This astounds me as my car has not yet "arrived home", nor have I reached the limit of expenditure on my incident. Is it unreasonable for me to expect a loaner as a TOTAL CARE member??? Apparently yes.
Following day (this is now Tuesday), I jumped on the train and head back to Melbourne, a 4.5h ride:
I finally arrived home on Tuesday, around 1pm. As we only have 1 vehicle in my household, I had no option but to fork out for a car hire until my beloved Forester is repaired. Hopefully I'll get it back on the road sooner rather than later.
SO WHAT HAVE I LEARNED FROM THIS:
1) The mates I made through this forum are absolutely great! I'm very happy to know you all!
2) Country folk are exceptionally helpful, even when they don't have to (I already knew this, but once again got it reconfirmed).
3) RACV TOTAL CARE is passable, but probably needs a new name to more accurately describe the service on offer.
4) Never, ever lose your cool on the phone to these RACV attendants. They are only following procedure and don't have a lot of leeway to support their customers.
5) I think RACV should spend a little less on TV ads and direct these funds to improve its assistance services - after all, that's what it's there to do!
Pedro.
(I'm not sure which to do ... ).
. Since my rims/tyres are identical on car and trailer, I can always strip the trailer and run for safety, if needs be. That would give me 4 spare rims/tyres for the car ... 