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Re: ADAC - A Cautionary Tale

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 5:26 pm
by skipper
psmith wrote:Just to add my two pennies worth - three months ago, I contacted ADAC, having heard good reports on various forums. I enquired how much their best product costs, & what it covers. I subsequently received a letter in German, which appeared to show that I was now a member & owed them 88 Euros. I wrote to them (in English & German!) explaining that they had misunderstood my request. Today, 10 days later I received a letter, again in German, which appears to be a final demand. What now?
dont worry about it,if you want to join pay if not dont. they did the same with me i did not pay but did join a few years later with no problem. concern now is will they have us in the future after brexit.

Re: ADAC - A Cautionary Tale

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 6:23 pm
by Dutchgit
psmith wrote:Just to add my two pennies worth - three months ago, I contacted ADAC, having heard good reports on various forums. I enquired how much their best product costs, & what it covers. I subsequently received a letter in German, which appeared to show that I was now a member & owed them 88 Euros. I wrote to them (in English & German!) explaining that they had misunderstood my request. Today, 10 days later I received a letter, again in German, which appears to be a final demand. What now?
Ignore the feckers. You didn't agreed to anything did you ?

Re: ADAC - A Cautionary Tale

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 6:27 pm
by Dutchgit
skipper wrote:
psmith wrote:Just to add my two pennies worth - three months ago, I contacted ADAC, having heard good reports on various forums. I enquired how much their best product costs, & what it covers. I subsequently received a letter in German, which appeared to show that I was now a member & owed them 88 Euros. I wrote to them (in English & German!) explaining that they had misunderstood my request. Today, 10 days later I received a letter, again in German, which appears to be a final demand. What now?
dont worry about it,if you want to join pay if not dont. they did the same with me i did not pay but did join a few years later with no problem. concern now is will they have us in the future after brexit.
They'll probably have you as long as you pay up. Delivery to UK soil might not happen by any EU break down operator though. You might be dropped at a ferry terminal and picked up on the other side.
It'll be years away for such a scenario to happen if at all though.

Re: ADAC - A Cautionary Tale

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 6:44 pm
by sprintster
psmith wrote:Just to add my two pennies worth - three months ago, I contacted ADAC, having heard good reports on various forums. I enquired how much their best product costs, & what it covers. I subsequently received a letter in German, which appeared to show that I was now a member & owed them 88 Euros. I wrote to them (in English & German!) explaining that they had misunderstood my request. Today, 10 days later I received a letter, again in German, which appears to be a final demand. What now?
I would just ignore it.If you haven't signed an agreement with them you can't owe them anything.If it helps I got great service from QDOS when I crashed my bike in Germany in July. (thumbs)

Re: ADAC - A Cautionary Tale

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 7:02 pm
by sprintster
I'm not computer literate but my recommendation is on page 3 in the Travel category. (thumbs)

Re: ADAC - A Cautionary Tale

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 4:59 am
by rodyorkabr
Mike54 wrote:AA, RAC etc, they all use local agents in addition to their own people. Also if you're in Europe and have full AA cover, an AA van doesnt show up does it? It's the local agent they use from round the corner.
AA -were terrible..( I understand they sub contract, but my contract was with the AA)
They had NO van to pick my bike up in the WHOLE of the country(FRANCE)for 6 days, nor could they provide a hire van, so I could do it myself...but (guess what)...similar story to yours..I could stay at one of their "preferred rate" hotels...guess the company that owned the hotel...go on!!

I feel your pain and I know your shame...but you are not to blame! ;)

Re: ADAC - A Cautionary Tale

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:21 am
by Mike54
Further on from this, when we got back I put in the claim to ADAC for the 3 nights hotel and hire car. I emailed them (to the correct address) the scans of the receipts etc. After 10 days I received a paper letter in German asking me to send the originals to an address in Munich by a tracked service. why could they not have emailed to tell me that ffs? Anyway, I sent off (12 quid) then it took a month of chasing to get the funds. In the end I had a written apology from them about the delay on the funds, but ref the situation with the recovery they simply said "switzerland is difficult" :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

So the moral of this is, don't have a drama in Switzerland, and think twice about ADAC

Re: ADAC - A Cautionary Tale

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:29 am
by Dutchgit
Don't have drama. :laugh:

Re: ADAC - A Cautionary Tale

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 8:25 pm
by Spike941
So as not to feel left out, better share my recovery stories I guess. 2004 saw me riding through Spain with 3 mates and a guy we'd met the year before in France and invited on our annual trip the following year. Anyway, he fell asleep and came off in a mountainous region in Southern Spain. He had bike, breakdown and travel insurance with CN. The bike was unrideable, he had a few broken bones and found himself in a rural Spanish hospital. We contacted CN on his behalf and without fuss repatriated both him, and his bike about a week later. Good service in my eyes.
3 years later, I was taken ill in north east France resulting in 10 days in a French hospital and 4 and half months off work. I was riding a Harley with Harley insurance and Harley European breakdown/recovery. (Not sure why I bothered with the breakdown/recovery bit, most reliable bike I've ever had) The bike was stranded in a French hotel car park and therefore needed recovering back to the UK. A phone call to Harley revealed that only the bike was covered for breakdown, not the rider, and although they also insured the bike, they were happy apparently to leave it unattended indefinitely in the hotel car park in France. Of course I wasn't happy, and thankfully a good friend and fellow Harley rider came over the following day and rode my bike back home to the UK. The following year I switched all my insurance etc to CN.

Re: ADAC - A Cautionary Tale

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 8:27 pm
by Mike54
This is about ADAC.