Breakdown Hell, Greenflag Heaven
Set off to Blackpool Friday as soon as School closes all is well until my trusty Land Rover broke down on the M61. First job get the children out of the car and on to the hillside away from the hard shoulder, this quite tramautised them, the noise of the motorway traffic and the cold did'nt help.
Called Greenflag Mayday taken out through the CC, said they would be with us in 45mins. Only 20 minutes later the recovery vehicle arrived. The guy was very friendly and efficient, got the family into the warmth of the truck first, loaded my car and hitched the caravan 10-15 mins later we were on our way to complete our trip to Blackpool.
Rang the Warden to let him know we would be a bit late, on arrival he quickly sorted out the desperate children with the toilets and helped us onto our pitch.
Best was yet to come as I could not get my car fixed locally Greenflag came back on Monday our departure day and transported family, car and caravan about 90miles back home.
Not sure if this is correct but I am told it's only Greenflag Mayday that offers this duel recovery service.
I can highly recommend the Mayday service to fellow members, I feel quite fortunate I changed from another breakdown service to Greenflag not that long ago.
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We have had to use them because of the flooding in the North East on 28th June 2012. They are marvellous. it's the best £89 I have ever spent. I will be renewing every year from now on. That's always assuming the insurers give me my car back of course.
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Just moved to the MAYDAY service after being with the AA for 16 years. Never used them and hope not to use Greenflag, but if we do, the cover to ensure our holiday is not runined, with two young kids, is priceless. Much cheaper than the AA as well.
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Great service, not sure about the family in the truck first tho. Still vulnerable with truck on hard shoulder. I would have waited till the last minute to leave the safety of the hillside. I'm sure you would of had provisions (blanket, food and drink) you
could have used. Glad you had a good outcome.
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hi all just read the post and i had heard green flag was good shall be joining today thanks for your post,s
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Yes this is great cover if you break down on the way to your holiday. It is a different story if you are already there though. I had an issue when my son broke down on holiday a few years ago. He had a tent pitched next to our caravan and his water pump
failed about 40 miles away on a day out. When recovery arrived he was offered recovery home, garage or camp site without the option of second journey to get him home. In the end we had him recovered to camp site and repaired the water pump ourselves in the
rain. Other than this issue, I have always had excellent service on the occasions when I needed needed it.0 -
Hi to you all,
am very pleased you guys are having as good an experience with mayday as we have explained in the past.If they will offer us membership with our rig they can cope with anything.
Keith & Sarah Kinlochewe Caravan Club Site.
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i had an intresting post on mayday services
lets just say after loosing everything in an accident
they offerd to take me and family to the nearest bus stop .
this case was indeed redeemed once home they paid out for the costs i had incured to get home . not shure i will renew this year tbh
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We moved to Greenflag some years ago. I have called them on the homecall bit of the policy once when we got back from holiday and my little car which had been idle on the drive for the duration of our holiday wouldn't start. They said that as it wasn't urgent, and a Sunday, someone would be with me within two hours. 20 mins later a repair van from a local garage arrived. He said that he was sent by Greenflag probably because they had told me a certain time and then didn't think they could get to me in that time.... perhaps because they had since had several other more urgent calls. He fixed my car in about ten mins and then made me drive it for about ten miles with him following to make sure it was ok. Terrific service.
What made me change from RAC???? My previous car, a regularly serviced and well cared for Corsa broke down in heavy rain at a very busy junction joining the main A556 between Lach Dennis and Northwich at 4pm on a weekday so at the start of the rush hour. I had my baby grandaughter in the car with me. The RAC said that because of the baby and my precarious location, that we were top priority and someone would be with me shortly. During the next 3hrs 45mins the rain poured down and the traffic continued to squeeze past me onto the dual carriageway, including two RAC vans, whilst we waited. The patrolman who eventually came fixed my car in a short time... there was something to do with water getting where it shouldn't have got because of the weather ... just one of those things that I couldn't have avoided except by staying home with the car in the garage he said. He was shocked to hear how long I had waited... he had been to three homestarts within five miles of me which he believed had all been attended within a short time of him getting to them. Needless to say, although the RAC man was terrific, I took out a GreenFlag policy immediatel even though it overlapped with what was left of my RAC policy. I also found it to be a pain to get RAC not to renew my policy at the renewal date as I had been paying by direct debit but hey... I now had a more reliable answer to a breakdown.
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I agree it is a wonderful service. This winter I was stuck in the mud. It was bitterly cold and I had two 5 year olds in the car, I was rescued very quickly and the driver was so pleasant and thoughtful. 2nd recue When we went to take our
caravan for service at end feb we did not know we had left a light on and flattened our battery. We could not get into the locked car. The driver went through the tail gate - and got us on our way in time to keep our appointment,Our first rescue 3 years ago, was in the middle of a forest and the driver found us by asking a lot of questions and using his local knowledge .
Even when we have done silly things - the drivers are sympathetic rather than critical. I really appreciate the calls updating their ETA. I cannot fault them.
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i have only been with greenflag for 2years so it is very reassuring to know that they are good.Hope i never need to use them
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I also found them very helpful recently, although the telephone converstation was a bit confoluted. I was away during the snowy season and unable to get off the site (hilly and icy etc) After the initial preamble the lady asks
"are you stuck...if not we can not come out etc"
Me "I have dug the van out and can reverse onto the site road etc"
Her "but are you broken down or stuck?"
Me (summary) "if it will help you I am happy to start to drive up the hill and get stuck without help and block the road but as a single occupant and retired (young) person that may not be the best course of action for me or others"
They were most helpful and sent out a wonderful lad who had already pulled 5-6 up the hill of the site, as had other groups like the RAC , much to the apparent annoyance of the wardens....but there again the wardens had made no effort at all to enable emergency
access to the site..a fire engine/ambulance may have got to a pitch but not out again without towing .. .but did qoute H & S and used finger and thumb to distribute salt around the loos.Mayday were excellent under the weather circumstances and would recommend their service
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Hi to all,
I had cause to use them petrol in diesel not the best thing to do,local garage closed so transported me home and then took me to the garage next morning.Friendly excellent service annual subscription money well spent !
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Just moved to the MAYDAY service after being with the AA for 16 years. Never used them and hope not to use Greenflag, but if we do, the cover to ensure our holiday is not runined, with two young kids, is priceless. Much cheaper than the AA as well.
I'm pretty sure the AA still use a Regional "RELAY" method where your vehicle AND small children have to be a part of the "passing-of-the-baton", VERY poor in my estimation,
I've used greenflag= national breakdown for 25 years, and have found the service excellent,
AND really good value.
Write your comments here...
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Have been with Green flag for many years and only used them twice (thankfully) second time was excellent but the first time the driver (Green flag used a local garage) shot past me albeit I was waving, he turned round about ten minutes later and would you
believe shot past me again. After I contacted Green flag again he evenutally found me. Then he towed me to a Volvo garage even though there was a Vauxhall one 200 yards further on (I was driving a Vauxhall) But this experience was a "one off" Green flag
are excellent.0 -
We are also with Green Flag through the Caravan Club, and on Sunday the 12th May, we broke down on the M1 on our way to Henley On Thames, we were nearly at the Leicester Forest turn off. A very helpful guy from G F, was with us in about an hour,loaded the
car on the back of is truck, the caravan on is hitch, and in 2 hours we were back home, he offered to take us to our holiday destination, and collect us when our stay was over, when we arrived home he said, G F, would come to our home the next day and take
our car to the garage for repaire,that wasnt needed, but what a great service, well done Green Flag.0 -
We have been with Green Flag/ Mayday for 29 years. I think that's when it was first available as Mayday. Our main reason for changing from AA/RAC was that the other 2 main organisations cannot cover the length of a twin axle caravan. Yes they would tow it if your car broke down but they couldn't recover it if the caravan had an issue as they have a maximum length restriction which I believe still applies to this day. Whenever we have needed them they have been great.
Recently a friend who we were with broke down (solo) late at night (11pm) and we had to wait 2 hours for the RAC. The next day a friend travelling to our rally had a puncture on the caravan and called Green Flag who were there in 20 mins. I wouldn't change to any other recovery service even though our car is double covered by Land Rover Assist at the moment.
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You have me to thank in no small part, as in 3 separate breakdowns Greenflag turned up to rescue me with their towball not compatible with my Alko Hitch. This happened a few years ago and each time I had to educate them that most new caravans now had a different
hitch. It took them far too long to learn. I am now with RAC.0 -
We've gone with Mayday as no size restriction - asked Green Flag directly but they do have a size restriction. Hope never to use them but useful to have.
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I have joined mayday today as new to caravaning wanted to have the right cover have been with AA for 8 years but they didn't offer the same service as mayday looking at the previous posts should be in safe hands if we need them.cheaper than AA & RAC to.
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I have just had a bad experiace with Mayday. I was staying on a CL in Norfolf when I was taken ill I was taken to Kings lynn hospital had an operation and was later discharged after a week with a catheter fitted. After paying for extra care since 1986
I thought it was going to be money well spent. How wrong can you be. I was told that if it was the car or van in trouble they would help me get home. When I stated that it was me in dire trouble I was told I had to provide proof that I was ill. I was not
in a stae to argue so finished up driving myself hoe ( 100 miles ) in the state I was in .Ok you may think that I should have got a letter from the hospital but taking it a step further what would happen if you were on the roads at 2am and you feel ill. Not
going to see a doctor there are you. If they were to say we will give you help but you must prove within 14 days that you needed the help and if you cannot give a satifactory reason then you will pay the costs involved That would be fair enough. I am disgusted
with Greenflag and since this episode I have found out that the RAC have no limits what so ever on what they retrieve. They may be dearer but at least they do help you when its needed0 -
I had problems with my clutch last Feb (2013) I'd arrived at a CL near Ashington so managed to get the van sited. I then called Green Flag and arranged a pick up of my car. As I was not too far from home I was able to borrow my daughter's car whilst I had
a new clutch fitted - problem solved! Hmm apart from a £680 bill for the clutch! Green Flag were great and I'm glad I'm a member. It would have cost more than the membership to have my car recovered!!!0 -
I have been with Green Flag for about twenty years in which time I have only had to call them out three times. The service was fast and efficient on all occasions.I have just bought a new car with 12 months free AA cover but having had trouble with the AA
years ago I am going to stay on with Green Flag,it's worth being with them just for the peace of mind.0
