I don’t post much on here,but I’d like to share my Saturday night/Sunday morning experience,because it all went so horribly,and expensively, pear-shaped.FYI I run 3 different makes of truck,we have accounts with dealers/agents of all 3 manufacturers,+ DKV.Our maintenance is done by a local feller but all our parts are bought,(on account),from the said dealers/agents,accounts always settled on time.We don’t carry spares or major tools,in the event of a breakdown we call out either the manufacturers network for mechanicals or DKV.Never had a problem before,always paid on time,every time.When opening an account we are always asked for a “GOP”,(Guarantee of Payment).Normally about £750 as this covers most situations.
Anyway,Saturday night,on the A1 near Peterborough,my fanbelt broke.Got a bit of time in hand,so called the manufacturers,( *****UK), assistance line.Gave them all the details,and waited.
He calls back.“Sorry Sir,our Agent says he’s never heard of your firm,so we cannot assist”.I tell him the Account number,the date we opened the account,and ask him to check again.This time he says they have heard of us,but only as a customer of our maintenance bloke,and they won’t offer assistance.Obviously someone has made a mistake somewhere,this truck has been in to that Agent for wok to be done on occasion,all our MOTs are done there etc,but what the hey, [zb] happens.So I offer a credit card guarantee.“No,can’t take that”.Cash then? I’m only 40 miles from home,or the missus could run the moolah round to our Agent only one mile from our house?.“No,we won’t take cash payment”
Hmmmmm…
(Times getting on now,so I ring a mate to come and take my trailer to load it for me).No point in arguing with the bloke @ *****UK,so I decide to call DKV and let them sort it out.(As a LTD company we have to have a large amount of cash deposited with them,their rules)
DKV say no problem,we’ll get someone out to you.
An hour or so later,I’m informed that ***UK Assistance have put DKV on stop,and therefore there is no breakdown assistance throughout Gt Britain for anyone driving that make of truck,who is to intending to pay via DKV Breakdown…blimey…
As you can imagine,I’m getting a tad irritated by now,so my missus calls DAid.Despite it not being a DF,the kind lady says not to worry,it’s going to be sorted,and dispatches a fitter tout-suite
An hour later,fitter has arrived,had a quick look,fan belt has broken,and the tensioner pulley is a bit worn and might be worth replacement as well,and he’ll go and do his best to get the parts as quickly as possible.
Half-hour goes by,he calls me and says that *****UK don’t do a parts call-out ,so they are going to send a fitter with the belt from Milton Keynes.There might be a delay because *UK have to check that DAid have a valid account and are good for the money…
Eventually,I have a DAid fitter,a ***UK Assistance fitter, and two brightly illuminated vans,who take a no more than 10-15 minutes to fit a new fan belt and tensioner…
Of course,it’s explained to me that I’m going to be paying two call-outs,plus parts,plus the 3 hours or so since the DAid fitter arrived.Oh yeah,and ***UK have already gleefully assured DAid that the bill from them will be,“between £300 and £500”,so they should make sure I’m good for the money.Nice that they care so much.
Anyway,I’m going to try to get to the bottom of this with a letter to *****UK.We’ve never had this much hassle to get breakdowns sorted,even in Eastern Europe.
To me,It sounds like our Agents fitter didn’t want to come out,it being a Saturday night etc,but if thats the case they should say so and send someone else.
Or maybe the Agent doesn’t think we should get assistance because we don’t spend enough with him.
The missus is going to bowl round there this morning with all their statements,Invoices,copy of the account application we filled out etc,and ask why they denied knowing us.
If anyone’s interested,I’ll let you know what that they say.
L
that was a disgusting way they have replied to you problem after you being a customer
of there’s and having a record of being a Good payer of all bills sent to you, Daf AID
deserve a letter of appreciation on the way they helped unlike some one else,
wish you luck with your visit to the low life company
Simple answer is to buy more DAF 
i once called DAFAid out to an Iveco when i could not get hold of anyone from Iveco 
, the guy who answered the phone was a little confused at first, but after i explained, an engine is an engine to him, he sent someone out 
brit pete:
that was a disgusting way they have replied to you problem after you being a customer
of there’s and having a record of being a Good payer of all bills sent to you, Daf AID
deserve a letter of appreciation on the way they helped unlike some one else,
wish you luck with your visit to the low life company
I’ m not going to diss them or criticize until I hopefully find out what went wrong.I regret putting my own reasoning on the first post,I wish I’d just stated the facts and left it at that for the time being.After all,It could be just a case of poor communication between the Assistance office and the firm we have an account with,so it’s wrong to apportion blame until it’s certain who is at fault.I’m p*ssed off that something fairly simple is going to cost so much,but even more so that I wasn’t personally able to do the job I had agreed to do.I’ve got no affinity or relationship with DAF apart from being a customer,but I have to say that they always seem to pull the rabbit out of the hat,and they will indeed get a letter of appreciation from me
As for the who/what/where/how,I’ll post it on here as and when I know for sure,and then everyone can make their own mind up.
Regardless of all that I do feel I was given the [zb] end of the stick…it will certainly hurt paying for the privilege as well…
Wheel Nut:
Simple answer is to buy more DAF
you beat to that one daf aid a bit dear but very good
R975ENC:
Wheel Nut:
Simple answer is to buy more DAFyou beat to that one daf aid a bit dear but very good
Every mans meat and all that. I was told in 1973 that DAFAID was the best recovery or breakdown service and it was proved when a 2600 burnt a clutch out in Germany. I have never changed my mind from that day. It sticks in my mind because I was the one who made the first call when I was 14 
as long as you have an account with a daf dealer it does not matter what make of truck or trailer you have daf aid will attend
what a bummer and on a sat night to, you have my sympathy mate, its days/nights like that, that would make some just throw in the towel
Right,here’s the update:
I went round to the local Agent clutching my original account application from 2008 and a copy of last months statement.Service manager confirmed that I had an account with them,and listened to my tale of woe.He said he’d look into it.Got a call from him later in the day.Apparently,Saturday night *****UK Assistance had spoken to the Proprietor,who said he had never heard of us.When they called him again,he called up his workshop manager,who told him he only knew us as a Customer of our maintenance bloke.WM says he tried to call our maintenanance bloke,(he was away otherwise I would have got him to come out himself!),but no reply.So no banana.
Then I’m told that proprietor/workshop manager wouldn’t give the ok for payment guarantee because,“my account only covers parts and labour from them,not assistance”.So now I have to give a written assurance that in the event I’m unhappy with any work carried out by *****UK Assistance,I’ll still pay the bill to the local Agent. 
Never had to do that before,whenever I’ve opened an account with a franchised Dealer or Agent I’ve always been able to access the breakdown services.
C’est la vie…although I haven’t yet found out why *****UK wouldn’t accept DKV,or why I couldn’t pay with cash or credit card guarantee,(Service manager couldn’t understand that either).All a bit of a b*ll ache tbh…If,like me,you rely on the services of a manufacturers breakdown network,it might be worth making a call to your Home Dealer,check that you’re not going to be let down in this manner…
Name and shame them, the manufacturer, not the dealer, but you could if you wished.
This way, others with that make of truck could check their cover
i drive for a firm that is just about 100% merc axors,apart from a few mega milage dafs,kept because they are very reliable,unlike the mercs! .we have instructions on any breakdown with the mercs or any trailer we are pulling to call dafaid because the merc breakdown cover is crap,and so far dafaid have never let us down.
shuttlespanker:
Name and shame them, the manufacturer, not the dealer, but you could if you wished.This way, others with that make of truck could check their cover
And its the only way we’re going to get better service from the [zb]s, exposure on here as well as Rikki’s weekly report in CM , as once one gets away with it the rest will follow, they’d all rather everyone be on contract hire/full r&m to keep their profits up 
shuttlespanker:
Name and shame them, the manufacturer, not the dealer, but you could if you wished.This way, others with that make of truck could check their cover
Putting my detectives hat on could it be Scania■■?
Ben9:
shuttlespanker:
Name and shame them, the manufacturer, not the dealer, but you could if you wished.This way, others with that make of truck could check their cover
Putting my detectives hat on could it be Scania■■?
If the OP has used the correct number of stars for letters in the make, then no, it would either be Volvo or Iveco
shuttlespanker:
Ben9:
shuttlespanker:
Name and shame them, the manufacturer, not the dealer, but you could if you wished.This way, others with that make of truck could check their cover
Putting my detectives hat on could it be Scania■■?
If the OP has used the correct number of stars for letters in the make, then no, it would either be Volvo or Iveco
That I didn’t notice, was the mention of MK.
Ben9:
shuttlespanker:
Ben9:
shuttlespanker:
Name and shame them, the manufacturer, not the dealer, but you could if you wished.This way, others with that make of truck could check their cover
Putting my detectives hat on could it be Scania■■?
If the OP has used the correct number of stars for letters in the make, then no, it would either be Volvo or Iveco
That I didn’t notice, was the mention of MK.
Sorry, after reading it several times, I can’t find any reference to MK anywhere 
dieseldan340:
,so they are going to send a fitter with the belt from Milton Keynes.
Heres the MK Quote…
scottishcruiser:
dieseldan340:
,so they are going to send a fitter with the belt from Milton Keynes.Heres the MK Quote…
Mercedes Benz head office and parts operation is at MK, so is Scoda,
The fitter could be coming from Egertons recovery, Volvo Truck and Bus or it could be Brian Currie DAF.
Or it could be that it doesn’t really matter and I would purchase my next truck form their least favourite competitor. 
scottishcruiser:
dieseldan340:
,so they are going to send a fitter with the belt from Milton Keynes.Heres the MK Quote…
in my defence, i was reading it on the screen of a phone 