bjstanley

I wanted to post an update to my OP. As suggested, I did contact the road assistance plan provider to see what my options were and was transferred to a very helpful claims employee who provided me with all necessary forms to complete and return. I am happy to report that I received in the mail yesterday a check for full reimbursement of the towing bill. My experience suggests as others have mentioned, if you need assistance and do not received a satisfactory first response, call again and ask for a supervisor that may have the authority to make the necessary arrangements outside of their normal network of providers. In my case, I was fortunate to make a call to a Cummins repair facility that would work me in and then also could suggest an appropriate towing company.

One of the reasons why we've carried FMCA RR for many years was just for an instance like this-700 miles from home and no idea where we might be able to find help. Knowing that a dispatcher would be available from FMCA RR 24/7 and that they would be able to use their resources to make a contact necessary to help us was apparently a mistaken assumption in this case. Fortunately the Cummins dealer I called was a big help when I had to make my own arrangements. Without that assistance, I'm not too sure how this would have turned out. After I finally made my own call to a towing company and made the arrangements (to the company that I had given FMCA RR the information for), I returned the call back to FMCA RR to find out what my recourse was. The RR Agent again apologized for not being able to help and said there was nothing they could do. I asked about reimbursement for towing and the Agent said that I would have to write the company and see if there was any possibility and that there was nothing further that they could do. At that point, I really didn't care what it was going to cost us in the end as by that time, my experience with FMCA RR was clouding my judgement. So, in the contract apparently, it should read "we'll try to find you help with one of out network providers but if they are not available/capable, you're on your own"? I guess the clause that reads, "Services are not available where state providers are exclusively utilized" should have been my clue. Ask to talk to a supervisor when the Agent can't help you it seems. There may be reimbursement if I file a complaint it sounds like but, reimbursement was really not the main reason we've used FMCA RR for years. All I really wanted was someone to help by making one call to the 800 number in our time of need.

50 miles west of Casper, WY on Wednesday of this week with a Cummins "engine shut down" countdown message decreasing from 30 seconds on the dash display, I fortunately found a reasonable shoulder on the highway to pull our coach over before all power was lost. By the way, this was not a de-rate but a total engine shutdown message so I had little time to get off the roadway in a somewhat safe manner! Thankfully we had cell service so my first call was to the Cummins Dealer in Casper to see if they would be able to work on our coach and the service manager agreed to work us in within a few days if we had it towed there. They recommended 2 local towing companies that would be capable of towing our coach. We've been enrolled with FMCA Roadside Rescue for many years and thankfully, have never had to use them so was glad that this service was available to us in our time of need. The call to the 800 number went well and the dispatcher said that we should have a truck enroute in moments and sent a text message that would allow me to track their progress which is of great comfort. I gave them the information for the local tow companies that was given to me by the Cummins Dealer. All is working as it should then the problems started. No updates for over an hour until finally Roadside Rescue called back and said, "Sorry, we cannot help you so we have called non-emergency 911 for you". WHAT! The caller said that they had called "many services and no one can tow you and she repeated, Sorry but we can't do anything else". That's not what a member needs to hear when an emergency occurs. I immediately called one of the companies recommended by the Cummins dealer and the call screener promptly replied, "we can help. I'll have a truck enroute within minutes". It was nearly 6 hours later when we finally arrived at the Cummins lot in Casper with the towing company and our coach after that first call to FMCA and we were glad that at least we were safe but really wondering why FMCA failed us. The tow driver did an exceptional job and we are extremely pleased with their service. Not so much with FMCA Roadside Rescue. If I had not already given them the appropriate information for local companies that could handle our coach, I can understand why perhaps FMCA (VAS) could not reach a provider but it appears as if that was not the case. Here our coach sits, nearly 700 miles from home with us wondering, why did FMCA Roadside Rescue drop the ball? We are not happy with FMCA Roadside Rescue and from our experience, cannot recommend this "benefit". FMCA Member #F497615