Kudos to Coach-Net

[Mike in GA]

En route home from a splendid summer in New Hampshire we camped in a grassy PA campground that had gotten soaked during recent tropical storms, but had dried out - or appeared to be. Second night there another gully washer come through, and in the morning I knew it was going to be tough getting out.
   Long story short, we bogged down, even though I had drained the tags. Called Coach-Net, and within 45 minutes they were there with a humongous wrecker and a long cable. Savvy operator, quick work, and no charge. My first experience with them.
   In thinking over my preparedness for soft ground, I wished I had brought boards to place under the drive tires.
   What kind of such gear do Board Members pack along for such emergencies? (Other than the common sense of choosing higher, dryer ground, of course!)
Mike in GA

[jjrbus]

Circular saw!  Wood can usually be found almost anyplace. Last resort buy it.

                                                                                                    JIm

[boxcarOkie]

Good for you!  What a difference in service from one coast to the other.  FMCA had a rally, believe it was in Hutchinson Kansas, and it rained biblical proportions and they were yanking multi-dollar motorhomes and buses out of there with tractors for days afterword.

BCO

[Hi yo silver]

I carry a couple of pieces of fiberglass grating. It available, sometimes as scrap, in small pieces.
Dennis

[luvrbus]

Old carpet cut 2 ft wide is the thing us beach bums use wet wood and rubber really don't like each other

good luck

[belfert]

Coach-Net contracts with thousands of service providers to actually provide the services as necessary.  Coach-Net is merely contacting a service provider and paying for their service.  The hope is that they have a list of good service providers, but they are bound to have a dud or two.

I don't expect coach-Net to go out and personally visit every service provider to determine if they are qualified or not.  The cost of the coverage would be double or triple if they did that.

[Busted Knuckle]

Coach-Net contracts with thousands of service providers to actually provide the services as necessary.  Coach-Net is merely contacting a service provider and paying for their service.  The hope is that they have a list of good service providers, but they are bound to have a dud or two.

I don't expect coach-Net to go out and personally visit every service provider to determine if they are qualified or not.  The cost of the coverage would be double or triple if they did that.

Brian,
When I was still in the towing industry we were authorized vendors for Coach-net and ALL the others too (All State, AAA RV +, Good Sams, Amoco, Progressive, you name 'em) we did work for them. Coach-net, AAA, & Progressive were the top 3 as far as we were concerned in # of calls, $, and level of service (customer & vendor both!)

While 60% of the companies annual income came from AAA only about 10% of that came from AAA RV +. But as far as the $ for providing services to RV's & coaches.

Coach-net was by far hands down the best we dealt with on our end. They paid us X amount of $ from the time we left the shop, until we returned to the shop depending on what size truck we sent & whether we sent 1 or 2 operators in the truck. (they never set a time limit, and always gave us a "pre-approved" PO # for the job along with directions, contact info, situation, & instructions as to what they expected from us. Plain and simple go do the job, get paid and everybody happy.

AAA RV + paid up to X amount of $ for a job and told us up front here is what we will cover and the rest is on the customer. Well we always did what we could (even if it wasn't AAA RV +'s "policy") to accommodate the customer as much as we could with-in the $ boundary set by AAA RV +)

Amoco, All State, Progressive were all the same and outfit and pretty much paid a discount rate for as many hrs. as it took to do the job.

But I can assure you any vendors in any populated area are visited by a representative of the "club" and inspected as for the size, quality, and skill level of the equipment & operators by all the major players before even being offered a contract to sign. 

I know that on more than one occasion I had these "reps" ride along with me in the large wrecker and interview me while watching me preform my duties whether it be tow a tractor trailer, to jump start a Volkswagen. They didn't stage any "calls" for their club to see how we handled things, they just made arrangements with our boss to spend a day or 1/2 day in the truck with an operator of each qualifying truck being signed on. (sometimes they would get lucky and get to go on a call for their club, but not often)

And many of the others we provided service to would just call and tell us we got a such & such broke down in your area can you help us? And then they would do their best to negotiate as low a price possible before giving a SO # (service order #) and then when the job was done the driver or dispatch had to call in and get a PO#.

But as I said COACH NET & AAA RV + & Progressive all had reps visit us before entering into service agreements with us. (they set up several providers in each region/area and then call whoever ranked highest first and on down the line after that until they had someone able to assist in a timely manner.)

So no the cost is not prohibitive to check out the majority of service providers when you  consider the # of customers they have. & It's $ in the bank to make sure the one's approved are qualified and have the necessary equipment to do the job right.
  BK 

[belfert]

Obviously I was wrong here.  I really didn't think Coach-Net would spend the money to have someone spend a day with each service provider.  That is a lot of money to spend.  If they have 5,000 providers they could easily spend $1 million if they visited each one just once.

If they inspected that guy BCO got they either didn't do a good inspection or things changed for the worse after the inspection.

[Busted Knuckle]

Brian,
If they have 4-8 guys on the payroll who's jobs are to do just that vendor evaluation it really doesn't cost that much. And in more rural areas they may not have been as picky finding qualified help as much as "just someone to send"

Of course ya also have to take into consideration that I'm talking 10-15 yrs ago as I have been out of it for 8 yrs now!

Also you'd be surprised at how many members, subscribe to the services and never use them. (it does add up)
But on the other hand there are some who look @ ERS as a substitute for routine maintenance too and call on a regular basis.
  BK