Someone's got it in for me!!

[Danno13]

I'm not having much luck at the moment!!!

Last night, 8 miles from my venue, my 3 week old van (from a dealer, complete with warranty etc.) decides to die on me! AA say they can't get there until five past 7, and I'm supposed to be setup for 7!!

Its an overheating issue (fan belt by the looks of it..) so I had to do fractions of a mile at a time, as slow as possible in high gear before it dies again. Then wait a couple of minutes for it to cool down.. then the same again, all the time dreading the big puff of smoke from under the bonnet!

So it takes me 40 minutes to do the last 8 miles, arrived at 6.45 (planned time 6pm) rush in and setup by 7.20pm. Venue had rang whilst I was on the way, so I'd explained to them the problem, B&G were very relaxed about it and hadn't panicked (unlike me!) I didn't cause too much disruption, as the first dance wasn't till 8pm and they were all in another room! Venue staff were fantastic and understanding and even helped with the load in!

Meanwhile, an AA patrol is out looking for me, and I don't pick up the message until I'm able to go outside as there's no signal in this venue whatsoever! 7.15, they'd left a message saying they'd had to give up, despite me telling the AA that I was on the way to Eastnor and that's where I'd be if they couldn't find me on the road!

Gig goes fairly well, couple of dead spots which I put down to there being too many rooms for people to dissapear off to! 70s disco, indie and rock (GnR, Bryan adams etc.) were the biggest floorfillers. Valerie absolutley bombed, despite being requested.

Anyhow, I finish at midnight and the venue kindly let me use the kitchen phone to ring the AA, I wait in a queue for 20mins before deciding to just get packed up first and then worry about it. So by the time the vans loaded its ten past one, call them back and get straight through. No problem, the same people from earlier should be on their way. So I hang around with the venue staff until its time for them to leave, then wait outside (where luckily I have one bar of signal!)

It gets to half 2, so ring the AA again and get cut off mid call. So I drove down to the end of the drive, where I have full signal and ring them back. They try and fob me off that my report wasn't registered properly as I must have got cut off - I remind them that I called from a landline and didn't get cut off, and they'd assured me someone was on the way!

Nevertheless, they have to arrange another company to come out. They ring me at 3.15 to confirm I'm still at the same place. They'll be an hour, as they're coming from Kidderminster :bang: So I got a bit of sleep in the van, and eventually they turn up at 4.10am and I'm home by 5.15am, bed by half past and woken up at 11.30 :mad:

This job isn't supposed to be so stressfull!!!

[theoloyla]

Oh Danno, Hard luck mate. I've had similar but not for a very long time thank goodness.

[Adam_F]

Don't sound like your having much luck at the moment!

[Danno13]

Nope!

Oh.. and sod's law of course dictates that this week is my busiest of the year, with gigs on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday!!!

[Shaun]

WOW!. Sounds like a stressful evening, Dan. I hope you're settling down to a well deserved couple of :beer1: :beer1: 's tonight.

[Danno13]

This is also the same van thats just had to have £1k of body repair done to it (had to claim on the insurance, so also lost my no claims) as I managed to carve out a nice dent in the door, whilst pulling off my own drive!!

And yes, :beer1: :beer1: :beer1: :beer1: is definitley in order!!

[Mission]

Unlucky that.

Luckily, you got there even though it took that long. If it had completely broken down then, the situation would of been a lot worse.

Hopefully it won't happen again but if you or any other local Discos find themselves in the same situation, it may be worth a call in case one of us could help ferry the equipment to the booking.

[Danno13]

Cheers Tony, yep I didn't almost start the ring around, but thought that by the time anyone else could get to Eastnor, I could have struggled there myself in the heap.. sorry, van.

Worst case scenario would have been waiting for the AA to come at 7.05 and being towed there, which would have meant an hour late start, but I only know two other DJs who live close to this venue and thereby got there quicker, and I knew they were both booked! I suppose this is the problem with covering a large area.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

What van did you get in the end then Dan?

[Adam_F]

What van did you get in the end then Dan?

A broken one by the sound of it :eek:

[djsteve10]

Hi Dan,
At christmas time my mate who i work with quite abit had a problem with the electrics on his van and it wouldn't start for him, I was due to be working with him that night and he lives around 25 minutes from me and the venue is about 15 mins from me, He was waiting for the AA so between us we decided i would take my kit out as it is almost identical to his, I got the venue set all the equipment up and started the background music while he was being dealt with by the AA, he arrived at the venue at around 10pm just in time to start the disco with me but with no van, turned out that the van electrics kept thinking it had a flat battery. So i guess us working together that night was a god send really just incase one of the vehicles decides not to work.

[Danno13]

Its a new shape transit Darren, 52 plate, 65k on the clock. Thought I'd splash out as the old one was getting to the stage when it could become unreliable... just goes to show!

[Charlie Brown]

Hmm bad luck mate,

I have never thought what I would do if the car broke down.....

I think you should get some rest...:)

[UltraBeat Entertainment]

Bad luck mate.

Did you read my thread a few months ago about my old midi overheating and cooked the engine. Lets just say he's been put to rest now:rolleyes:

At least all repairs will be done for you as it's still under warranty. just hope it's up and running for your gig on Tuesday.

[Danno13]

Well a quick update.. rang the garage at 9.30, by 11, they sent a trailor over to pickup the van. Its the tensioner thats broken, which caused the fan belt to go, just have to wait till midday tommorow so they can get the part and fit it. So, will have the van for tommorows gig, which is a relief!

[Penfold42]

Glad to hear you got it sorted....:)

[Shaun]

So, will have the van for tommorows gig, which is a relief!


That's good news indeed. Glad to hear you'll be all sorted for tomorrow's gig, Dan.

[soundtracker]

So, will have the van for tommorows gig, which is a relief!

I shall in that case stand down the emergency back-up!:)

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I shall in that case stand down the emergency back-up!:)

Your bike wouldn't have been much good anyway Pete. :p

[soundtracker]

Your bike wouldn't have been much good anyway Pete. :p

Don't you believe it, its amazing how much I can get in those panniers!:D

[theoloyla]

You got the van back yet Danno?

[soundtracker]

He'll have gone by now Theo, he was off to Drayton Manor - fair old trip for him!

[theoloyla]

Lets hope so then.

[Andy Westcott]

This is serious stuff.

I recently joined the AA, but if the service is as poor as you indicate, I am going to have to reconsider, as I need a recovery service who can guarantee to get me to the venue in good time, not 3 hours late.

Anyone else have any experiences of the AA - good or bad?

[Danno13]

They're usually OK, though the last time I used them was at Christmas, when I had a headlight issue with my van, they sent a truck that wasn't capable of towing the thing!!! So whilst I was waiting for another one to arrive, I managed to bodge the headlights so they stayed on and drove home myself!

And yep, the garage delivered the van back to me at 1.30pm, left at 4.10pm, arrived Drayton manor at 5.40pm with no issues, only took an hour to get back, as the M42 wasn't jam packed!

Had a fantastic gig too, no doubt will post some photos tommorow!

[Impactdisco]

This is serious stuff.

Anyone else have any experiences of the AA - good or bad?

Yes I was involved in a six car pile up in a hire car with my family when my sons were aged 5 & 18 months. This was at around 1pm

The car was covered by the AA. I was towed away from the crash scene by a local breakdown service to a local garage after the police called them in.
Fortunately none of us were injured. It was around 6.30pm when the AA turned up to deal with us. They were supposed to take us back to the Weymouth (where I live - and hired the car). We were in Winchester when the car crash occurred.

The car hire firm had their main offices in Bournemouth, and the AA man said he would take the car there. When I asked if he would take us back to Weymouth he replied 'No'. He then promptly loaded the car onto the back of his truck, and left us on the garage fourecourt!

2 things are important here.

1) We had two small children with us and it took the AA over 2 hours to get to us. Admittedly it took 2 and a half hours to get us away from the accident scene to the garage. At the time the AA were advertising on TV that if you had small children, they would get to you as quickly as possible. Having used a breakdown service on three occasions since then, the AA took longer to get to us that anyone else in the other situations.

2) We were left stranded, 70 miles from home at 7 o'clock at night. I had to phone my brother in law and get him to come out and pick us up and take us home. The only problem was that he had to come from East London to get us.
By the time he got to us, it was 9.30pm which meant we had been sat on a garage forecourt with two small children for around 3 hours. We eventually got home around 11pm. My brother in law got home around 2 the following morning.

We made numerous complaints about to the AA about their customer service and 3 months later got a cheque from them for £18 as compensation.

What do I think of the AA? - Utter rubbish and wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.

[rob1963]

I've never been a member of a breakdown organisation, as I know people who I could ring that would come out & tow me to a gig or home, or give me a lift, and also know a good mobile mechanic who can often come out to me the same day.

I've also never had problems arranging someone to take me to or pick me up from a gig when I have van problems.

This happened last Thursday when I had water pouring out & the mechanic couldn't come to fix it until Friday.

At the last minute I managed to arrange for my Dad to take me to the quiz & for a friend to pick me up afterwards.

However, for the sake of only £30 or £40 a year, I've recently been toying with the idea of joining one of the breakdown services.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Be very careful when buying breakdown cover as there are companies that have clauses in their T&Cs that say they won't cover you if you work in the entertainment industry.

I've been with the AA for 10 years and have found them generally good on the last couple of times, but that was over 5 years ago.

Since I bought my van, I've also bought a 'backup' van policy which was around £50.

[soundtracker]

Since I bought my van, I've also bought a 'backup' van policy which was around £50.

Was that from the AA Daz?

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Was that from the AA Daz?

No, it was an online company for about £50. I'll have to try and dig the details out, but it was specifically for vans.

[rob1963]

Be very careful when buying breakdown cover as there are companies that have clauses in their T&Cs that say they won't cover you if you work in the entertainment industry.


Thanks for the advice Darren.

:)

[theoloyla]

I've never been a member of a breakdown organisation, as I know people who I could ring that would come out & tow me to a gig or home, or give me a lift, and also know a good mobile mechanic who can often come out to me the same day.

I've also never had problems arranging someone to take me to or pick me up from a gig when I have van problems.

This happened last Thursday when I had water pouring out & the mechanic couldn't come to fix it until Friday.

At the last minute I managed to arrange for my Dad to take me to the quiz & for a friend to pick me up afterwards.

However, for the sake of only £30 or £40 a year, I've recently been toying with the idea of joining one of the breakdown services.
If you take that gig in Stratford On Avon you were on about you had better join one. I used to belong to the AA but switched some years ago to the RAC who I find much better. The very best deal is to collect Tesco points and convert them to an RAC deal. £30 of clubcard points gives you the all singing all dancing full RAC membership which gets you and your vehicle completely covered.