I am sorry to report that my first experience with the BCAA Bike Assist Program was deeply disappointing. Imagine if you paid your BCAA fees dutifully for years, seldom or never using it. Then one rainy morning your beautiful, expensive car got a flat. Then when the BCAA technician arrived to fix it, he smiled ruefully and said, “Gee, I haven’t touched a car since I was this high” – holding out his hand to indicate a six-year-old. Then he said, “I haven’t actually got any tools for cars, and I’ve never been trained to fix the things, but I’ll take a crack at it. Maybe I can figure it out.” Then, after an hour or so of head scratching, he put the wrong size wheel on the car, causing you to break down again 4 km down the road.
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In this situation, I guess you’d conclude that you’d been horribly deceived by a company falsely claiming to be an automobile emergency service. But of course, nothing like this could possibly happen, could it?
Well actually, this is pretty much exactly what happened to me this morning, when I tried to use BCAA’s much-vaunted Bike Assist Program for the first time. I kept my BCAA membership when I gave up my car, precisely because of the promises of this Program. So when I sprang a flat on my way to work, and found that I had neither tools nor spare tube with me, I was unperturbed. Finally, my investment in the BCAA was going to pay off! Yeah, right.
My first clue should have been when I placed the roadside assistance call. I repeatedly told the polite woman on the other side that I needed help with my bike. She repeatedly asked me for the year and make of my vehicle. It was like she was simply unable to process the word “bike.” I thought of telling her my “vehicle” is a 2009 Devinci Sydney hybrid commuter, but I was pretty sure this would make as much sense to her as if I had suddenly recited the Lord’s Prayer in Swahili. So eventually I just said, as politely as possible through gritted teeth:
“I’m going to spell something for you, OK? B-I-C-Y-C-L-E. What does that spell?
“Bicycle? Bicycle! OH, you’re phoning about a bicycle!”
Bingo!
After that auspicious start, things just got worse. The technician who was sent out to help me had no training whatsoever. He did not know even know that he should look on the tire to find the tube size! Then he could not decide whether it was safe to use a different sized tube, and phoned his supervisor, who apparently told him it would be just fine. Yeah, right.
But wait – not only did the technician have no training, but he also had no tools. No pump suitable for bicycles. Precisely three tubes, all of which were suitable for road bikes, not for commuting hybrids. A couple of plastic tire levers, one of which broke in half almost immediately. And here’s the kicker – he didn’t have a bike rack on his van, so not only could he not fix my bike, but he also could not transport me and my bike to a bike shop. I find this odd, seeing as BCAA states on its website:
“If you live in Metro Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna or Kamloops, our trained technicians will respond to Bike Assist calls. Our fleet of trucks are also outfitted with racks for bike transport”
OK, so not trained, and no racks in sight. The poor guy tried – I have no beef with him. I do have a serious beef with the company that has been taking my money while promising a service it cannot deliver. After breaking one tube and one valve, the technician managed to get a tube and valve onto the rim in one piece. Then he discovered he had no pump with a Schrader fitting, and in any case was afraid that his car tube pump would explode the tube. He borrowed my tiny Blackburn, but made little progress. Then I pointed out to him that the tiny brass thing in his sad, sad little package of bike spare parts was a valve adaptor. He clearly didn’t believe me, but indulged me by trying it out. To his surprise and delight, it was in fact a valve adaptor, and so he was able to carefully blow up my tube with a few tentative squeezes from his hydraulic pump.
At this point I asked him if he had ever had any training on fixing bikes, given that BCAA is actively promoting the Bike Assist Program.
He laughed as if this was a novel idea, and told me that none of the technicians has had any training, but that this does not matter, as they don’t get many calls for Bike Assist anyway. He also told me that he thought Bike Assist didn’t start until the summer … which is most certainly not what BCAA says in its advertising or on its website. Imagine offering a roadside assistance service and then adding “But if you break down in the wrong month, you’re SOL!” I told him I doubted this was true, as I was under the impression that I was paying my annual fee for the entire year, not just for a random part of it.
I really love this next part: the technician then charged me $15 for selling me the wrong tube, and went on his merry way. I tried to get to work, but within 4 km the tube was flat again. I had to push the bike the remaining 4 km.
I took the bike to Jubilee Cycles, who did a great job, of course. They advised that the tube sold to me by BCAA had collapsed within minutes because it was far too skinny to be used in a bike like mine.
I phoned BCAA to complain, and spoke to a very nice woman who clearly had been trained to do her job. She sympathized and sounded horrified, and promised that a supervisor would call me back. I tried very hard to explain to her that my beef is with the company that did not train or equip its worker to live up to the promises in its advertising, not with the hapless technician. I think she got it.
UPDATE: BCAA did get back to me about this post – you can read their response here.
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This is a very good and interesting post – and unfortunate that it had to be written because of a morning of Bad News! Its good to hear about the service – I had just found out about it myself last Fall. At the very least they need to be able to safely a fix a bike for delivery of you and the bike to a bike shop. But better yet, they should ensure they can follow through with what they lead us to believe we receive for our membership.
Hi Paddyanne … yes, unfortunate indeed. I am afraid I believed that they would not offer a service like that without providing the necessary equipment and training to back it up … I guess I am just too trusting …
I wasn’t even aware that BCAA had this service, although that’s probably not surprising since I’ve never been a BCAA member. It sounds like it could be a great service, perfect for new cyclists who aren’t mechanically minded. Hopefully your call will shake them up a bit and get them to “p*ss or get of the pot”, as it were.
I notice from your photo it was your electric bike that was involved, and I see on the BCAA web site that there’s a disclaimer which excludes anything except a “manual” bike – but it’s hard to imagine how that would affect a simple tube replacement.
If nothing else, I think they should refund your $15 for the wrong tube, and I’d expect them to go a fair bit beyond that if they want to erase the negative publicity this is going to earn them via this blog entry (which is already coming up within the top 10 Google search results for “BCAA Bike Assist”).
Good luck on getting this resolved!
Thanks Sean for the good wishes. I expect at the very least to get the $15 back; after all, the tube lasted all of 6 minutes! Also this call-out should not count towards my total (although come to think of it, as the service is completely useless, that would not mean much.) People at work were saying I should get a year’s free membership, but I am sure that won’t happen.
I have not seen that disclaimer, but I imagine it is so they don’t have to have the extra training to deal with assisted bikes. Still, as you say, this was simple – it’s exactly the same as replacing the tube on any other bike. In fact, the thing the technician found extra difficult was the disk brakes, which are found on many standard bikes. All I was expecting was the most basic of training on bike mechanics, but even that was lacking.
Thanks for posting this. I had always wondered if their system worked. Frankly, I am not surprised. The BCAA roadside guys probably know everything there is to know about cars, but it is so typical that this would also imply to BCAA (and to most non-cyclists for that matter) that there is less to know about bikes. Yes, bikes are “easier” to fix than cars, but they still require certain specialized knowledge and tools.
I’m not a pro bike mechanic, but I do all of my own work on my bikes, short of actual frame repair. But when something happens to my bike that I can’t fix (chain breaks & there’s no spare link, or the rim explodes), I just put the bike on a bus and head home.
yeah I signed up again with BCAA after I heard they offered this service. Last winter I had my chance when, in the middle of farmland along Westminster Hwy I got a flat and had left my patch kit at home.
A huge flatbed truck came along, fixed my bike vertically on the flat bed with those truckers’ ties, and drove me into my office. Good service, but I never thought of asking the guy to fix my flat.
I can’t say that I get value from this service (don’t own a car), usually I can fix flats myself. Thought I would just support a good idea. But based on my experience and the comments in this blog its clear they could take the service a bit more seriously.
Glad to hear you had a positive experience, Andrew. I would like nothing more than for this type of venture to be carried out properly and succeed, so it inspires hope to hear that they sometimes get it right.
Thanks for this Joe. I think I’ll start carrying a spare tube for my pedelec.
Good idea Chris. You can bet I won’t be leaving home without spares again – they’re already packed in my pannier!
Hey Joe – Glad to see a report on this as I’ve wondered, and I like that they responded.
Sounds like you’re going to be doing this already, but I have always carried a spare tube, the tools to change a flat and a print out of how to do it. 🙂 The first time I got a flat, I pulled over and had pulled out the tools and the printout, and another cyclist stopped, asked if I needed help, and proceeded to show me how to change the tire using my tools.
Since then, I’ve tried to pay it forward and always ask a cyclist stopped if they have everything they need and have given away 3 spare tubes, and helped change one tire (the other two just needed tubes).
We cyclists are a pretty good group!
Meant to say “I like how they responded even tho their showing up was useless.”
Hi Janine. yeah, I got that! I was very impressed and heartened by their response. I respected the candour and the learn-from-this-and-better-at-it attitude. And my over-arching feeling is that I appreciate that they are trying to do this. I know I run the risk of adopting the attitude seen by many minorities – simply being grateful for ANYthing positive, of for even being noticed. Nonetheless, I think BCAA has shown much more forward-thinkingness than the vast majority of companies by acknowledging cyclists as a demographic worth catering to. And with men like Ken in positions of authority, I feel confident the service will eventually be all we need it to be.
That’s pretty poor on CAA’s part. If they are going to offer a service train your employees! I actually feel bad for the technician mainly because he didn’t have a clue at what to do and lack of tools.
Some of Ontario’s CAA outlets offer the bike assist program and I’ve heard mixed things on it. From similar incidents like yours to amazing service (mostly from the technicians improvising).
Niagara’s CAA doesn’t offer it, however the last person in my house to have a CAA membership was my Dad, which was well over a decade ago.
I carry a patch kit and pump with me at all times and the city offers different locations that have a patch kit available for use. (I’ve changed a million flats over the years :p)
Dear Average Joe Cyclist,
I’m truly sorry about your experience. I know how stressful a breakdown can be and I’m sorry we were unable to provide you with a complete solution. We value your feedback and appreciate you sharing your experience with us as it will help identify where we need to get better.
While all of our Road Assist techs have received basic bicycle repair training, we dare not say we’re bicycle repair experts, at least not yet. Our drivers have received training and carry supplies from a large bicycle manufacturer to address the more common bicycle problems.
Through Bike Assist, we offer to do our best to try and fix the problem and if we can’t, we’ll transport you and your bicycle to a repair shop, home or other location of your choice. Sorry we were unable to completely fix the problem with your bicycle that day and didn’t get a chance to return to take you to a repair shop, which in hindsight, would have been the better solution.
From the very start in 2009, we’ve been serious about providing quality service to our cycling members when we first added Bike Assist as a regular service to the BCAA membership. We partnered with an expert bicycle company, Norco to help us get started and the team at Norco has been an amazing support. The company’s bike experts provided all of our Road Assist techs basic bicycle repair training and helped equip our service trucks with appropriate supplies for common bicycle breakdowns.
In regards to bike racks on our trucks: so far, a few of our trucks have been outfitted with bike racks. And, as we update our fleet of trucks, we’ll install a bike rack on each addition. Meanwhile, we’re still able to safely transport bicycles on any of our service or tow trucks.
We know it’s going to take time for us to gain a high level of expertise in bicycle repair and we’ll continue to work at it. Unfortunately, since BCAA is the first organization in North America to offer this type of service to cyclists we didn’t have any prior experience to draw from.
Thank you again for your feedback. We will review your experience as we’re developing our Road Assist training program.
Sincerely,
Ken Cousin
BCAA Associate Vice President, Road Assist
Hi Ken, thanks for your response and your condolences. I appreciate it. However, I have to point out that the truck that came out to me could not possibly have transported my bike safely … it was a pickup, with the entire back full of tools. And the driver TOLD me he could not transport my bike as he did not have a rack. That’s the reason I did not call back when I broke down 5 minutes later – I did not relish the prospect of ANOTHER 30 minute wait in the cold, only to once more go through the farcical experience of having a technician who could neither fix nor transport the bike.
I do appreciate BCAA’s IDEA to offer Bike Assist – in fact, I applaud it. It just seems that some help is required with the actual execution – and as you say, you are trailblazers in this respect. A number of people on the list serves to which I subscribe, as well as on this blog, have suggested that you enlist the help of the VACC. I think this is an excellent idea – VACC is very good at precisely this kind of educational thing.
By the way, I am happy to hear back from you, as I did NOT get the promised call back from a supervisor – it is starting to look as if the Complaints Dept at BCAA does not take cyclists very seriously. I am somewhat amazed that I did not receive a call from a supervisor offering to at least refund my $15, or better still refund my wasted membership fees. The woman who spoke to me yesterday sounded appalled and assured me that a supervisor would call, but no one has.
I’m with you on that Ryan – I felt bad for the technician the whole time. He was trying so hard, but unfortunately it was crystal clear that he was telling the truth – he really had not touched a bike since he was six. Really not fair on the poor guy to advertise a service, and then dispatch him to carry it out, without giving him even the most basic training.
Interesting to hear about the other CAA outlets. I have such mixed feelings about all this. On the one hand I applaud a company even having the IDEA of doing it – it is so much more common for companies to not even realize that bikes exist. Also, apparently BCAA sponsors Bike Valet, which is an excellent service for cyclists. So I am loath to rain on their parade. But really – it’s not enough to have the idea and advertise it all over the place and take fees from people – you also have to put the dollars into it, which includes training and equipment.
I’l admit I felt suspicious of Bike Assist since it was announced, still I would have thought the mechanics would have received training for the most simple and common bicycle breakdown of all, a puncture.
Having been a BCAA member for many years, and having used their services many times I feel, if you don’t use them, it is a costly membership.
I think a cab to a local shop would be easier, cheaper, and better
You’re right Brad. I think in future I will just call a cab – if I had done that yesterday, I would not have ended up being stuck outside in the cold for more than 2 hours. I left home at 7.30 and only got to work at 10.30 – and only about 15 minutes of that 3 hours was cycling. Of course I was dressed for vigorous exercise, not for standing around, so I was chilled through by the time I got to work. By contrast, if I had called a cab I would probably only have been out of the cold for 10 minutes – and an 8 km cab ride would cost a lot less than my BCAA membership is costing me!
Or even cheaper, walk your bike to the nearest bus route and put it on a rack. It got me back to Burnaby from White Rock once after a sidewall blowout.
Another good idea … the bus route I was close to only runs every 30 minutes, and at the time, I stupidly thought it would be quicker to get a simple flat tire fixed.
I’ve seen a lot of advertising for BCAA’s bike assist program. They sponsor the Bike Valet program in Vancouver. I never thought there service would be so terrible.
I never thought so either Chris – which is why I have the membership. I am really disappointed and sad about it.
Thanks for this post! I have a BCAA membership, but haven’t found a chance to use them for my bike. I now feel reluctant to call them if I did have a problem with my bike. Hopefully they will train their mechanics to service bikes! It’s noted that BCAA is one of Canada’s best managed companies, so come on!
If you ever do call them out dcee, please let me know about it. It would be interesting to hear how they do – good or bad. One poster said they helped him out, so who knows?
Wow. Unbelievable.
Makes for great blogging though… 🙂
I agree with Graeme–suggest that they get employee training through the VACC. They teach group bike maintenance workshops and would be happy to develop a custom course to meet BCAA’s employees needs. http://www.vacc.bc.ca/cycling/cycling.php?pageID=94
Note also that VanCycle and Guywires are two companies that offer mobile bicycle repair for Metro Vancouver.
Unbelievable is a pretty good word for it. as you say, makes for good blogging. I could hardly wait to get home from work and write it up! Normally a writer has to embellish stories a bit to make them interesting, but in this case, every single thing I said was just the plain, unvarnished truth. There was no need for embellishment … just as it is, it sounds more like fiction than fact!
I like the suggestions about the VACC … the VACC is a great resource that helps a lot of companies and individuals.
I’m quite sure that BC’s Consumer Protection laws would fully support you getting your money back, not just a year of free service. You paid for a service. You did not receive said service in any competent fashion, and representatives of the company have admitted that the company made no provisions to possibly be able to provide the service. The company has committed fraud by misrepresenting their ability and intent to provide the service. End of story. I would be pushing for no less than a full refund of any fees you have paid up to this point, as you have not received what you paid for and they would not have a leg to stand on in small claims court, and I’m sure they’re smart enough to understand that. They should consider themselves lucky to not be held accountable for further damages for leaving you stranded.
Those are good points, Paul. I’m not sure I want to take it to those lengths, because I have mixed feelings about it. I applaud the idea, but deplore the execution …
Not to rub it in, but this is exactly why I carry a spare tube, tire patches(not tube patches) and a pump and other small knicknacks. Bicycle shops are few and far between, the bicycle ‘lanes’ are where all of the car accident debris get swept into and most employers are very hostile to people bicycling to work.
I took on temporary work out at The Zone Bowling Centre in Coquitlam. I’ve been cycling back and forth the 25km each day. Haven’t had any flats yet. But when Doug hired me on, he was blown away that someone would even think of bicycling 25km to and from work daily.
It took me three hours to cycle to work two weeks ago when we had that snow fall on Sunday morning. Gave up cycling by Hastings and Main and jumped on a #135 SFU. Driver abandoned the run halfway up Burnaby Mountain. So I got off and rode down the unploughed road toward Galgardi Way. Try that on road slicks sometime. Got to work about 45 minutes late. Kept getting reminded how I could have gotten to work on time had I had a car, just funny how those with cars were just as late as me.
But any ways I digress, back to the topic at hand. I would really recommend carrying around your own tools, a tube, and some tire ‘boot’ patches. As there really aren’t any ‘mobile’ repair services available to the commuter cyclist. I also carry around a chain break tool. These are very easy to use and can save you some grief. Yes, if you snap a chain and put it back together it will be short but that just means that you need to avoid the large chain ring and the large cog combination until you get the chain replaced.
Actually come to think of it, you should avoid that combination any ways.
And after seeing how quickly Shimano pads melt away in the wet weather I always carry a spare set of brake pads. They’re easy to change and very simple to adjust. And when you’re speeding down the hill towards the intersection isn’t the best time to be pondering if now would be the time to install new pads.
Bobbie, you should get some kind of award for getting to work UP Burnaby Mountain in the snow – not have people criticizing you for being late! That’s amazing. I have to say I cannot make it all the way up Bby Mountain in perfect weather: it’s a major climb.
I guess I should carry around tools – I have already packed a tube into my pannier. My problem is I am just useless at all things mechanical – that part of my brain appears to be entirely missing. I did go to Bike Maintenance 101, but I would have to repeat the class again for to have any kind of hope of successfully doing the fixes.
I thankfully cycle routes that are close to public transport for my commutes. Getting somewhere on transit with the bike is always a good option except for travelling on skytrain during rush hour with the rush direction.
The beauty of the bicycle and its rider is that they can repair each other.
A flat kit and the ability to use it is de rigeur.
Do remember that the BCAA is first and foremost an automobile advocacy organization.
To clarify for your tens of readers, The BCAA is a sponsor of B.E.S.T. and their branded program of “The Bike Valet”. Most of the free, supervised bike parking you find at events is staffed and sponsored by volunteer people power, through organizations like the VACC and Velopalooza!