It was the first time I had used GEM, although I have been a member for approx 18 months. I logged the call at 3pm being advised that you aim to respond within 40 minutes but that it could be up to 90 minutes in extreme cases. I was on my own but did not feel in danger, at that time, as it was daylight and I was parked near to my son's house, I obviously could not go into his house due to covid restrictions. My son offered to change the flat tyre but as he has been really ill with a chest infection I could not allow him to do that.I eventually received a call from Beeches at approx 4pm, and was told the driver was in ashby and would not arrive until 5 - 5.30. After this call I rang you to lodge a complaint and I wondered why GEM had chosen a company with only 1 mechanic. I have to say that both calls, to Gem, were handled very well by your staff, they were very friendly and helpful.I was told my complaint would be passed to a supervisor, who called me the next day to take details and inform me that he was looking into this issue. By the time I got the call from Beeches, I was already cold, needed the toilet and was getting quite nervous on my own, as it was now dark. I had to ring my husband to come and sit with me. The mechanic arrived about 5.15 and he was a lovely man, very friendly and changed my flat tyre quite quickly. My first experience of your service has not given me much confidence I would be nervous if I ever needed to use the service again especially if I was somewhere where my husband could not get to me quickly.

Called Gem out for first time.... Call centre Fantastic .... Break down provider, Rubbish..... Said be there in an hour...... Only Fifteen minutes away from where I broke down.... Two and a half hours later and Numerous calls back to Gem, they arrived..... Never mind , sorted now.....

We were pleased with the service organised by yourselves for FUELfixer to get our car back on the road. On 26th I emailed to you copies of our receipts and our bank details to your reimbursement email address, all as requested, to claim a proportion of the £216 paid to the operative. To date we have heard nothing, not even an acknowledgment saying that you have received it or that it is being dealt with. We know these things take time but I would have thought you would have at least done this, surely this is standard business practice?

We did have to wait over an hour but service was good when there

phoned GEM when my car would not start on leaving a sports centre. Explained the issue and was told a pick up would be out within an hour and a half as they felt it would not be something that could be dealt with at the roadside. Obviously I did not know what the issue was but how they could make that decision on the end of a phone is beyond me. The tow truck arrived within time and the driver was very pleasant and helpful and agreed it sounded like a battery issue but because he was only a tow truck he had no way of helping me. We then had to call a roadside assistance vehicle - a wait of a further hour or so. The mechanic got the car started. The battery had run down for no apparent reason and the alternator was also checked and seemed fine. If the mechanic had been sent first I could have been home in daylight alot earlier and without wasting two peoples afternoon. Not impressed at all

We have been members of GEM Breakdown Service for many years and received fantastic service in the past. The additional features of magazine and road safety information are a bonus. Lately though everything has changed and we suspect that sub-contracting is involved. My wife's car broke down last month and it took 30 minutes to get any response from either the 0330 number or the national number. When she did get through the call taker had no idea about geography, road layouts and map information. Fortunately I was available and took her place as she took our young granddaughter home in another car. I then had the same trouble until I got to a supervisor. The call takers still had no idea how to read a map. The car broke down 20 miles from home at 3:00pm I finally got recovered to home at 10pm. Since then they have just tried to give us some money without giving any indication of the reason for their failure or what they are doing to prevent a recurrence. Training I suspect. As it currently stands I would not recommend this service. We are tied for a year and there is every possibility we will not renew.

Quick response, but wouldn't even look at the car to see if a broken spring was sticking into a tyre, they just said it sounds like a spring, it wasn't!. Very disappointed in that part of the service.

The call centre were very good in handling my call. However, the breakdown service were later than I was originally advised and they turned up with a recovery vehicle and not a breakdown vehicle. Therefore my vehicle was recovered to home. I had to call the call centre again to ask where the roadside assistance was as I thought that was the first step. On this occasion it had been assumed that I required recovery. So eventually roadside assistance arrived at my home address to diagnose the problem and attempt to correct it. The fault was wrongly diagnosed as an immobiliser issue. Not entirely satisfied with the service I received hence the "Average, could do better" rating.

I broke down in MANSFIELD which was ~30 miles from home. I rang the breakdown and the person came within 30 minutes. My car was not turning on, so I called breakdown. While breakdown was on the way, I tried to turn on the car and it worked but I still wanted them to look. The person came and the car again did not turn on. He could not find a fault. He was going to take it to Nottingham but he said to try again to turn on and it turned on. He advised me to drive to Nottingham and it is safe to do so. Also said, if broken down again, I won't have any issues as company will send someone else. I was on my way to Nottingham garage but car stopped near Nottingham. I then had to ring breakdown again, answered several questions and then they arranged a breakdown to take my car to the garage but they won't check anything. Breakdown arrived with small van and tried to fix the fault but nothing worked. He then went back to get big vehicle to take my car to the garage. I asked Gem whether they would provide a courtesy car as per my cover, they said only if my car had broken down 26 miles away from home. So I was misled as I was actually broken down 30 miles away and I could have got a courtesy car while my car was in the garage. So my overall experience was average.

I had to wait about an hour and three quarters from making the first call to the arrival of the operative. Disappointing, but it was a very wet night so probably a lot of people caught out by the conditions. They could not resolve the problem of not having having the security key needed to change the wheel, a tyre having come off the rim when we skidded into a kerb. The operative did bring the car and us to our destination. I would describe the service as adequate, well below the level the company claims to offer.

I broke down and rang Gem. I told them I would need a breakdown tow truck as I was towing a trailer. A van turned up and then he had to phone for a tow truck. I had to wait over 2 hours before the truck came. The staff were great but I feel it was a long time to wait and the wrong vehicle had been sent when I had told them clearly what I needed.This may be a one off, but as it was the first time I had used Gem I was a bit disappointed.

Took over 3 hours to come, then arrived in huge truck. Didn’t attempt to fix car, just took it to the nearest garage.

Great service when I phoned. Polite, efficient and friendly. Breakdown turned up in good time and the guy was friendly too. I gave it an average score because GEM are a little rigid on the rules on only one stop. My car couldn't be fixed so I arranged for it to be fixed at a nearby garage. It was in the evening so not likely to be fixed straight away and needed to be left over night. I asked to drop the car outside the garage and then to be taken home but was told I was only aloud one stop (after the mechanic called his manager). This wasn't a very big distance from the garage. We went 10/15mins out of our way. I think if you offer to take home then a bit of common sense would be good. It doesn't make sense that I COULD request to be driven to London (from Newport) because it was one stop and not be able to go via somewhere that was a lot less distance. I understand you have rules but the idea is you recover the car and get me home. There was no point taking me and the car home as I know I wouldn't be able to get it to the garage in the morning. I have spoken to people since who have a different breakdown cover and they have said they are much more flexible.

We broke down only 10 mins drive from our destination. We were told help would arrive in 40 mins. On that basis we chose to have recovery back to our home - 75 minutes away. It took 2 hours for help to arrive. If we had known an accurate time our friends at our destination could have helped us with refreshment or toilet visits. Need to give accurate wait time to allow members to plan. We were also told that there was not enough seats for 3 adults in the recovery vehicle so an additional car would be brought. This was not how it turned out and there were enough seats again altering our plans. Need to provide accurate information to members about wait time and any recovery plan. Once arrived the recovery was excellent.

The customer service from the call centre was excellent but ill informed. They said that help would arrive within 40minutes but it actually took over an hour. The incident occurred on a London red route, so this isn’t great. That said, once the truck arrived they were helpful and quick to provide transport to a garage.

We were shocked to discover Gem Assist was not including/covering our motor caravan all these years of driving Ford Duetto without knowing it was disqualified from cover/assistance, resulting in a £90 fee for a callout to replace a tyre (which is how we discovered it was not covered. Job on 1 June 19. The reason given was that our motor caravan was classified as a mini bus on the DVLH registration document, although we have a form from DVLH confirming that we have a motor caravan. I explained this to Gem Assist when I complained and was told a refund would be requested and handled by the accounts department and they would be in touch -- however, we have not heard from anyone, either about the refund or whether our motor caravan is now covered subsequent to my conversation with a Gem Assist representative on 1 Jun 19. It has been unsafe for us to unknowling drive without cover, and we have heard from nobody about whether the change has been made to include the motor caravan or processing the refund. 

One of the reasons we chose Gem was because we’d read about their quick response. We waited over two hours for recovery by a garage that’s five minutes away. Not great. To be honest it would’ve been quicker if we’d just called our local garage direct. Disappointing.

The driver was quick to arrive and loaded the bike in a way i was happy with but the driver kept explaining things to me in a very simplified way. After I told him the bike had a flat battery he said I will try see if it works (as if i was doing it wrong and it would work for him). The recovery was good but the driver assumed that I didnt know anything about the basic mechanics of my bike