Better World Club

I’ve had Better World Club for many many years and they have always been very helpful when my husband or I had car troubles and needed help. Highly recommend.

I’ve attempted to use this service on three occasions, never had anyone show up. They say they’ve sent someone and nothing for hours. Big waste of money, getting AAA.

I have used BWC on at least three occasions over the past several years for jumpstarts when my battery died. They have always been prompt, courteous, helpful, and the outcome has always been as good as could be expected. I recommend them highly.

I had better world club for one year, when my car overheated due to a failed water pump I needed help and called them for tow service. I had to call twice due to the length of the wait, approximately three and a half hrs after the first call and waiting with my youngest son a tow truck finally arrived. I won’t do business with them again… horrible world club is more fitting

I am disabled and get around on an electric bike so a flat tire is a really big deal. Twice in 2 years they have gotten me safely to the bike shop after less than an hour wait. My sincere thanks for a necessary service.

I have been a member of BWC for over five years now and have never had a negative experience. Every time I have had a car issue, the representatives were courteous and the service was prompt.

I switched to BWC from AAA a year ago on the recommendation of a friend, because it seemed their business practices (in terms of being green, supporting biking and public transport, etc) seemed more consistent with my own values. I used their services for a jump start and that went fine, no drama and I was generally happy with their customer service. More recently, I called them when my car needed to be towed to an auto repair shop, and sadly the experience in that case was far from good.
I had no problem with how the BWC service operative handled her side of the situation — she answered and sent a tow truck right away, it probably took a couple of hours to coordinate total (but that wasn’t really her fault). My husband works in the ED and couldn’t really leave it to stand around waiting for the tow truck — consequently he left the keys for the driver under the car mat, per his instructions. Apparently the driver’s tow truck winch broke while he was hauling the car up onto the flat bed truck, dropping our car on the ground so hard that is rolled over a curb and onto a lawn. He did not call either of us to tell us this had happen (despite having been in contact several times to figure out where the car was parked, so I know he had a working phone and our numbers) — instead he went back to his shop to get another truck, and was going to pretend the whole thing never happened (and was only unable to do this because hospital security found the car parked wildly on a lawn, took pictures and ran the plates, after which they came and found my husband in the ED to tell him what happened). The only damage (that we are aware of) that came from the whole event is that the windshield cracked horizontally across, and it seemed reasonable that either the tow truck operator or the BWC would take responsibility for fixing this. However both parties refuse to do so, claiming that there is no way to prove that it wasn’t broken before he dropped the car, and consequently we are out of luck and have to pay for the repair ourselves (besides common sense — as if we would be driving around in the dead of winter with a crack in out windshield so significant that it frosts up on the inside, with our infant daughter in the car). No only that, but despite his obviously shady business practices, I was told that the BWC has no intention of dropping this tow truck company as one of their vendors. Consequently I will be taking my business for roadside assistance elsewhere, and strongly recommend that anyone else looking for a responsible company to work with do the same.

I switched to Better World Club years ago not only for the price of protecting 4 autos but because of their company philosophy and mission statement. I have had 2 of my adult children sign up for this service because they own their vehicles. Having these many cars and children who drive to work or school, I have been consistently PLEASED with the professional service starting with the call in centers who arranges the towing, the tow operators they contract out with, to the reasonable time of assistance arrival. I am presently awaiting a tow from our mechanic who can’t make the necessary repair to a local car dealer who can. This is 2 days after having the car towed from the original point of breakdown to my mechanic. I LOVE the fact that the program plan allows up to 4 tows per vehicle per year. That is AWESOME value when driving higher mileage vehicles. If you are considering this company, I would highly recommend them for these reasons and more. They have wonderful and USEFUL benefits in the membership.

Worst company ever do not I repeat do not use them. Compared to Aaa they’re garbage. I’ve never waited less than 3 hours every single time I used them. I’m going back to Aaa yeah they’re waits are 60 – 90 minutes but at least they’re on time every time. BWC uses below par companies. They said they couldn’t tow me one night because most tow companies don’t tow at night because they lose out on police money from accidents. They said they would have to store my car overnight and charge me forty bucks and then tow me in the morning. They made me pay 20 dollars for gas for a few gallons even though my service clearly stated it was free, waited 3 hours that time. Finally made me wait 6 hours for a tow that was supposed to take an hour and a half for. When I called them back 4 hours later they said yeah that’s pretty normal cause my tow was 50 miles away and tow companies don’t like to tow that far! So disappointment with they’re horrible service. For the same exact money the triple you know what is far superior.

Is there a way to give zero stars? Here’s my story.
Nov 12 at 3:10 pm, I run out of gas outside of Richmond VA returning home from taking father in law to a doctor appt. My fault, I shouldn’t have let gas get low but car was showing ¼ tank left. btw it’s 38 degrees outside that day.
I call BWC right away, girl (natalie) had trouble finding the road I was on even though it’s a major freeway. (guess that should’ve been my first clue). Anyway she tells me who is coming and it’ll take about 43 minutes. I figure that’s cool since it is almost rush hour.
About 45 minutes later the tow driver calls and asks if I’m the one needing fuel, which I answer yes. He then asks why I’m not at the location I reported with my vehicle and gives me the location, which was some street I’d never heard of and turns out he was over an hour away. He says that it seems to have dispatched incorrectly.
I hang up with him and before I can call BWC, some chick from Allstate calls and asks why I wasn’t at the address with my vehicle for the fuel delivery. I tell her what the tow driver said and she promises to find out what happened and call me back. Never heard from her again.
I call BWC again and get Natalie again strangely enough, we’re almost an hour and 15 minutes, she puts me on hold to find out the problem for 8 minutes and 22 seconds before I choose to hang up. Battery on my phone is down to 30% now.
I call BWC back, go through the whole story with Dominique, she tells me that she will investigate and call me back since my battery is running low. Never heard from here again either.
By this time my wife and a couple of other friends are on the way. And the VDOT highway motorist assistance dude is there,(he was awesome!) and he gives me a gallon of gas but the car isn’t picking it up. I call BWC back, and talk to Jessie, I have to go through whole story again (at least he was competent though). He does confirm that someone screwed up on the dispatch, and he has got someone coming but it’ll be 35 minutes before they arrive. Did I mention it’s 38 degrees outside?
The VDOT guy goes to get more gas, and by this time it’s dark, colder and windy as hell. After 20 minutes VDOT guy is back and gives me another gallon but the car will not pick up the gas. I call BWC back (Chris, he was really really good) and tell them to change it to a tow. The tow will be almost 2 hours coming. Battery down to 19%.
The VDOT guy gets one more gallon of gas and my buddy arrives with starting fluid. Cars starts up!!!
Bottom line, over 2 ½ hours on the side of the freeway out of gas (did I mention it’s 38 degrees outside?) and BWC fumbles the balls the ball when I needed them the most.
I called AAA the next day and got them back. My complaints about AAA are minuscule compared to the abysmal performance of BWC.

When his Volvo petered out in Salt Lake City, my husband tested A Better World Club against AAA. He called both agencies to see who would respond faster. Better World got a truck there in less than half an hour, which was faster than their estimate.
Overall wait time between call and service:
Better World: 20 – 30 minutes
AAA: 30 – 40 minutes
Not a giant differential, but enough that we can say Better World is a solid choice.
The customer service at Better World was just fine, and the Better World driver was very courteous and went the extra mile to find the repair shop my husband chose, even though the iPhone was giving the wrong directions.
(Methodology notes: My husband had membership in both clubs because I ordered Better World for both of us when my AAA expired, even though his AAA wasn’t due to expire for a few more months. He timed the AAA truck by noting the time between when he called and when the AAA driver called him back to say he was on the scene. And yes, he called AAA to cancel as soon as Better World showed up, but apparently the message didn’t get delivered, which is bad for the AAA driver but good for the validity of this experiment. This all happened at 8:30 a.m. on a Monday morning.)

I’ve been a BWC member for 8 or 9 years now and am at least as happy as I was with AAA. In general the service has been good and the people have been helpful — not perfect, but a solid B+. And it’s nice to be a member of a motor club that does at least a modicum of good in the world, instead of lobbying against bikes and public transit, as AAA has frequently done.

We switched to BWC a few years ago, and though the map access isn’t quite as good as AAA the important service — rescue from lockouts, dead batteries, etc. is EXCELLENT. Indeed I think I’ve had shorter wait times the few times I’ve used BWC than I remember with previous AAA rescues.
I switched when I found out that AAA lobbies against funding for public transit. Cars contribute to our ill health, from air quality and stress, to obesity and noise pollution.
BWC not only promotes non-​automobile transit, they offer a program for cyclists, and insurance too.

I had a fantastic experience with Better World Club’s roadside bicycle assistance program. My wife and I signed up for a plan that include bike coverage prior to a long touring trip we took from Boston MA to Niagara Falls NY. Thank goodness we did — while we were riding through rural upstate NY, a spoke on my wife’s back wheel snapped, rendering her bike unrideable.
We called the Better World Club right away, and after a few short questions, the operator arranged to have both my wife and I, and both our bikes, picked up and taken to the nearest bicycle shop, about 10 miles away. The wait time was very reasonable, given that we were in a very rural part of NY, and given that it took a few minutes for the towing company that the order was called in to wrap their heads around the request — we had several good laughs with the driver on the ride in to town while they recounted how they kept asking for clarification about the nature of the towing job. ‘Do you mean two *motorcycles*?‘
This claim was the only time so far that we’ve needed to use our BWC coverage, but it was exactly what we needed in that situation, so we’ll definitely keep our memberships active in case we run into issues on future rides!

BWC is definitely active in the «green» movement. All of its e-​newsletters contain a sweeping progressive campaign such as «Victory Bonds». The product offerings are unique, and the membership cost is on par or less expensive than the main competitor, AAA. BWC covers the person, not the vehicle, so the coverage is more flexible than similar transportation clubs. The personnel has always been friendly and forthcoming in te few interactions that I have had with BWC. The only claim I have filed was on Thanksgiving day in 2010. The representative sent man in a small compact car with a portable jump starter. It didn’t solve the problem, so I had to have the car towed through AAA to the dealerships where the battery and cables were replaced. A female representative most recently assisted me with adding coverage for my new motorcycle and appropriately recommended a premium membership because of my international touring plans. BWC is a fair deal and may just be the assistance that one needs in an emergency.

As a bicycle commuter/​shopper, I like the ideas and philosophy on the website. I’m in the process of buying a car (wish Amtrak went more places!) and I had a week to get insurance going. The quote request form says that they’ll get back to you with a quote within three business days. I filled it out and added a note in the comments section that I needed to figure something out within a week. It was getting close to the end of the third day so I thought I’d call them to ask if they had gotten my request and where it was at. The lady who answered the phone transferred me to another lady’s voicemail. It’s now the end of the 3^rd day and I haven’t heard a peep out of them. If you had told me ten years ago that in the future, it will be hard to buy insurance and insurance sales people will be apathetic and uncommunicative, I wouldn’t have believed you. Overbearing isn’t great either but I feel like an idiot having to call repeatedly and beg to get them to sell me insurance.
Better World Club, if you’re reading this, this is what you have to do:
1. Honor your commitments, including the ones you make on your site. If for some reason you can’t honor a commitment you’ve made, talk to the customer about what happened and assure them that you haven’t forgotten them. That means reaching out to the customer. Email is fine.
2. When you transfer people, «set up» the call first. Talk to the person you’re transferring the customer to, make sure they’re there and available, and then connect the other two parties.
3. If you can’t transfer a customer to a human being, then you yourself take their name and number, promise that someone will get back to them, and make a commitment on when (by the end of the day, within one business day, or whatever you can and actually will do).
4. Don’t act like you expect people to just shower you with their money with no effort on your part. Do some work, just as a matter of principle! I already did a bunch of work, Googling the heck out of insurance, reading the stuff on your site, and filling out the form on your site. Pitch in a bit.
If it’s that hard to sign up for insurance, I can’t imagine what it’s like to work with them on a claim.

These people don’t give a good godd@mn about their customers. Better World Club has left my friends and me stranded in 100+ heat in a really bad part of Sacramento. We called them two hours ago, and Kelly the office manager said it would be one hour for a tow. Except, according to the tow company, they were only notified 20 minutes ago. We tried calling Kelly back and she let her voicemail get it. So here we sit, in the heat, and I can hear the gentle gas station song of a crazy person arguing with himself while some other people trade tales of trying to contact their dealers. So if we ever make it home, we’re immediately switching back to AAA. Oh, and an update! It’s going to be another 20 minutes. Great.

I’m writing an updated review from my 1÷20÷2009 review. I recently received a phone call from Mitch Rofsky, the president of BWC, and Kelly Ward, the VP of sales and service. They seemed to really care about the bad experience I had had, and they told me that the person I had contacted at the call center had deviated from the BWC script in several ways, and just generally really messed up. They also offered to refund my membership and give me a year of service, but I elected to just cancel my membership anyway.
I’m giving BWC another star from my previous review because of the fact that this company actually seems to care about customer satisfaction; however, they’re still only getting 2 stars because they really weren’t able to satisfy my service needs.