The AA and why i will never use them again
 

Yes, I know... this is not social media... but when you have been so badly let down by an organisation you feel that folks ought to know...
This is my personal experience... please draw your own conclusions from it.
In January 2018 I received my renewal notice from the AA... I called them, negotiated a package and price for the year to April 2019 and paid.... nothing unusual there...
During February myself and my partner received 4 new membership cards... cool... perhaps they think we need 4 between the 2 of us...
I updated the AA app on my android phone and put in the details (after a phone reset), and it came up "membership expired"...?? so member services were called and reassurances of "all is ok sir" were given...
Now on Wed 28 Feb as we all know the proverbial hit the pan with the weather and during a trip with a colleague the worse happened and my car ended up nose down in a water filled ditch outside of Peterborough at 09:05 in the morning.
It was in a rural area, with little or no shelter, blowing a howler and -6C in the blizzard. Thankfully there were no injuries apart from some bruising and a very dented pride...
The car looked ok apart from the front bumper and needed pulling out of the ditch..
The AA app was opened and yes, "membership expired" shone bright back at me...
So a call to the emergency line was answered after some wait (I do understand, they were inundated), the situation explained and the chap on the line said "you do not appear to have a membership sir", the situation with the membership being up to date and just not showing up on their computer was explained and I was told to wait while the situation was checked and they would "call me straight back"...
Now we could not sit in the car as it had rested at a steep angle and indeed the drivers side doors were not accessible at all, there was no immediate cover from the wind apart from a concrete wall, and we were "in the sticks" as it were....
3.5 hours later a kindly passing gas fitter (passing purely by chance as his nav had taken him down the same route as us), was kind enough to offer us a ride back to shelter (15 miles and he took us back to my home), (Brian... you are a gentleman!). No call back from the AA, no explanation, no one on the way (they had not taken our location)...
The AA's promise is "We will never leave you stranded"....
Well they bloomin well did this time!
So having to abandon my car before the cold did us some serious harm was not my first choice and my Insurance company were informed and very helpful, they agreed to collect my car asap ("may be a day or two" is completely understandable given the conditions and priorities for folks still stuck in their cars).
So Friday morning I was in a position to go back to the car and recover any possessions we could not squeeze into the fitters van with us (we were travelling with luggage for a 2 day business trip)... now the bit that really hurts....
My car was lovely, it was in good condition, a joy to drive etc. etc... I think a front bumper and a lick of paint would have it back on the road (it was a very low speed and gentle slide into the ditch), and I would gladly have restored it to use...
When I got back to the car this morning, the local... (I really do not know what to call them without the massive use of "$£"%$$^&&*)(*)(*&" has smashed the windows, smashed off the door mirror, ripped out the interior dash and nicked everything they could... they had thrown lumps of concrete at the doors...
The car is now a write off.... I am sick...

So a call to AA customer services this morning (on hold for an hour) about the lack of feedback to the initial call, the mess with the membership and not being given the opportunity to ask for help or even give a location, being left in the open without shelter (God forbid if my wife and child were in the same situation) was responded to with "in the terms and conditions it states we may not be able to get to you in good time, so your complaint is closed"... WHAT??? not in good time...??
You did not want to recognise me as a member and did not take a location! ??? How the hell were you ever going to get to me at all?@??
So, after using them on one form or another over the last 14 years, I have had enough... voting with my feet, I will never return....
If I treated one of my customers like that I would expect the sack on the spot...
Make up your own mind.... but I think we deserve better...

I was with them years ago, had a cam-belt tensioner fail and jump some teeth, it was late, they sent a local recovery guy in rigger boots and hiviz, who didn't seem to have a clue.

he kept cranking and cranking whilst squirting easy start until it locked solid, then he left it, and they sent a flat bed. (2 hours later)

I complained to the AA, they sent me £50 voucher after leaving the car outside my house for 2 days (I had full cover and wanted it recovering to work).....

If he has checked the timing I would have gotten away with a new belt/tensioner instead I had to have 8 new valves, a head skim and about £500 worth of labour, none of which they would admit too....and the car has never run properly since

Ive been with the RAC for 12 years and they have always been great.

I think you need to contact AA customer services with all the info you have i.e. payment details etc. If they have taken money from your account and supplied you with membership cards, I would say you’re a paid up member.

Will be interesting to see how this turns out.

I agree with what others have said; I'd be taking it further with AA and at least seeking a refund nevermind compensation for resulting losses.

It sounds horrendous what's happened to you and very sad that your car has been vandalised just to add insult to injury.

On the plus side at least you are both safe and well; it could have been much worse for you!

Good luck getting it all sorted.

I am absolutely gutted for you over the damage to your car.
I'm not doubting you, can you prove the AA took money for membership?
If you can this will help in pursuing them. Find out if your call re membership was recorded and get a copy.

Don't let it rest.

macafee2

Email the whole tale to this bloke:

[email protected]

He's the top dog at the AA. In the past I have had many good results by going straight to the top. The gaffers don't like emails of stories like yours ending up on their desks. Trying to resolve over the phone makes initial sense but the call responders have no decision powers at all and even when escalated responses are often poor. You will find most Chief Executives emails on this site

www.ceoemail.com

I've had excellent results from BT, Scottish Power (what a barrel of pooh they are) and many others
Good luck

i have been with them for a number of years and not really had any problems, but after saying that if i had been in your position i would be exactly as miffed as your good self, but as with all big companies compensation will be a pipe dream.

That must be gut-wrenching, I feel it for you. I've never held any faith in any of the recovery services. Unless it's during normal working hours (i.e. mon-fri 9-5) on a main trunk route in normal weather there's little hope of them getting to you usually within an hour. I've never needed to use them when I've been in car (the only time I've needed car recovery I didn't have any sort of cover). Of twice needing to use recovery services included in motorbike insurance (in over 30 years) they've proven themselves absolutely useless. Last time stalled out within 6 miles of home on a Sunday afternoon (sunny) - They explain that they'll need to get a recovery contractor from Brum (to Northampton) and It'll be 2 hours (I could walk home in that time but not pushing a 750 shaft drive bike). About 40 minutes later a call to my mobile just get's missed as I can't hear it over the traffic noise - number witheld - put it down to a spam call and keep waiting. When time is up phone them to ask "where's the recovery?" to which "Oh, we tried calling to let you know it'd be another 4 hours as the original contractor couldn't attend..." . Yes, the spam call, it was them trying to call ONCE and once only no text to back it up no "sorry sir, we should have considered that you might be in poor reception area, not hear the phone ringing etc, or realised that we could've sent you a text" and no, for some reason they didn't think that their psss-poor effort at recovery taking over 6 hours just because it was Sunday was in any way absolutely useless.

Sorry, decided to rant as well cause they're all pretty pathetic these services - Anyway back to your issue - I'd suggest you make a huge song and dance about it and escalate it to anyone who might listen - consumer press etc. Car ruined through one small bump because AA is pathetic etc...

Here's a link to rip off britain 'submit your story' here
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wck32/contact

And the same for Watchdog
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mg74/contact

And just in case you're thinking 'why would they bother with my story?' remember that if you don't submit it they can't bother with it anyway.
So what's to lose? (and as a saying in our house goes 'Shy bairns get nowt'). Embarrass the useless clods of earth that are the AA Get photo's if you can as well TV shows love pictures...

That is incredible, and awful for you.

I became disillusioned with the AA when they registered me as "deceased".

Not as bad as you Pete but I went off the AA after having to call them out and give the AA "mechanic" one of MY spare fuses for his van!