The AA and why i will never use them again

[Fusilier]

Pete

Sorry to hear of your dilemma, but you need to contact the boss of the AA, after you have received a reply, and let them know that it is your intention to take this to the BBC Watchdog, and I can bet you will get a valid response very quickly, as they would not like bad publicity, and suspect that they would resolve your case properly and very quickly

They were quick to take your money for a service which they have not provided


Stu

[klarzy]

Originally Posted by Fusilier

Pete

Sorry to hear of your dilemma, but you need to contact the boss of the AA, after you have received a reply, and let them know that it is your intention to take this to the BBC Watchdog, and I can bet you will get a valid response very quickly, as they would not like bad publicity, and suspect that they would resolve your case properly and very quickly


Stu

Hi Stu

i have copied my tale to rip[ off Britain and the CEO, plus customer services with the CEO in copy...

lets see what happens...

[Fusilier]

Originally Posted by klarzy

Hi Stu

i have copied my tale to rip[ off Britain and the CEO, plus customer services with the CEO in copy...

lets see what happens...

Pete

Good, and that will make them respond quickly

Hope it gets resolved properly for you

Stu

[grivas]

Originally Posted by klarzy

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...

Very sorry to hear of your plight.They really are all the same and nothing to recommend one or the other, they are only good when you need them and they provide the service you have paid for.

[Rick-sta]

Really sorry to hear this Pete just seen the pics of your Lexus you posted on that other site, that's awful.

I couldn't image standing out in the cold for 3.5 hours in this weather we've had lately

I'm with RAC, only had to use them once when my CV joint failed last year and they were very good, arrived in a decent time.

Hope all this gets resolved without much more hassle and doesn't end up leaving you out of pocket.

[trikey]

Christ Pete, that is terrible, glad you are ok mate, give em hell, make sure you are reimbursed fully for your losses.

[Southside]

Been with the AA around ten years and used them 3-4 times. They’ve been great on every occasion to be fair. In contrast though the RAC once left a mate stranded on the hard shoulder of the M6 for seven hours literally yards from their call centre.

[klarzy]

Originally Posted by Southside

Been with the AA around ten years and used them 3-4 times. They’ve been great on every occasion to be fair. In contrast though the RAC once left a mate stranded on the hard shoulder of the M6 for seven hours literally yards from their call centre.

I wish i could say the same... been with them off and on for 14 years, only used them twice... must have paid about 2 k over the years to cover me and the missus....

[bl52krz]

If you have definitive proof of paying your membership fee, I would have been onto a solicitor by now for damages for gross negligence. Please don’t let them get away with this shoddy fraud.

[Comfortably Numb]

It's a very sad story, and as so often happens to turn a minor mishap into a disaster, a combination of unfortunate coincidences. It is a sad reflection on society, that any car left in a vulnerable situation for more (or even less than) a day, becomes a target for vandals and thieves, even, it would appear, in remote, rural areas. My own experience over 20+ years and using them on probably 10 occasions or more, is that they have done a good job, even if they have sometimes taken longer to reach me than I would have liked. My Renault 19 16v suffered a snapped clutch cable as I was leaving Liverpool in driving sleet one evening. I managed to limp into a Halfords car park, and amazingly, they had the part, so I phoned the AA. By the time their man arrived, about 1/2 an hour later, the slush was lying thick on the ground. Having done the job before, and knowing how difficult it was, i suggested that he call a Relay truck, and get me transported home, where I could fix it myself. "Oh I've done one of these before, if you'll pull it through from the footwell, I'll feed it through from underneath. After 10 minutes of contorting himself on his pad under my car, while I sat in the warm and dry, I was able to pull the end of the cable through. He towelled his hair and face dry before getting in the car to finish the job. I tried to press a tenner into his hand, for going "way beyond the call of duty", but he just grinned and said, "Just doing me job, mate", and wouldn't take a thing.
When the same car broke down in floods one very wet Friday evening, on learning that due to level of demand, it would be 2 hours before they could attend, I said I would call my wife for a lift home, and arranged to return for their man the next day. Sure enough, their guys turned up in a Landrover, having asked how to get to my location, which struck me as odd. It turned out they had been pulling vehicles out of water in Blackburn, York and other floods all over the North, and were pleased to find my car NOT semi-submerged. Despite not having been home for 2 days, they were cheerful, with good banter, and had my car going in 5 minutes. It's such a shame that their call centre and admin combined to prevent the good guys from rescuing you and your car.