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AA membership over doubled in price


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I signed up with The AA in 2015 for £99 a year (paid monthly).

I just always assumed it was £99 as the website didn't state otherwise as far as I could see.

 

I've checked it today and found I have been paying over £204 a year ever since the first year was up.

I called them to complain, and the person said I would have had confirmation of the price in the post before it was due for renewal, and if I didn't call then I wouldn't get a better price (Why do I have to call!?).

 

I don't recall getting these letters, and I keep everything, but I don't have that letter.

I for sure check every letter I get, and I wouldn't have accepted a 100%+ price increase!

 

I called back to their complaints to a guy who spends his life listening to people complain, and he just dismissed me saying I agreed when I took it out. I asked for a copy of the document several times but he just kept saying it would have been on the website at the time. I told him that the person I spoke to before said about it being in the renewal letters and then they relented and said they would send me copies.

 

I want to dispute that I ever gave permission to a 100% price increase as I don't recall ever doing this, they seem to be unable to provide me with the terms and conditions I apparently agreed to.

 

Realistically, what are my chances of getting my money back?

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If you can remember when you signed up, take a look at the Google 'wayback machine' and if it's there, you'll be able to see exactly what was on the AA website at the time.

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20150901000000*/https://www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover/

Please note that my posts are my opinion only and should not be taken as any kind of legal advice.
In fact, they're probably just waffling and can be quite safely and completely ignored as you wish.

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The only terms I can see from that are:

 

Introductory prices are less than the average paid by members between 1 February and 31 July 2014. If you've broken down, please call us on 0800 887766 for immediate cover, as these prices won't apply.

 

Your renewal price will be based on your individual circumstances, which include things like where you live, your breakdown history and any other relevant information we hold about you as a customer of the AA Group.

 

The actual terms probably don't get displayed until you send over some details which the wayback machine can't do.

 

I don't see where I agreed that they can stick up my premiums by double if I don't respond to them for a renewal quote. You'd expect to get the best deal anyway, but I guess that's how they make their money! I'll wait to see what they can provide and submit a SAR after for anything else with my name on it. I don't believe they sent the letters, and I don't believe I agreed to 100% price increases.

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Please note that my posts are my opinion only and should not be taken as any kind of legal advice.
In fact, they're probably just waffling and can be quite safely and completely ignored as you wish.

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Please note that my posts are my opinion only and should not be taken as any kind of legal advice.
In fact, they're probably just waffling and can be quite safely and completely ignored as you wish.

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Thanks, March 2015 is when I joined.

The second link doesn't work.

I see it says they will send letters regarding the renewal cost, which I didn't get.

 

I get spam from them all the time but I still take the time to look through them, I didn't get any renewal.

I did move shortly after I joined, but I changed my address with them and confirmed today that they have the correct address.

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I found the correct link: https://www.theaa.com/resources/Documents/pdf/breakdown-cover/terms-and-conditions-jun-2015.pdf

 

Page 20:

Autorenewal

14. If AA Membership Breakdown Cover is paid annually by Direct Debit or Continuous Credit

Card and the payer has agreed to allow us to collect the renewal premium automatically each

year, then unless we hear to the contrary, your AA Membership Breakdown Cover will be

automatically renewed at the end of each year. A reminder will be sent to advise of the cost of

AA Membership Breakdown Cover, and any changes to Terms & Conditions that will take effect,

at renewal. If a Member does not want to renew on this basis, they should notify the AA at least

7 days prior to renewal. For information this should be done by contacting AAIS on 0800 435

980, see section 3 of the AA Membership Breakdown Cover Arrangement and Administration

Contract on page 24. Please note that Autorenewal does not apply to Continuous cover.

 

The last line there says that Autorenewal doesn't apply to continuous cover. I have continuous cover, but on the phone they kept telling me it was due to the auto renewal (I have the calls recorded)... The next section does go on to saying they will give 45 days notice for increase in premiums, but that is what I dispute.

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send them an sar

 

however its quite std practice for both AA and RAC to do this.

the 1st year is a promotional deal to get you hooked in

then by not reading their T&C's they up the payment.

 

mine went from £89 in 2011 to £215 in 2012 [got done over in an asda's lobby by them the 1st time]

brokedown sometime later was outside of 30miles from home, nope bugger off you are not covered]

 

I saw the upped price on a bank statement.

got the bank to refund it as it was a non authorised CPA on my debit card.

 

AA could not prove they sent a letter informing me

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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Having been both an AA & RAC member in the past, I finally realised that I was being royally shaf - erm, ripped off, by them. Green Flag was next, service was great but even their prices went through the roof.

 

I've now been a member of Start Rescue for the last 3 years. The price was £45 for the first year, and then £40.50 for renewal as a loyal customer. https://www.startrescue.co.uk/breakdown-cover

 

They've been called out three times, each time they got to the vehicle within 30 minutes, managed to get it going once and recovered the vehicle home (once from Worcester and once from Bridgewater) without any question or argument when they couldn't fix it at the roadside. If you want a cheaper alternative to the big clubs, I really couldn't recommend them enough.

Please note that my posts are my opinion only and should not be taken as any kind of legal advice.
In fact, they're probably just waffling and can be quite safely and completely ignored as you wish.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

 

Sorry I didn't get the notifications of your posts.

 

They haven't managed to send me anything in the post yet, and have gone silent.

I followed up once more via email and still waiting for a reply.

I wonder how many have been stung by this.

I paid using Debit Card so not sure how eligible I am to get the bank to reverse the transactions.

 

SAR will come next.

I've found templates online for this.

Is there a way to word it so that they have to include every piece of personal information they hold?

 

I specifically want to get a copy of every letter they have addressed to myself, as well as the dates / times and if possible, audio recordings of the telephone conversations.

 

I have recordings of two of them, but there was another call I had with them where they offered me to add another vehicle to the policy free of any charge, which later they said they didn't do.

 

Thanks

Edited by dx100uk
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read post 8 tell you how to get your money back

 

as for the sar

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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Came home to a letter from The AA.

 

Saying they don't believe I didn't get the price increase letters and they included an example of the signup form from the website with the only relevant part being:

 

Your intoductory price is £6 less than the average paid by members between 1 October 2014 and 31 March 2015.

 

To me, this just means my intoductory price was £6 less than other peoples introductory price. There is no indication what so ever of the price I will end up paying in the second and subsequent years.

 

Furthermore, they didn't include copies of the letters or the terms and conditions as per my request.

 

SAR will come next.

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  • 2 months later...

Just want to update: The Financial Ombusman is looking into my complaint. It's taking a while but it's been handed to case handler and hasn't been rejected yet so must be a good sign.

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Just want to update: The Financial Ombusman is looking into my complaint. It's taking a while but it's been handed to case handler and hasn't been rejected yet so must be a good sign.

 

Just curious, but how does this come within the remit of Financial Ombudsman? I thought they only dealt with financial products. Or do they consider breakdown services to be a financial product?

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Just curious, but how does this come within the remit of Financial Ombudsman? I thought they only dealt with financial products. Or do they consider breakdown services to be a financial product?

 

Personally I'm not sure. The AA referred me to them to escalate my complaint. I guess it's because I was on a monthly plan with them and my complaint is about being overcharged.

 

Their website also says it:

http://www.theaa.com/complaints

 

If you're still unhappy with our final response, or if we've not given you a final response within 8 weeks of your complaint, you may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service for help and advice.

 

Resolver.co.uk says:

https://www.resolver.co.uk/freeadvice/services/10/issues/693/issue_types/breakdown-insurance-not-notified-about-automatic-renewal-complaints

Breakdown insurance is covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service. It can help you resolve your issue after eight weeks.
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Just curious, but how does this come within the remit of Financial Ombudsman? I thought they only dealt with financial products. Or do they consider breakdown services to be a financial product?

The OP is paying an insurance premium so that is covered by FOS. I think that CPA should be banned unless you specifically agree to it as at the moment it is very similar to PPI!

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  • 1 month later...

Just a quick update.

 

Got a letter a few weeks back to say they're contacting The AA to get their side of the complaint.

 

Got a voicemail today from the Financial Ombudsman asking me to call them back next week.

 

It's a long process!

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  • 1 month later...

Got a voicemail from the Financial Ombudsman, They think that the initial price was clearly an introductory offer however they believe they may have still overcharged me and are looking into it.

 

I also pointed out that the year I got the cover, the terms and conditions just so happens to have a section missing which explains monthly cover price hikes.

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