The AA, How should I complain?

[feefofum]

Hi All.

 

Am looking for advice regarding a complaint I have with the AA (the ones who claim to be the 4th emergency service).

 

My Partner and I have the option 200 which is roadside assitance and relay to anywhere in the country if not fixed by the roadside. The cost was approx £90.

 

My partners car broke down on Sunday afternoon last week, flat battery, and wouldn't take a charge/jumpstart from my car so obviously an alternator problem. We called the AA and had to wait 2 hours! before they sent out a teenage grease monkey from a local garage with only a small van to 'jumpstart' the car. Despite us having informed them that the car would not jumpstart. (t was a very hot day and the AA claimed to be v. busy hence the ridiculous long wait and then the sub-contract out to the local garage).

 

We waited 2 hours only a mile from home because the AA said they could not call us back when a patrol car was nearby.

 

The original 'mechanic' (I use the term lightly) had to leave us as we needed to be towed home. Another 2 hours wait (again in the searing heat because the AA could not inform us when they were nearby) and then the same local garage turned up with a tow truck! When we enquired as to when the local garage had got the call to come and tow us they informed us it was only 45 minutes ago (so the AA knew we were waiting for a tow for 75mins before doing anything about it).

 

Throughout this we were trying to contact the AA to complain, were put on hold and cut off at least 3 times, when I finally did get through to someone, they promised me a manager would call back, and they never did!

 

The local garage informed us that they give priority to Nationwide customers as they have the 1hour guarantee, and that teh AA frequently wait to see if their own patrols can visit before contracting out, so the customer often has to wait for a long time if the work is sub-contracted out.

 

Obviously I am fuming!! We waited for 4 hours, a mile from home, in the searing heat! I would like to write a strong letter of complaint but don't know what to reasonably ask for in return as compensation. Ideally I'd like to cancel my membership and have my money refunded, but I expect they'll try and fob me off with a standard letter.

 

Can anyone please advice me as to what I could reasonably ask for in compensation, and if the AA have broken any of agreements/laws etc? Are they any statutes etc I could hit them with?

 

Many thanks in anticipation

 

Fi

[teflonted]

The AA: Complaints Procedure

[feefofum]

Thank you. What do yuou think is a reasonable request for compensation?

 

1. Personally I want a full refund and I don;t want to be a member of the AA any more.

 

2. I' d also like to write a review on a website of my experience, though can't find a suitable site to review them. Any one got any idea's please?

 

Cheers

[stokeybird]

funny how they tell you to write to Basingstoke but fax Birmingham.

 

I use to work for the AA and know how totally crap they are. best bet would be to write to them recorded delivery

[feefofum]

HURRAH!!

 

I wrote directly to Timothy Parker, CE of the AA with my complaint, and sent it recorded delivery. He's refunded my full year membership fee.

 

HOWEVER, do check the Home website which details WHY the AA have started to provide such shoddy service. As always it comes down to fat cats making money!

[Sandy483]

Hi Feefofum

 

I was with the AA for many years, their service now is realy shoddy.

 

Im with a smaller rescue services now and having no trouble atall.

We have 2 memberships and 4 call outs each a year, so far we have used them 3 times in the passed 8 months, and towed home on 2 occasions.

And the towing is to your home from anywhere in the UK

 

Its been worth every penny at an introductory price of £36 each.

 

The only difference in cover is the car is covered not the person which i have no trouble with.

 

These bigger companies are like many others, they grow so big they loose the customer service the caring and the fact that you paid good money and expect something in return.

[fiyah]

im with green flag and cant praise them enough for the service ive received.

[falcon185]

Some years ago I was on holiday in Cornwall with my wife, kids and other family members. We took my car and my wifes. My wife had an etopic pregnancy and collapsed at the camp site, almost losing her life. anyway, when she came out of the local hospital she was unable to drive her car, having had emergency surgery. I was a member of the AA and went into the local office hoping that they would be able to relay one of the cars back to our home as there was no other member of the family who could drive. Answer?? NO!! Now I know it wasnt normal run of the mill breakdown as such but they would not even lift a finger to help. As it was my wife actually drove all the way from Cornwall to London at the time but was in constant pain all the way. The doctors had advised her that she shouldnt drive for at least six weeks. Needless to say I cancelled my membership. Never again will I ever join the AA even if they offered me free lifetime membership!

[gbjadyy]

In reply to the above!!

 

i hate the AA and know an awfull lot about how they operate but in fairness to them it is actually illegal to tow a car that has nothing wrong with it unless you hold a transport licence !!! recovery vehicles are licenced as recovery vehicles so unless the company also hoold transport licencing then iut would have been illegal to carry your wifes car when it did not have mecahnicle failure, hope this helps!!!

[andypa38]

I broke down yesterday in my MKII Jaguar on a very very dangerous section of road. I am a member of the AA on three counts, my Natwest Gold account, my wedding car hire insurance policy & my private policy as a car trader. I called and when the phone answered I got a series of recorded messages, then a further 15 minutes of continual phone ringing. I told them I was in a perilous situation they said they would make it a priority 40 minutes, at 40 minutes I called again they told me they were very busy (sun shining pleasant weather day) and I waited another 40 minutes with cars and trucks passing me at 70 to 80 miles an hour within inches of my car with no where to wait safely apart from the car. A tow truck pulled up facing in the wrong direction, and the driver told me he was talking me towards my destination to drop me off again at a safe spot, claiming that my destination "Harrogate" was in the opposite direction. He was going to drop me off and a mechanic was going to come & look at the car (fuel pump had gone - a no fixer), then if the car was not fixed another truck would come and take me home - I figured a further three hours of waiting time, an argument ensued, the driver drove off and left me. The Police turned up. I had initially called my own private membership upon which I had been treated like "s**t". I called via my wedding car AA coverage the service was different entirely, a truck pulled up within 15 minutes loaded the car & took me home. He told me they were not in the slightest bit busy and he had been idle for much of the day. The Police even said the AA were "crap" and referred me to "Green Flag" as being the best. The Police said as the supposed fourth emergency service they were useless. I have written a complaint also and asked for a full refund and will be joing Green Flag at the recommendation of two very nice helpful Police officers. The AA don't bother!!!!!!!!!!!11:mad::mad:

[bryan1980]

Hi we have just read all your complaints about the aa. And we want to have a moan as well we want to know what we can do? We have been with the aa for 2 years and pay over £50 a month.

We broke down on wednesday last week on a dangerious corner we nearly got hit a few times and had to get my brother to tow me to his house around the corner in the work van of my own personal van i works for my self.

We phoned the aa that morning coz the van wouldn't start thay said we was late by a few days and had to pay them £63.49 before thay could put through the system that we needed assistence.

so i had to pay it but the bloke couldn't put me through i had to put the phone down and phone back and pay on the other number i got given.NOT HAPPY!!!

Then it took the aa or shull we say the other ppl thay get to do there dirty work!! over 2 hours to come out to try and sort the van out.

All he did for 2 hours was chat on his phone and just look around the van.

Then he tryed to jump start the van our van was not going nowhere.

he said then theres nothin he could do apart from tow it to the nearest garage that we wanted. he said we had to phone up the aa again!!hehad to shut down the claim he had another breakdown to go too so we could get the van recovered and taken to the garage of our choice because he was very busy and couldn't do it even though he was going that way to recover another car on his big pick up truck.

so then we had to wait for another recovery truck that took an hour and a half to take it to the garage.

We finaly got it to the garage and got no kurtacy car like what it's stated in our policy that we got the van is in the middle of getting fixed we got a phone call yesterday to tell us that because the payment was late what we know because my girlfriend went into hospital because thay thought she was having an eptopic pregnancy and was in sooooo much pain witch i think is more important then anythink!! i had to use some of the money to get to the hospital and said it was ok and the money will be in the bank the week after when we phoned them..

So now the van's nearly fixed thay said because of late payment we are not intitled to the £25 excess and thay pay the £500 what aload of s**t!!!

we paid the excess to keep it upto date.

and 2 days after that the bloody car breaks down it's not our week i can tell you!!

everythings going wrong the car is in the garage with the van we got towed on the back of the aa by just a bar with me my girlfriend and my son still in the car!!

Not in the aa van we were all in the car being towed that was 13 miles away thought that was illigal and dangerious???

well im getting on to the aa tomorrow morning if anyone has an address of the top boss man i would love it if you could email me or ombudsman i would be very greatfull this is whats ment to be in my policy witch i pay £52.00 a month for WHAT A RIP OFF!!!

 

3 cars on my policy for breakdown cover...

a curticy car....did i get when i broke down NO!!!! i was stranded.....

did i get the pay excess of £25 and thay pay £500 to fix my van and car thats each....NO ITS COMMING OUT OF MY POCKET THAT I HAVE TO FIND....

breakdown repair multy vehicle did i get that....NO!!!

 

Its stressing me and the misses out she's exspecting and i don't want her too it's not fair..

im out of work with no van so no money comming in where am i going to find the money to pay for it all?????

it says on there website that it's £16.07 amonth for what we have got so why am i paying over £50????

We have phoned them with questions we don't get the right answers

when we ask for a manager we get he's busy and will call you back like hell do thay!! how can i get my loss earnings because im home stuck in doors no transport not money!!

we have been nice and polite upto now i think it's time to show them who's in the right and talk to them down a peg or 2..

it's just not fair on people like us who pays out the money for the service and get's sod all for it....please email me with anything so i can get this sorted out my email address is [email protected] is there any way of getting any compensasion from them i have lost out on houndreds since last week i got nothing to drive and im bored and lossing customers that we have built up over the years.

Thay aso said why don't we go hire a van lol with what shirt buttons????

thay make us sick!!!

[ashmk]

I used to have my Breakdown cover, home insurance and car insurance with the AA but have since discovered they are useless so have switched them all to other providers. The AA take forever to get to you, like hours and the insurance is pointless because they refused to pay out on something that was clearly covered.

And to top it all, if your a member you will be pestered by phone every other week to take out new services.

 

All in all the AA should be avoided. They are nothing but a waste of time and you can get a better service elsewhere for less money. Remember your paying a premium for a brand name and TV advertising rather than a decent service.

[Conniff]

and pay over £50 a month.

 

Don't you mean £50 per year?

[Conniff]

In reply to the above!!

 

i hate the AA and know an awfull lot about how they operate but in fairness to them it is actually illegal to tow a car that has nothing wrong with it unless you hold a transport licence !!! recovery vehicles are licenced as recovery vehicles so unless the company also hoold transport licencing then iut would have been illegal to carry your wifes car when it did not have mecahnicle failure, hope this helps!!!

 

Can you give us a link to that piece of legislation please gbjadyy?

[my-spirit-soars-free]

I am a little confused by the advice given to the person who was too ill to drive her own car back home - I am with the RAC, and I am certain that I am covered for that eventuality, my car would be brought home by the RAC if I cannot drive it - we checked when we upgraded our membership to their all singing, all dancing blue badge membership.

 

I was also towed home by the RAC a few weeks ago, the window had been smashed and I had glass on my leather seats, and did not want to risk them. There was no issue, the RAC (well, subcontracted garage) shoved me and the kids in their truck, and towed my car home, even though there was nothing mechanically wrong with it, it just needed the seat hoovered.

[ScarletPimpernel]

Having spent 45 minutes waiting for the RAC to pick up their phone, then 2.5 hours waiting for a local garage contractor to fail to even look at the car before towing it to the wrong place, I can empathise with everyone else here.

 

Oh yes, and in the past the AA took money from my account even though I wasn't a member, because one of their membership staff c0cked up inputting someone else's account details. It took me two months and a LBA to get them to take it seriously.

[Surfer01]

We have been with Green Flag for the past 6 years and never called them out until about two weeks ago when we broke down in the High Street in a rather inconvenient spot. Eventually I got through to a call centre in outer space where the aliens spoke a very different type of English.

I informed them that I had broken down and that it seemed to be the starter motor. I was then interogated about the fault and whether the car could start? I bluntly infomed them that was the reason for the call. Phone was put down although at no time did I swear or shout. I spoke loudly because I am a little deaf and there is as lot of traffic in a High Street.

On my second call I was asked for the registration and address and gave it to them. They then aasked me for the post code and I told them I had no idea of the post code where I was broken down. After morfe mumblings I realsied that they wanted my home address although thsi was all tied in with the registration number of the car. I was then asked what type of car, size of engine, length of car etc. I replied that they should have all these details from whenI registered with Green Flag.

Next question was if I knew the post code where I was broken down and where in the High Street. Told them outside the HSBC bank. Next question was where is the bank in the High street? the High Street is only about 400 metres long and i told them this but still insisted on knowing exactly where the bank was located.

Imitation grease monkey arrives and tries to jump start the car and promptly burns out the starter motor anyway plsu wiring assocaited with starter motor.

Got it bump started eventually and wrote to GF but have heard nothing since. Seems that every time an organisation embarks on a cost saving exercise, the people who pay them are the ones that suffer!

[bayzee]

Avoid AA Please .. Total Mess

They are completly messy organisation . Used to be good but now a days shddy , We have joint membership last year and this year they put price up. On our request they offered discount and took money .But they canceled membership after taking money.

 

AFTER CALLING WHEN WE NEED AA THEY SAID ,HUMAN ERROR AND REFUNDED MONEY BUT LEFT US suffering ..

 

point consider before buying AA breakdown:

 

* PHONE (MAY U NEED TO CALL AND WAIT AND CALL AND WAIT,may be 10 or more time to get aa customer service)

 

* Unmanged system, One agent saying something else other saying something else

 

* Will take your money will store ur card and will keep taking money but imagine You dont have membership with them when u need them.

 

* Rude customer support , help less complaint department. culture of ignoring customers is AA core ploicy

 

So avoid puting urself in mess when u need them ......

[Bill from Tunbridge Wells]

I have to say I have been amazed at just how bad the AA is. They provided me with very very poor service. In response to my complaint they sent an anonymous unsigned letter (eventually) another reply mysteriously dated the same day as my complaint of some time earlier, another letter saying that were sorry that I hadn't received an earlier reply (was it ever sent). Then they said it was all Saga's fault. (Saga and the AA are linked). The AA really does not seem to care about its customers and seems to be very smug about how good (they claim!) they are! Awful!

[D.H AA Rep]

Hi there, I work for the AA and the experiences given in this thread certainly do not sound typical of our usual high standards. We welcome feedback, both the good and the bad, and if anyone would like to discuss this with us, please call the AA's Member Relations team on 0845 607 6727.

[Bill from Tunbridge Wells]

I have no doubt that you work for the AA are therefore are biased or perhaps paid to try to counter complaints about the AA.

 

Do you really think that I would post a complaint here unless I had tried to get the AA to apologise for their awful service. I could refer you to my letter dated 13 January 2011 in which I complained about it taking two and a half hours to get to me in my broken down vehicle. I could then refer you to an unsigned anonymous letter from someone at the AA, dated 26 January saying that there would be an investigation. I could then refer you to a letter from me to the AA dated 07 February asking when I might hear from the AA. I then received a letter from the AA, dated 16 February claiming that a letter had been sent to me on 31 January. How amazing that I did not receive that letter. The letter allegedly dated 16 January might have crossed in the post with my letter dated 17 February 2011 - or it might just have been backdated to make things look better. My letter dated 17 February was addressed to Mr Strong. No reply.

 

So while you claim that the AA welcomes feedback - good or bad - it does absolutely nothing about the bad feedback - except to try to blame others.

 

The awful service given by the AA is made worse by the awful attitude that the AA has to its failures.

 

Enough said - let others draw their own conclusions.

 

 

 

 

Hi there, I work for the AA and the experiences given in this thread certainly do not sound typical of our usual high standards. We welcome feedback, both the good and the bad, and if anyone would like to discuss this with us, please call the AA's Member Relations team on 0845 607 6727.

[ROBERTM79]

HIGH STANDARDS ????????????????????

What a joke !

I have just tried to complaint to "TheAA" and even been told that it's pointless as an operator even said on a recorded call its pointless as complaints will say they will but wont deal with my issue anyway !

 

But i will give you the Benefit of Doubt and let you know how i get on!

 

Just for the record TheAA took money from my bank account and said it was part of the contract from last years membership, When i queried this - They even stated it was in the small print - I can cancel my membership but cant have a re-fund !!!!!!!!!!!!! BRILLIANT

 

So i am now again tied into a £114.00 subscription / Contract = Can cancel and have no money back ! Or complain and nothing will be done apparently ! I wouldnt mind I havent even been sent / got a membership card so if something goes wrong - What do i do ???????????????

 

ABSOLUTE RIP OFF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I ould SERIOUSLY not sign anything with TheAA Guys and Girls - I work in the motor trade and insurance industry and have NEVER know anything like this !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Like i said i will Give the benefit of the doubt and complian - But cant imagine anything will be done, as even their own staff have stated this !

 

I will keep you posted and write a full appology if they redeem themselves !

 

I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED !

[poza78]

HELP PLEASE!!

 

Unfortunately I must have forgotten to ask the AA to remove my card details last year!! Imagine my horror yesterday when I checked an account I rarely use and find it £145 in overdraft. I never even received a renewal letter but I am going to be charged £50 by the hsbc for going overdrawn!!

 

I contacted the AA straight away who are unable to refund my charges but were able to drop my premium by £60! As I have been happy with their service - (1 callout every 2 years) I opted to stay with them, and contacted my bank to see if they would refund the charges as a goodwill gesture! I got a flat refusal from an advisor based in a foreign country - she probably didnt even know who the AA are.

 

I am still going to pursue the AA for a refund of this charge and after 20 years with the HSBC I will be closing my account with them!

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

[cazjaz47]

I'm also having a bit of a nightmare with the AA and I was wondering if anyone had any advice.I've been paying them £159 a year aince 2009 for my membership, which I felt was worth it as it covered me for £500 garage costs as well, and as I drive 60 miles a day to work and back I really need my car!In January my partner and I were in the process of buying a house, and we also decided that we'd start commuting in his car rather than mine, as it was cheaper to fuel. I called the AA and advised them that I was going to be moving house shortly, and that I wanted to change my car over. They said that'd be fine, to just confirm everything in writing once I'd moved.To cut a long story short, I didn't get round to writing to them till mid-March (the boiler broke in the house, we had 5 burst pipes, etc - too much going on to worry about the AA!), but about 12 days after I wrote to them with the new address the worst happened - the car broke down completely. I called the AA and was initially told that the car wasn't covered, but after I complained they put me through to another dept who confirmed that they'd received my letter and just hadn't updated my details fully yet.The car was towed to the garage, where it needs a whole new engine. The AA are now refusing to pay me the £500 cover as they say there is a 14-day 'bedding-in' period before a new car is covered. I called them to complain, was told to put it in writing, and have now had an email back which essentially says 'tough'. I've asked them to reconsider, given that I called them in January about this, but its not looking likely. I've also asked that if they don't cover the cost of the claim that they instead refund this years membership in full (which I paid in March) as I don't see the point in being a customer with them any longer if I'm not getting the cover I paid for. They still haven't responded about this - its been over 3 weeks now.Any advice or thoughts on what I should do? We're going to have to sell the car to cover the garage costs as its just not possible for us to pay having just bought our first home (and all the problems that came with it) and I'm really struggling.Thanks.

[andypa38]

Hello

 

Thank you for your reply. It is my opinion when faced with bad service you should fight like a caged Lion to deal with the perpetrators.

 

Also type into your Internet browser "how to complain about a company or service" and use ALL you find. I am sorry you are having problems in these times of financial constraints and wish you success with your complaint and your future.

 

Regards

 

Andrew