The AA, How should I complain?

[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

[andypa38]

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

[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

[poza78]

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.

 

First thing I would do is to ask for the T+C's and for the exact terms that that state any new car added has to have a bedding in period of 14 days. Then speak to trading standards and check if it is actually legal for them to have a 14 day 'bedding in' period because you are still payijng for a service even during those 14 days. Check out the Trade Descriptions Act and the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Consumerrights/Howtocomplainaboutgoodsandservices/DG_196096 Hope this helps and let me know how you get on

[gbjadyy]

wheres the AA guy gone from this thread ?? or is it like there desks and too full of complaints that they cant cope, i know quite a bit about them and i also fell victim to them taking money from my account without authorisation from me after they held my card details from 8 months previous without my knowledge or asking if they can do so !!!, infact it was yesterday that i was on the phone complaining about it and i demanded they refund my account back to that same debit card emediately and low and behold the suddenly dont have my card details anymore ( so called got deleted off system) strange that after they held em for 8 months and took payment day before then there suddenly gone when i ask for refund???, they tell me they will send cheque instead to which i refuse to accept , why sould i wait for payment when they took unauthorised transaction from my card?? i wasnt having this and again demanding my money straight away saying i will give them card details there and then for the refund and then magically my card deatils reappeared infront of the girls screen at that time !!! its amazing how these computers can come up with working credit/debit cards as and when they want to?? so she then says she has conducted a full refund on my card ( £157) but then says it can take upto 21 days to proccess??? ok im not having this and tell her so, she says its company policy so i explain i am not subject to there company policy or terms and conditions as they took unauthorised funding from me completely without consent and therefore i have not contractual agreement with them to follow there policy and refund should be emediate back onto my card ( which is possible anyway) she still maintians thats out of her hands and will raise a formal complaint on my behalf but she still has to say it can be upto 21 days??? well we will see what happens here but i do know that if a cheque arrives then heads will roll as far as i am concerned and i will do my best to raise this into the spotlight that the AA make a habit of taking unauthorised transcations from accounts and hold peoples card details without consent, oh while im off on one here what about my £75 invoice that i had to pay to a garage back in november to come out to me for a puncture i got and tha AA said i should call a garage and they will refund any costs involved?? so first you join the AA then you pay yourself after having to find someone willing to come out yourself with no help from AA at all other than them telling you they are too busy so find your own parage to deal with it !!! so now it JUNE and i still dont have my money back from that breakdown, welll all i ca say is A utomobile A ssociation errmm no , not quite i think its A utomatic A ssoles , sorry but it had to be said

[gbjadyy]

i really do hoe that AA rep relpies back with more than just a call this number and actually explains all this and gives my money back in full emediately but somehow i think i got more chance of getting the lotto and buying my own breakdown company !

[Car Expert]

The AA has gone very downhill. My prestige car was meant to be trailered home yesterday, after much messing about and waiting, it was meant to be today, again, after much messing around, the car is still not with us. Sounds like it will have been on 4 trailers minimum when it returns. No idea where it has been parked. Good job there are no valuables inside. Would avoid the AA. They were good, but penny pinching, seems to have got their systems in dis-array. Guys on the ground are usually friendly, but call centre is not good, and quite rude last night considering all the messing around, and lack of clarity where my car actually is. One driver called me today several times by accident, but never bothered to update me tonight, when I called him to see where him and my car were. Another good organisation run in to the ground for short-term profit? It is a sorry tale. Much more efficient would be, as they did back in 1997, to load the car on a flatbed lorry and deliver it in one hop. Having read the bosses' Tweets, would suggest he works on delivering to subscribers or they will depart. I am thinking of defecting after this debacle. This weekend's experience is not good enough. From a long standing member, do not put yourself through this, in my opinion, do not sign with them.

[gbjadyy]

in responce to Car Expert above, even though i have my own gripes with the AA i am actually going to defend them ( a little bit) on the above post, i work as a Mechanic , MOT Tester and roadside assistance mechanic and our company for many years ( untill recently) were contractors to the AA

i few years ago the EU decided that us guys in the breakdown/recovery industry should comply with the wrorking time directive aswell as Tachograph laws in similar fashion to HGV drivers, now this all seams well and good for the driver as it ensures he gets proper rest breaks etc, howeve in this industry ( meeting the needs of the public 24/7 this created major concerns for a sensible way to deal with a 24/7/365 work patern because the only feaseable way to do that would be to treble staff numbers overnight so 3 shifts could cover 24hrs, not surprisingly due to costs this never happened so it meant that there would be certain times where cover maybe either very difficult or not available in some circumstances and of course this has a knock on effect for those motorist that need assistance

much wrok would then be sent to contractors from the AA but even the contracor had the same problem in how to deal with it

one point in the law dis state that a recovery agent can operate within 60 mile radius of there own base without the need to use a tachograph and thereby meaning that driver can operate for a longer period of time when on shift so now it has become commonplace for the recovery industry to adopt this practise to try and fully utilise the satff they have but the downfall of this mean your vehicle being transfered along the route to other contractors so the drivers dont go out of ther 60 mile boundary,

If there is a few hundred miles to cover then this means multiply transfers takeing place just like what happened too you, i must also say your car will have never been left anywhere unsafe as when this happens the vehicle will allways be put into safe storage if it has to be.

sometimes if you are really really lucky you do get taken all the way without tranfers but thats usually because your lucky enough to have broken down where there is someone willing to drive under tachograph but not many do that now

this is an industry wide problem so its not just the AA at fault here, this happens now with all breakdown clubs and is the direct result of the EU working time directive and there imposing Tachograph Laws upon the Recovery industry so try not to be too hard on the AA on this occasion as its not entirely there fault this time

[pete7]

In response to AA reps post the complaints procedure is not at all helpful and yes its the customer fault apparently and according to the complaint operator i was Lucky that a patrol came to me . i mentioned i was a full member and I'm sure that did entitle me to so customer service and , i was trying to give feed back that you apparently do not want to hear. your patrols wrote down 500miles of differing mileage and was told rather than it was an error accused me of lying i had driven 500 miles between call out to be in exactly same place . I openly invited an apology but no response or returned call.

 

Hit and miss patrols rude customer services will not sustain your business who ever you are.....

 

Closing point if Good customer care did exist within AA this thread would not ,t Even be here or you to have to defend for them would you Sir.

[Pickletron]

I have been an AA member for exactly 10 years. Around 2 years ago I upgraded my membership to Roadside Relay as myself and partner travel from Surrey to Yorkshire 2-3 times a year to visit family so I thought this would be sensible, particularly since sometimes I make the journey alone. Roadside Relay is a service whereby you can be towed to any UK destination if your car cannot be fixed at the roadside.

 

Last Sunday was the third time I have ever needed to call them out when we broke down on the M1, just 2 hours from home.

 

I telephoned the AA at 2pm. It was a hot sunny day and I told them we had pets in the car (3 exotic frogs and a budgie) - the operator advised we would be put on a priority service. 11 hours and 4 tow trucks later we were home. Fabulous priority service, thanks AA.

 

]The first people to collect us from the roadside 40 minutes after our call was a contractor working for the AA. They took us to a service station 4 miles up the road arriving at 14:50.

50 minutes later, a lovely guy called Steve arrived. Steve was just about to finish his shift so could only take us half an hour up the road (which took 1 and a quarter hours on a tow truck).

We arrived at the services with Steve at approx. 5pm. We then waited another 2 and a half hours in the heat. we weren't able to leave the car other than for toilet breaks as we had to make sure the pets were OK and keep the doors open so they weren't too hot.

At 19:30, the lovely Andrew arrived - he was absolutely shocked we had broken down at 2pm. He said he would only be able to take us to the last services within the area he covered - this would be just outside of London (and not on our route normally). He tried to be helpful and called the office to request that they make sure another tow truck was waiting for us at those services to take over so we didn't have to wait. He also called them 10 minutes from destination to tell them our ETA. The operator was on speaker phone - he sounded non-committal and said "Erm, yeah, and even if there's no-one there, they will only be a couple of minutes away"

We arrived at Heston services, 57 minutes from home still (!!) at quarter to 10pm.

Surprise, surprise there was no-one there waiting for us. 40 minutes later, still no-one so I telephoned AA. On hold without speaking to anyone for 20 mins. Finally someone answered and I was told "Very sorry, we're very busy, it will be an hour and 15 minutes to wait - I had been in good spirits up until this point but I am sorry to say I lost it. I demanded that someone come for us immediately, I was tired, hot and absolutely fed up. I was worried sick about the animals and slowly going crazy from waiting in the car. Deborah at the call centre told me she would call me back. She did call, only to say she was sorry, but it would be 11:50pm before someone got to us.

At midnight, our next tow truck driver arrived. Again, very pleasant guy (AA's only saving grace), finally got home at 1am exactly.

 

Shocking is not the word for it. I am so upset - it completely ruined our holiday and going back to work has been really difficult. We think one of the frogs has died as we haven't seen it since the journey and it's been 5 days - they've all made the journey many, many times and always been fine as we know how to take care of them. It makes me feel physically sick and to say I'm angry is an understatement.

 

Needless to say, I will be writing a letter of complaint.

 

Anyone had better luck with Greenflag?

Edited August 4, 2011 by Pickletron

[Rachvog]

I too have had a very bad experience with The AA resulting with my 8 month old baby being admitted to hospital. We were left in the cold and dark because the guy didn't have jump leads! They sent another company out to us but the guy refused to take us to the 24 hour services where I could have kept my baby warm as he was finishing his shift!! I have complained and got a standard letter, I even appealed and the team leader sent another standard letter!

 

Now the reason i am writing on this forum is to urge you all to send your complaints on to WATCHDOG. If they get enough complaints they will look in to it and The AA will be forced to change their practices!

 

PLEASE REPORT YOUR COMPLAINTS TO WATCHDOG!!

[pete7]

wheres the AA guy gone from this thread ?? Told you they dont want to hear it ! They dont defend it because they cant, its disgraceful customer service shame on you aa

[Conniff]

I too have had a very bad experience with The AA resulting with my 8 month old baby being admitted to hospital. We were left in the cold and dark because the guy didn't have jump leads! They sent another company out to us but the guy refused to take us to the 24 hour services where I could have kept my baby warm as he was finishing his shift!! I have complained and got a standard letter, I even appealed and the team leader sent another standard letter!

 

Now the reason i am writing on this forum is to urge you all to send your complaints on to WATCHDOG. If they get enough complaints they will look in to it and The AA will be forced to change their practices!

 

PLEASE REPORT YOUR COMPLAINTS TO WATCHDOG!!

 

You don't say how long ago this was Rachvog, if it was fairly recent, then don't leave it at writing to Watchdog, get the top man at the AA and write to him, ask for an official complaint form.

[zaki1122]

please share your complain in my group

facebook.com/TheAA.UK

[459lenny]

They have been going downhill at a fast rate, no more focused on service more taking our money and giving less for it!

 

I just had a breakdown and got caught out by the "new" rules and it ended with me having to stump up another £220 to get my car home!!

 

Total rip off!

 

Its a shame as they used to be good, an old friend is still working for them and says its normal for people to end up waiting all day!

 

Even the staff are unhappy, he told me of the staff only website, aapeople.co.uk the forum makes interesting reading.... password is 617

[PeterMorrell]

My Brother, My 75 year old mother and my brothers 2 children(8/9) were left stranded in the middle of Belgium in the middle of the night bythe AA, they ended up walking along a motorway until 23:30cet at night for an hour and half and it was pure luck that a very nice Belgian chap pulled over topick them up and managed to get them to a hotel, this could have been a verydifferent story had this chap not had been so nice. The AA has offered the cost of the hotel ascompensation, I believe that it is not compensation, but was only needed due totheir incompetence. Their responses arecold and uncaring and keep on about what it cost them in monetary value toprovide service, nothing about what it cost my family; my family were scaredand stressed out in the middle of the night in a foreign country, we aredisgusted with the response from the AA and their Executive office, they have blamedthe people they contracted abroad and did not even consider it to be theirfault, we paid our money to the AA, not their sub contractors, they should bemore careful about who they rely on to assist their customers, the complaintsprocedure is also a joke, the breakdown occurred at the end of July and we haveonly just gotten a final response from them (almost 6 months). They still consider the payment they haveoffered as compensation and we were not entitled to the hotel costs as well asthe hire car, the fact is, we would never had needed the hotel, had theyprovided the correct service in the first place. NEVER WILL WE USE THEM AGAIN.

[Justin Kasse]

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.

 

On the contrary, the problems highlighted here seem very typical of your increasingly low standards!

 

Setting aside the fact that the AA sub much of their obligation out to lesser local garages & recovery companies, my complaint is more fundamental: I want to stop being an AA member but you keep reprocessing my annual fee despite the fact that I have repeatedly asked you not to.

 

The AA have removed £170 from my bank account even though I cancelled my AA membership 6 months ago. FYI, I'm not tied into any contract that permits them to do this.

 

What really surprised me is that fact that I cancelled all direct debits (as I'm currently living abroad), which means that the AA have stored my debit card details and have reprocessed them without my authorisation.

 

Annoyingly, this is the second year in succession that I've had the exact same issue, because I unsuccessfully tried to cancel the year before too.

 

I'm not sure about the finer details of the law, but isn't it illegal to store & process financial information without consent? Isn't that why direct debits exist; to establish an authorised, repeating payment? Direct debits allow the consumer to terminate the renewal of a contract, but the AA clearly circumnavigates this by reprocessing the debit card details.

 

So, D.H AA Rep, let's have an open discussion about this. Why do the AA harvest payment details and process them instead of using the established banking norm of direct debits? And, why have the AA chosen to process my card details twice despite the fact that I have asked you not to?

 

I wouldn't mind so much if the service was half as good as you claim, but with the exception of the sales team, every interaction that I have had with the AA has been with an unsophisticated, low-quality workforce. Your service isn't appalling, but it's close. In terms of both quality of service and value for money, the AA is obviously a declining brand trading off the fact that they used to be good.

[Jaded Motorist]

Truly appalled by AA service today wanted £108 pounds to tow the car to a garage for an oil leak which occurred due to sump damage saying it was a RTA. Very rude and unhelpful and had to wait over an hour before they came just to tell me this when I had said there was a major oil leak. NEVER again after 20 years of membership will cancel now and go for Green Flag which are at least cheaper and couldn't be worse

 

DON'T USE AA THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY HOPELESS!!!!

[andypa38]

I can truly recommend Green Flag. Even the Police did when I waited in a dangerous position for the AA for 4 hrs only to be told by the driver he was going to take me 500 yrds in the wrong direction so I could continue to wait. Green Flag have helped me on numerous occasions even a £1500 relay 400 miles from Scotland. I have had to use it multiple times in the 3 to 4 yrs of membership, always expecting the premium to go up as I have used it 2 to 3 times with each annual policy (I have a 17 Yr old Rover - love it) premium this year with all benefits £45. I complain bitterly at bad service - I am totally happy with Green Flag - recommend it & stand by my word.

[peterjeff]

Just had an unpleasant morning with the AA trying to sort out my daughters cars.

Refused to even look at the car because head office deemed it was the same fault as a previous call out two days earlier. I argued that they could not possible know that until the mechanic actually looked at the car !! On hold for ten minutes then they hung up , had to redial and explain everything again.

Is it best to email or send a letter of complaint and compensation by recorded delivery to the CEO?

Has anyone got a name for the CEO ?

Thanks in advance

 

 

Peter

[Conniff]

On the contrary, the problems highlighted here seem very typical of your increasingly low standards!

 

Setting aside the fact that the AA sub much of their obligation out to lesser local garages & recovery companies, my complaint is more fundamental: I want to stop being an AA member but you keep reprocessing my annual fee despite the fact that I have repeatedly asked you not to.

 

The AA have removed £170 from my bank account even though I cancelled my AA membership 6 months ago. FYI, I'm not tied into any contract that permits them to do this.

 

What really surprised me is that fact that I cancelled all direct debits (as I'm currently living abroad), which means that the AA have stored my debit card details and have reprocessed them without my authorisation.

 

Annoyingly, this is the second year in succession that I've had the exact same issue, because I unsuccessfully tried to cancel the year before too.

 

I'm not sure about the finer details of the law, but isn't it illegal to store & process financial information without consent? Isn't that why direct debits exist; to establish an authorised, repeating payment? Direct debits allow the consumer to terminate the renewal of a contract, but the AA clearly circumnavigates this by reprocessing the debit card details.

 

So, D.H AA Rep, let's have an open discussion about this. Why do the AA harvest payment details and process them instead of using the established banking norm of direct debits? And, why have the AA chosen to process my card details twice despite the fact that I have asked you not to?

 

I wouldn't mind so much if the service was half as good as you claim, but with the exception of the sales team, every interaction that I have had with the AA has been with an unsophisticated, low-quality workforce. Your service isn't appalling, but it's close. In terms of both quality of service and value for money, the AA is obviously a declining brand trading off the fact that they used to be good.

 

 

Recall the direct debit and then cancel it.

[Conniff]

Just had an unpleasant morning with the AA trying to sort out my daughters cars.

Refused to even look at the car because head office deemed it was the same fault as a previous call out two days earlier. I argued that they could not possible know that until the mechanic actually looked at the car !! On hold for ten minutes then they hung up , had to redial and explain everything again.

Is it best to email or send a letter of complaint and compensation by recorded delivery to the CEO?

Has anyone got a name for the CEO ?

Thanks in advance

 

 

Peter

 

 

Here's the top man - Mr Chris Jansen - [email protected]

[Sparrowhawk372]

AA - break it and run!!

I've gone throught the AA complaints procedure - got nowhere. (Its a long story) Claims and Risk Management services state " the AA has no offer to make in respect of your claim and maintain the damage claimed was a pre-existing fault."

The AA patrol snapped off and broke the bonnet release handle on my car, after it had seized and left without telling me!!!

So ok the mechanism had seized but the handle wasnt broken and was still attached.

I'll try the CEO but after 17 years I hoped for better, of course I now fall foul of their T&C's now in that no refund is payable if membership is cancelled.

[Conniff]

If it was seized, it would have broken no matter who had pulled on it, even you. You can't realistically expect someone else to pay for lack of maintenance.

 

Are you saying this happened 17 years ago ?

[Sparrowhawk372]

No - I've been a member for 17 years.

I appreciate that it had seized but further damage was caused in pulling on it so as to separate the handle and cable, made worse in my mind in not telling me.