AA Parts Cover failure causes delay & hardship

[LilacDaffodil]

When my starter motor gave up the ghost in June the AA man assured me that if I dropped my car off at the local garage they would replace the starter motor and I would only have to pay the £35 excess as I had full cover. The garage called the AA to confirm the arrangements and were told the technical dept were 'too busy to talk to them'. I had to wait an extra 2 days without my car before the garage could get hold of the right person to talk to, They were then told I would have to pay the full amount of the bill and I would be refunded, meaning I had to borrow the £260 to get my car back. I am still waiting for the refund. I am appalled by the poor service. I work 20m from home so had to rely on colleagues to get me to and from work. I took out the full cover because, as a single parent living in a rural area I am fully reliant on my car and do not have the funds to pay large bills in the event of a major breakdown. the 4th emergency service have left me out of pocket, disappointed and vulnerable.

[Conniff]

You have been conned into taking out what is really a worthless piece of insurance.

 

Send them a letter registered or recorded or guaranteed next day delivery and give them 48hours to send you a check and if not received in that time, you have the choice of adding 8% and waiting or taking them to the small claims which only costs about £30, which you get back from them and can be done on line.

[D.H AA Rep]

When my starter motor gave up the ghost in June the AA man assured me that if I dropped my car off at the local garage they would replace the starter motor and I would only have to pay the £35 excess as I had full cover. The garage called the AA to confirm the arrangements and were told the technical dept were 'too busy to talk to them'. I had to wait an extra 2 days without my car before the garage could get hold of the right person to talk to, They were then told I would have to pay the full amount of the bill and I would be refunded, meaning I had to borrow the £260 to get my car back. I am still waiting for the refund. I am appalled by the poor service. I work 20m from home so had to rely on colleagues to get me to and from work. I took out the full cover because, as a single parent living in a rural area I am fully reliant on my car and do not have the funds to pay large bills in the event of a major breakdown. the 4th emergency service have left me out of pocket, disappointed and vulnerable.

 

Hello, if you have anything outstanding and would like us to help look into this please email [email protected] and entitle the email with Reference number 14942.RegardsThe AA

[scaniaman]

DH AA Rep.

I am a member of the AA and am extremely concerned about the number of complaints on this site and else where. The AA used to be a "Flagship" organisation that one could rely on 100%, so what the heck is going on since the takeover???

 

SHOULD I BE LOOKING FOR ANOTHER ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE PROVIDER???

 

What i do know is that the last time i had to call you out my call was taken by one of those infernal call centres. The chap who answered was having great difficulty with the english language and also understanding me. He had NO knowledge of the area i was calling from and seemed to think that everywhere was a City.

[LilacDaffodil]

Received call from the AA who apologised that I had not been told that there was a possibility that I would have to pay the entire bill myself and then wait for a refund. I sent a copy of my invoice and have now received my cheque. The main reason for taking out this cover was so that I wouldn't have to pay a massive bill, (single parent / low income), but hey-ho at least I can now pay the relatives that had to club together so I could get my car back on the road

[Mallrat83]

DH AA Rep.

I am a member of the AA and am extremely concerned about the number of complaints on this site and else where. The AA used to be a "Flagship" organisation that one could rely on 100%, so what the heck is going on since the takeover???

 

SHOULD I BE LOOKING FOR ANOTHER ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE PROVIDER???

 

What i do know is that the last time i had to call you out my call was taken by one of those infernal call centres. The chap who answered was having great difficulty with the english language and also understanding me. He had NO knowledge of the area i was calling from and seemed to think that everywhere was a City.

 

 

There shouldnt have been a problem with the english language unless you got real unlucky as all the AA call centres are UK based. I believe the breakdown department is in Cheadle, tho i guess nowadays even if the call centre is in the UK your not guaranteed to get a great english speaker... I have this problem when I call Barclays bank!

[Old Cogger]

And a velly fine call centre it is to, pardon, can you speekee clear english or slow down your dialict, ah velly fine indead. English call centre? Bombay Mix Please.

[duckwaddler]

Before we got our new car, we had a second hand Corsa that was edging up to almost 10yrs old, and we had the "breakdown & repair" policy - this is THE biggest con I have ever come across in my life!

 

My OH broke down in the morning, called them out - and the AA guy took it upon himself to use his own oil, then proceeded to give my OH an invoice for £25! My OH told him he had oil of his own in the boot! Anyway, the AA guy reckoned it was fine, and so my OH set off on the rest of his journey.

 

Within 15mins it broke down again, he called the AA out a second time, to which the guy diagnosed the thermostat, and took my OH to a garage - the garage "fixed" it, but my OH literally got halfway down the road from the garage when the car started smoking.

 

To cut a long story short, it turned out that it was the head gasket, and that it had not initially been diagnosed properly.

 

The AA totally refused to cover the cost of the repair to the garage! I was livid!

 

We knew we were getting our new car within the next week or so, so my OH left the car at the garage, telling him to not do the repairs unless the AA agreed to pay (the garage didn't mind, and tried arguing it out with the AA) and we hired a car till we got our new one.

 

We'd paid into that for years, so were not happy and felt very duped by them.

 

However, he who laughs last laughs the longest - they have since tried several times to recoup the £25 for the drop of oil they put into our car, they gave up around a year ago though - I just kept telling them to go whistle for it