Rant: The AA

[whizzkid11]

The wife broke down today in the W210 E320CDi. She was doing 30mph, in the inside lane of the roundabout and it just shutdown completely.

the wife who was alone, and during rush hour on the M1 junc 5 roundabout, could not do anything and had to put her hazard lights on, triangle out, and jump across over the crash barrier, while cars drove around her.

Having called the AA they refused to accept a call as she was in a live lane, and that we had to call the police to move us to a safe location. 45 mins later a police car pulls up.... and luckily it started for literally 1 min which allowed us to drive it to a safe place. If it hadn't then the police would have called out a recovery truck at a cost of £150 to move us 25 yards.

Once moved, I called the AA, and they then agreed to send someone out and would be an hour from then. Why they couldn't send someone before or log a call before is beyond me.

I have been a member of the AA since 1991 paying by DD, and my last callout was 4 years ago while travelling in my father in laws car.

To top it up, the AA patrol checked out the car and said it needed to be towed to a garage. No problems, I booked it in and asked the AA patrol if I could be dropped off home ( about 3 miles away) and the car towed to the garage. I have the full coverage, to include relay, relay plus etc.

The AA patrol guy responded, that " no you will be towed to the garage with the car or or you can arrange to be picked up from here. Alternatively, if you ask the towing company nicely, they may drop you someone near home"

The Audacity!!!

Ok - now I want my relay plus car... I'll park it up at home while I drive my 7 series, but I want it now... to which he responded if you collect it in the morning you can have it till Tuesday morning.... If you want it now, you will have to travel to Heathrow during rush hour - tomorrow you can pick it up from 10 mins walk from home.

Either way - this is probably my last week of AA membership after two decades of direct debit. (rescuemycar.com - here I come)

If its any consellation, the towing garage (Ontime) was great, very friendly, dropped me at home and had a great chat along the way.

Tomorrow morning I will be going to pick up my corsa for the long weekend.

Rant Over!!

 

[ringway]

Very frustrating, I'm sure. Although the red-tape of todays world, unfortunately, calls the shots.


I'm a believer in breakdown cover (although I only joined the RAC aound 10 years ago) and wouldn't be without it.

I have the RAC top package and it has paid for itself many times over due to the Sprintshift gearbox problems we had with our LWB Sprinter around 4, years ago. The van was collected on a flat-back trailer on several occasions and transported to a garage of my choice - Free of charge.

Also, my VX Omega has had a couple of problems in its old age (crank sensor caused untold problems) and the RAC attended half a dozen times at various locations without quibbling, even though the same fault was the cause of the breakdown. (There was a cross-over point for the crank sensor on my VX, meaning two sensors were listed but only one would function and I was supplied with the wrong one!)

For around £100 a year to cover me in any vehicle in which I travel, is outstanding value in my opinion.

 

[219]

Dreadful service .

You'd have been better off going along with your seven series and a towrope , and hauling her off the roundabout yourself !

 

[GP801]

Have always found the RAC very good. Had to use them a few times over the years. Very helpful. Recover the car and then take you to the hire depot. By contrast my son used the AA once. They damaged his car and then refused to accept any liability. He ended up issuing court proceedings and they settled out of court.

 

[MD5]

I have the full AA package, and had to call them on Boxing Day evening, having caught a kerb in the fog and bursting two n/s tyres. I was told this was as a result of an accident, so wouldn't be covered. I was offered the phone number of my insurers, as I would need to arrange recovery through them. Thinking this would be for an emergency out of hours service, I rang to find out it was a regular office number.

I phoned the AA back, explained I only needed a couple of tyres and my insurers weren't open, so I was told there would be a recovery fee of £104, unless any extra charges were involved. Having satisfied myself these extra charges were unlikely, I thought for the money, it would get me home to Bournemouth from Bishops Stortford, and I could take up the charging issue at a later time.

When the sub contract recovery guy arrived, he told us he could only take us locally! A smashing guy, and ex AA himself, he sympathised with my dilemma, and said there was an emergency tyre service in north London, so I phoned the AA back, and asked why would I pay £104 for a local recovery when I'm not local? "To take you to an accident repair centre to assess the damage tomorrow". By now, I'm livid, and after a few more calls, they refunded my callout fee and arranged (at their cost) for the tyre firm to come and fit me two tyres, which I paid for. This all took about four hours in the freezing fog, and I dread to think what my other half would have done if she had been by herself. We got home at four the following morning! I have several policies with them, and renewal time will be interesting.

 

[Scott_F]

I had AA membership a few years ago and called them out only once having broken down at a motorway service station one freezing November night.

I initially called them at 6pm and was recovered at nearly midnight. Each time I phoned back I was told that the recovery truck should already be there, they didn't know when it would be there, it would be there within 30 mins etc. The people in the call centre were useless and I suspect weren't AA employees but were employed by the call centre who had a contract with the AA (rather like the a lot of the recovery people during busy periods).

When I wrote a letter of complaint I was given all sorts of excuses (eg. had I not broken down in a "safe" location I would have been dealt with quicker !). I received a paltry £20 cheque as compensation for my 6 hour wait but my membership was up and I'd already joined the RAC.

 

[grober]

Welcome to subcontract/ payment by direct debit/car manufacturer/insurance company paid for recovery service Britain. In their vision of the world " individual customers" who actually pay for and expect an efficient recovery service in return don't exist---only revenue streams.

 

[rascalmaster]

i used AutoAid in anger... v v good!

just posted regarding that here...

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/insurance-finance/110934-autoaid-breakdown-service.html

 

[Scott_F]

Welcome to subcontract/ payment by direct debit/car manufacturer/insurance company paid for recovery service Britain. In their vision of the world " individual customers" who actually pay for and expect an efficient recovery service in return don't exist---only revenue streams.

And yet "The Fourth Emergency Service" neglect to tell us this in their adverts !

 

[prprandall51]

In fairness, the AA used to be brilliant. As a direct result of owning an Italian-built Ducati motorbike and a British-built Land Rover, I became very chummy with most of the AA patrolmen in Surrey in the 1990's.

That was when the AA was a membership-driven organisation. The rot set in when British Gas (or whatever it was then called) bought it; it has subsequently changed hands a few times, I think.

Now it is all about "sweating the assets" - i.e. the members - for insurance (house, car, pet, life, whatever) and then selling it on to another group of "investors" once the membership list has been milked for all it's worth.

 

[stevesey]

Having called the AA they refused to accept a call as she was in a live lane, and that we had to call the police to move us to a safe location.

Puzzled by that bit, she was on a roundabout, not the motorway itself. No different from attending any other roadside breakdown.

I have been a member for years and used then a few times, last couple were crank sensor on the Merc, and pinholed radiator hose about 5 years ago. Both times they were efficient and got someone to me in reasonable time, on the Merc they didn't even question my request for a relay and send someone to look at the car first, just send the relay truck (genuine AA one). Other occasion was the same, but midnight and they sent a local subcontractor (with truck) - as it was only a pinhole we taped it up and went on our was (with a reminder self that I'd got out of the habit of having a few basic tools in the car, touch, adjustable spanner, knife, tape etc).

Have things gone downhill in the past 2-3 years?

 

[NuisanceValue]

And yet "The Fourth Emergency Service" neglect to tell us this in their adverts !

This is the reason I would never use the AA, the audacity of thinking they were the fourth emergency service really rankled me. I much prefer the RAC who I'm with. They've been great.

 

[Scott_F]

Now it is all about "sweating the assets" - i.e. the members - for insurance (house, car, pet, life, whatever) and then selling it on to another group of "investors" once the membership list has been milked for all it's worth.

Their insurance quotes are always uncompetitive too !

 

[JOB-BLACK-RAT]

Any of you folks recall when the AA driver had to salute your motor if it was sporting the metal AA grill badge?

Well im a member of RAC, and with the exception of never getting my £20 shopping voucher for joining, I have had no problems.

Half wit left hooker HGV takes out my pride and joy and over I roll, ending up bouncing the central res a couple of time for good measure. 1 call to the RAC and they send out a wagon to pick me up and bring me homw. Driver offers up flask of tea as well! many thanks all round.

Other half (life long member AA) suffers front nearside blowout and damages the alloy 'spare not an option'. Calls AA, their comment>

'its an accident Sir, we only deal with breakdowns though for £150 we will call a recovery firm for you'.

That was the last day of AA membership.

 

[Chrishazle]

I not only remember the salute, I remember them being on motorbike and sidecar (painted yellow), and still have the winged badge from those days and a couple of keys to the roadside AA phone boxes! God I'm getting old!

 

[StevenN]

They used to salute to warn of roadside speed checks. So I'm lead to believe.
Always sorted my problems out even if they couldn't fix it

 

[BTB 500]

We're also RAC (personal cover - so any vehicle, even if you're just a passenger), no problems.

 

[c2raig]

I used to be AA, until one day I was on my way to work with my girlfriend's car, and it performed a catastrophic fail of gearbox. I had personal cover, AA called, responded quickly.

When the patrol arrived, he refused to look at the car or move it. His response was that he didn't believe that I was driving the car when it broke down. His attitude was appauling, and he left me bitter. Four calls to the AA and eventually they refunded my membership, and I joined the RAC.

In comparison, the RAC have been superb. I've had to call them several times, first when the gear linkage in my C2 failed, where they towed me 30 miles to my garage of choice, then dropped me home. Secondly, a day later, when the 2.0 Omega I borrowed promptly dropped all of its oil and water on my way to work - in the middle of nowhere - where, they again towed me back to the garage and gave me a lift home.

The third time I called them, it was sowing very badly, when the coil pack packed it in on the C2 in a really, really dodgy part of town. Guy showed up promptly, tried to see what the problem was before taking me to the garage, and again, home.

I've never had a bad experience with the RAC, and I've now got the full blown package for everything, with myself and my girlfriend both covered.

Join the RAC.

 

[TaffH]

I've been an AA member for more years than I care to remember and their service has been getting worse and worse. Last time I used them was when my bike broke down on the M3. The sub contractor who came out, and who was a top bloke, insisted that the AA had told him I could only be taken to the nearest place with food and drink (a McDonalds as it happens).
Bearing in mind I have everything except Home Start I was a little irked. It took numerous phone calls from him to both his boss and the AA in order to finally realise I was right and that he could actually take me home. The guy said that this wasn't the first time this had happened.
I've been meaning to deny them my three figure annual renewal for some time now - from reading this thread it looks like my money would be better spent with the RAC.

 

[Stratman]

I get full RAC for all four of us at home through the Tesco Clubcard vouchers. Total cost:- £0.00

My wife and one of my sons have had cause to use them for breakdowns, and I had 'misfuelling' event and they were great in all cases.