Incompetent AA fixed saver!

XXXX

I recently opened an AA fixed saver, after the initial cheque payment, I had arranged to have further deposits taken from my linked bank account by 'direct debit' today.

Do you know what happened? it was not 'direct debit' at all, unexpectedly it was 'direct credit' instead. I have contacted them by email, 'We do aim to get back to you within 72 hours.' Perhaps I should just enjoy sitting on the extra thousands of pounds to compensate my losses with Ice-frozen-safe.

johnoz

Hi, XXXX

You probably wouldn't have much more luck over the phone ...

I opened a fixed account like you, but as an existing saver they decided I did not need to send a cheque, they would debit my linked account. I set up the initial deposit online to be £25000, but it appeared as a future transaction for only £3000.

On phoning they said, yes, definitely wrong, but couldn't do anything about it ... the suggestion was that I send in a cheque for the £25,000, and if/when the £3000 came out they would pay it back!

Checking further, I was confused that whilst the first online confirmation said they would take £3000 out of my linked account, the pending transaction seemed to imply it would be going the other way, the direct credit you spoke of. The helpline said that they couldn't actually work out which way it would go!

Doesn't exactly fill you with confidence, eh?

XXXX

johnoz wrote: »

Doesn't exactly fill you with confidence, eh?

Absolutely. AA tried to direct debit double the funds back on a later date that absolutely without my knowledge, now as a result, caused me an unpaid fee irrevocably.

How pathetic! I am going to make them pay. [FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif][/FONT]

noh

They got my direct debit wrong too.
I sent the initial cheque and that has been credited. I then arranged two further deposits by DD. These have not been taken because, it appears that, the DD has been set up with incorrect details. I called them to explain the problem but the CS rep had difficulty in understanding what a DD is.
I gave up and have put the cash into a Yorkshire Building Society fixed term account. Instant opening and deposit via debit card.

Nigel

Stavros_3

Who the **** runs this account, Mickey Mouse?

NumbersGuy_2

noh, out of interest how long did it take between mailing your cheque and them crediting it?

noh

NumbersGuy wrote: »

noh, out of interest how long did it take between mailing your cheque and them crediting it?

It was credited on the day it was received ie the day after I posted it. It does depend on how busy they are. Others have reported delays of 3 or 4 days.

Nigel

noh

Stavros wrote: »

Who the **** runs this account, Mickey Mouse?

Birmingham Midshires .
Mickey mouse could probably make a better job of running it.

Oblivion

It does rather beg the question doesn't it ... why on earth are outfits like the AA getting involved in savings accounts? If I wanted roadside rescue my first thought wouldn't be ask Nationwide Building Society or HSBC, so why should I go to a roadside rescue company to deposit savings? Has the world gone totally bloody mad?

Dave.

dougz_2

Oblivion wrote: »

why on earth are outfits like the AA getting involved in savings accounts?

Presumably because BMid presented them with a tasty deal. So the real question is why would BMid give up some of the profit to operate these accounts under someone elses name instead of their own? Which leads me to wonder if they secretly predicted this shambles and decided to let someone elses brand get tarnished instead of their own.

SparciaM

AA call centre is purely that a call centre, with no banking knowledge. All the banking side is done with BM.

AA basically set things up, like admin and then pass over to BM, but cause they aren't bank trained they don't know all the procedures etc. I had an AA account and it was terrible, awfully run etc.

I set up a payment to leave on a Monday and then realised I needed the payment to leave on the Friday, so called up and done over the phone. They then cancelled the Monday payment which in turn cancelled my whole account and any transfers in and out. They then decided to take 4 weeks sending out new internet tokens (but if you issue 2 then the first one is cancelled) and the guy that sent out the first token sent two, so 1 was inactive - yet I didn't know which one as they had both the same date. So when they arrived my account blocked due to their error. This went on for ages. In the end I had to get them to do a CHAPs transfer of all my funds and close the account.

They are awful over the phone, very arrogant and I guess cause they aren't a bank, don't really care. I wouldn't touch AA every again, for anything as the service and everything that went with it was terrible.

Heads up. AA Banking times etc:

Transfers will leave the account after 3pm (as this is when their banking liason team transfer everything to BM).
Transfers in wont credit till after 12pm unless otherwise stated (again due to this liason).
Future dated transfers wont leave an account until 5pm - don't ask my why.
If you cancel a future dated transfer it will cancel the DD to your linked account and you'd need to set it all up again (like what happened to me).

If I were you, I'd get your money and run. Complain on the way as I got £25 out of them for the utter crap service.