The AA NON Recovery Service

lesta_jesta

My daughter was travelling some 25 miles from home when the fan belt on her car broke. She rang the AA and said "my fanbelt is broke come rescue me".
The Patrolman arrived without a fan belt although he advised the despatcher he hadn't got one on his van he was allocated the job anyway.

She was told that the Patrolman could not go and fetch a fan belt for her car as that would take him over the time limit the Patrolmen are allowed to fix the car.

He then advised my daughter that because she hadn't got "Relay" membership he couldn't give her a tow home however, he could call a local garage to tow her home at a cost of £101.

She then called her boyfriend and he and a mechanic friend bought a fan belt from Halfords (£6) and drove the 25 miles to her car and fixed it.

My daughter paid £42 for Option 1 cover which is supposed to reapir the car or according to their promise "We're making a unique promise to our Personal Members: to fix your car by the road, or get you another one. Whatever happens we won't leave you stranded". https://www.aamembership.co.uk/breakdowncover/join/chosen_option.asp?o=1

What a load of tosh. On complaining to the AA about the shoddy service they originally offered to "upgrade" her membership to "Relay" and then retracted it as that would mean that they accepted an element of bad service.

The cheeky beggers never even had the decency to offer her the £42 membership fee, the £6 for the fan belt nor the £50 she gave the mechanic to come and fix the car. As far as the AA are concerned they "have fulfilled their commitments" and "that is the end of the matter"

Optimist

Thats rather strange as the AA option 100 cover offers relay therefore they didnt fulfill their comitments

Breakdown Cover – Option 100
"Roadside – Help at least ¼ mile from your home. If we can't fix your vehicle, we'll take you and your vehicle home or to the nearest garage (whichever is nearer at the time), or we'll provide you with a courtesy car for 24 hours"
https://www.aamembership.co.uk/breakdowncover/join/chosen_option.asp?o=1

They would seem to be in breach of contact. Get back on to them. Complain again in writing

http://www.theaa.com/aboutaa/complaints.html

deemy2004

In my experience also, AA sucks big time !

I dumped them because of shear incompentance to diagnose a fault properly i.e.the car needed a battery not a bloody alternator ! Switchign that would have made NO difference ..... bye... bye.... AA

Luckily, I tried a new battery first before following the useless AA's recommendation !

travelchick

deemy2004 wrote:

In my experience also, AA sucks big time !

I dumped them because of shear incompentance to diagnose a fault properly i.e.the car needed a battery not a bloody alternator ! Switchign that would have made NO difference ..... bye... bye.... AA

Luckily, I tried a new battery first before following the useless AA's recommendation !

Snap I was told I needed new brushes in the alternator however my local garage told me not a chance a new battery was the problem.

ON A SCARY NOTE!!!!!!!!!
My car broke down in London a few weeks ago after i left my dads house i called the AA at 12am :-O the chap came out and said he couldnt fix the problem with my car and said he could tow me to the nearest garage I explains that is was now 1am the garage was closed could he not return us to my house which was 20 miles away he said he wasnt allowed to do that and could only tow us to a garage I was on my own with 2 children aged 1 and 3 and this dispicable man actually suggested dumping me and my children in the middle of London to wait untill the morning for help HOW DISCUSTING!!!
he did give me the opertunity to purchace the extra cover i needed to get home at £100 more than the standard rate as i needed it there and then!
Needles to say i told him where to go and phoned daddy for a lift lol.
there i feel better for that
Trav
xxxx

lesta_jesta

As a follow up to my previous message.........
I emailed the AA and asked a couple of questions regarding Option100

1)If my car breaks down at the roadside and it cannot be fixed will I be provided with a car?

2)Do you think it would be a good idea to carry a spare fan belt in the car just in case of an emergency?

I received the following response from the AA which is the answer I expected but not what happened in reality in my daughters case.

---

Your enquiry has been logged against the above Service Request Number.
Dear Mr M********n

Thank you for your e-mail.

We will provide you with a courtesy car if your car cannot be fixed by the
roadside, regardless of the reason for your breakdown.

You can carry a spare fanbelt if you wish, but normally, our patrolman would
be able to supply a replacement for this, so there is no need to worry.

If there is anything else we can help with, please just ask.
Kind regards
S***h A***d
Internet Support Advisor
https://www.theaa.com
0870 600 0371

---

deemy2004

So the AA pitter patter sales team lie

lesta_jesta

lesta_jesta wrote:

The cheeky beggers never even had the decency to offer her the £42 membership fee, the £6 for the fan belt nor the £50 she gave the mechanic to come and fix the car. As far as the AA are concerned they "have fulfilled their commitments" and "that is the end of the matter"

Update: The AA have offered £5 to cover the cost of her mobile calls to effect a rescue!!

Queenie

That is OUTRAGEOUS!!! Even more so in travelchicks case where she had her babies with her!!!

I would be writing a very strongly worded letter and reminding them of the Marie Wilkes case! And a copy to my MP.

And what's with these "Jobs Worths" who actually turn up and have the audacity to call themselves "men"! Would they like it if the situations described were applied to their female relations? Like bl%dy heck they would!

Oooh, I'm so X I could suck their eyeballs out and spit them back up their R's! Hmmph!

Lifesaver

The AA are a complete shower, they left me stranded for 1 1/2 hrs on my own after their patrolman got me going, I was left for an hour befor his initial visit on a dark part of the M6 in the pouring rain.
I travelled for 1/2 mile, got off the motorway and the engine cut out again. I immediatedly called the patrolman who said he would be back.......when he arrived he had gone off to do another 2 jobs - one 20 miles away.
He did get me going eventually.
I complained in the strongest terms and told them to stuff their renewal.

A woman alone, a priority - I don't think they care!

The_Bride_3

My experience of the AA has been dreadful. I had complete cover, the works, cost around 150 ish for two of us. One day my car wouldn't start during the rush hour, and I was simply told that NO-ONE could help me. They refused to come out point blank. Not only that, but they couldn't find any garage who could help me.
As a woman by myself in an underground car-park I was none to chuffed! I had to rely on the help of a total stranger to get me going again. Needless to say I haven't touched them with a barge-pole since!

simonts

I spent 3 1/2 hours once while the AA could not find me on a very simple dual carriageway after a light shunt and my radiator went, Had 5 police cars go past..not one stopped and in the end paid over £100 for a local pickup compnay who managed to arrive in under ten minutes