Bit of an AA rant

Biofox

Hello,

I'd like to get something off my chest and thought it might serve as some use to others who may be/have been in a similar situation.

I have been a member of the AA for a year now. I took out the cover online for £99 and decided to go for the home start, recovery shebang. I took out the cover because about a week after I had replaced my car battery the car wouldn't start and the AA online service said that they charge a fee for immediate cover however if you can wait 24hrs they will start your cover and the call out falls under that. Since I didn't need the car I decided to wait overnight and call them out the following day (unrelated but apparently it just needed a jump, my other half had left the boot slightly open and the interior boot light had been on for about 3days!).

A couple of weeks ago I received my renewal letter from the AA to find that they were planning on helping themselves to £166 renewal fee...I was a bit shocked. I thought "loyal" customers got a discount (they don't). I called up the AA and spoke to a very patronising man with a heavy Nigerian accent, I should add that his ethnicity isn't important I just wanted to illustrate how I was struggling to understand everything he said.

I told him about the price of my renewal and how I wasn't happy with this and he told me that because they have raised my cover from 3 home start call outs to 5 in a year (I hadn't asked them to do this) and they also give me a lot of benefits (discounts in shops I don't frequent etc). I told him that since becoming a memeber of the AA I had called them out once, at the start of my cover (see above) and therefore I didn't fancy being charged an additional £67 for increased cover when I didn't use my allocated cover last year!

He repeated what he said about the "benefits" and I told him they were of no use to me. He put me on hold so he could "have a word" with his manager. He came back to me with an offer of £145 renewal. I told him no, if I cancelled and then took the cover out again online it would only cost me £99. He put me on hold again to speak with his manager and came back to me saying that they had agreed to honour it at this price (£99) for me.

I thanked him but also asked why they felt they could charge their current customers a shocking 66% more than their new customers, it made me not want to continue my business with them and just cancel with no further discussion- he went quiet.

He told me that he would send out my new renewal with my new card on it and all of the details we had agreed on. I thanked him.

A couple of days ago I received my new renewal. It was exactly the same as the previous one, renewal price £166!

I was really, really annoyed. I called up the AA straight away and went through to the cancellations department. I told "Alex" what had happened and that since my second renewal didn't reflect what was agreed on the phone I wanted to cancel.

He didn't even argue with me. You know how normally they go through the "now Mrs X, I can see you are unhappy, let me see if my manager can tell me what's gone wrong..." Nothing. He just said "fine" and cancelled.

I asked for the complaints dept. number but I'm not too sure what I want them to do. I am quite good at complaining and I would like them to know what happened and receive an apology from them but other than that I am not sure what to say. I certainly don't want to be a member of the AA when they are lying, obnoxious and patronising, so wouldn't accept if they offered me breakdown cover at 20% of the usual cost.

Any ideas how I should persue the complaint?

Sorry for the rant, I am very annoyed! Has anyone else had any similar issues with the AA? I am now curious as to whether they will still help themselves to my money since the DD is due shortly and I called them to complain on good Friday...any excuse to take my money then drag their feet during the refund process.

Strider590

Mr Nigerian got his sale, got his commission..... It's the AA's fault, but not in the way you think. It's their fault for using foriegn call centre's and for paying commission to the operators. It's those workers who use underhand tactics (which the AA may be blissfully unaware of) to make sure they get their "bonus" each month.

The call centre's by the way, probably deal with customers from 10 to 20 other businesses, the only thing that changes is the script they use when they see what company your trying to call.

jim22

A couple of weeks ago my renewal of £112 was up by continous payment. Before it expired I rang up to cancel saying I was migrating to the rac only because of cost. The price was reduced to £73 same as RAC introductory offer. Worth doing.

vikingaero

I switch from the AA to RAC at renewal. Sometimes I stay with the AA/RAC if the offer is good - I just cancel and sign up with the new offer.