AA Policy Cancellation Problems

Chris_Justice

Hi,

I've got a bit of a weird situation going on with the AA and i'm not quite sure what my rights are etc so looking for a little advice.

The Background

My fiance was driving the car to work (I caught the train that day) and broke down at a major roundabout at a motorway junction in rush hour traffic. She called me as I have an AA policy so I got in contact with them to see if they would attend. Unfortunately my policy is for me only, not my car so they couldn't attend but the operator said to call the police as they will move the vehicle. While I was on hold I let my fiance know she should call the police, which she did. The operator then asked for her mobile number so he could call her and offer some advice based on her situation (hazard lights, whether to leave the vehicle or not etc etc). I said it was OK because the police were attending but he insisted he could help so eventually I agreed and gave him the number.

I got a lift to her location from a colleague and arrived to find that her car was off the road and the AA were in attendance. It transpires that the police had moved the car but the AA operative had basically told her that she had to purchase her own policy and that i'd agreed to her doing it. This is of course complete nonsense, and in fact I know a local garage owner so with the car out of harms way thanks to the police I could have sorted it out myself. She was in a complete panic about what had happened and had just agreed to everything he said, which was a £120 policy plus an £80 fee for signing up while in an emergency situation.

The AA man didn't know what was wrong with the vehicle, it just started itself eventually. It transpires that it was due to an overheating sensor which I've now had replaced so once it had cooled the car started fine.

Complaint to the AA

I wrote a complaint to the AA regarding the deception by which they had got her number off of me and the fact that they had used it as leverage to make the sale. In conjunction my fiance has written her own complaint and asked for a full refund.

Their Response

Their initial response is that she is entitled to a refund because the policy is in the cooling off period but a charge of £130 is payable for the emergency call out so they'll only refund £70 (these numbers are approximate as they vary depending on who she talks to). The complaint was escalated to a manager who listened to the recordings of both conversations. He has accepted that the way in which they obtained her number was naughty AND that the way they sold the policy was also naughty. He will not budge however in terms of what they'll offer as a refund.

Now to me the whole situation just seems wrong and they've taken advantage of a young woman who was panicking in a bit of a crisis and pressure sold her something she didn't want/need. Is my opinion right though? Or is it simply a case of she signed up to the policy with all its terms and conditions so tough? They claim that she was told on the phone that some of the payment was non-refundable but she says she was on her mobile next to a very busy main road so could hardly hear him and was just agreeing to everything.
I don't really know where we stand on this one! I'm thinking of escalating it to the ombudsman - would that do any good?

Any help/advice is gratefully received.

AlexisV

Yes, strictly speaking it's nothing to do with you. Your fiancee in effect was sold the policy by the man at the roadside, as if he was driving past and just happened to come across her - or on the phone beforehand.

If he explained the terms to her there and then and she accepted, that's that.

It comes down to what the AA man said to her at the roadside, or on the phone to her directly.

I suspect you wouldn't have minded the £130 if the car problem was serious and the AA had done well to get it going again.

McKneff

Got To agree with the above.

Your girlfriend does not need your permission to take out a policy for herself.

Chris_Justice

Indeed not but the point is that she took out the policy under the pretense that I had said that she should. As a couple we generally discuss our spending so if she had received a cold call offering her a policy she would have said she would like to discuss it with me first (of course if she wanted it then that would be fine). In this case the fact that she believed I had basically already agreed it was a good idea swayed her into taking out the policy.

I take both of your points though. Strictly following the T's & C's it doesn't seem like there is much hope of a full refund BUT do please try and bear in mind that she was particularly upset at basically having been conned into buying a policy she didn't really need.
I would also like to point out that i'm not interfering with her complaint process, i filed a separate complaint about the way in which they obtained her number from me.