The AA 'gold membership, what it is??

ohreally

Why do folks continue to support organisations who kick the !!!!! out of customer loyalty - inform them your walking and go elsewhere.

Selphie142

Just got off the phone to the AA about my renewal cost. Told them I was confused that it was so high in comparison to the £69 I paid last year and the £77.73 the year before. They looked at my account and said that as it had been active for so long and I'd not really called them out (I think I've done it twice in the 3 years) they'd be able to give me a 40% discount! Now paying £73.28 which is cheaper than becoming a new customer. Result!

Sometimes it's worth haggling; if you're gonna make the effort to change companies it might be worth using the same effort on the company you're with to get better results.

GolfBravo

40% off? Unbelievable.

IMHO this is their business model. Renewal "membership" premiums go up by 40%, 20% of their customers then switch to another company, 5% ring and negotiate - overall they make a nice profit.

londoner2009

Our came through as well £235 for cover for 4 people at the same address, we have 3 cars in the house

I see we can switch to the RAC and get the basic service for about £88 for 3 cars

Linus2864

For what it's worth, when my AA membership renewal came through, I called up to let them know I was cancelling my membership and they halved the price.

In common with other insurers, they work on the assumption that switching is too complicated, so they will load your premium.

It's worth getting them to knock down the price; if you feel it is still too high then switch to the RAC, Green Flag or National Breakdown to take advantage of their introductory offers.

Hope this helps

biggles-0

On 6th February, 2013 I also received an AA renewal letter, which we pay by DD, so normally have a brief glance at it then sign the cards trusting that the AA, being a large organisation, would have our renewal details correct as we had initially requested.
However, this year’s renewal letter only attracted my attention because the membership cards were a different colour and mentioned “Gold Membership”. This prompted me to read the letter in detail, probably for the first time. The letter stated that being a member of the AA for 19 years we qualified for their “new Gold Membership” when we renew and since we pay by DD we had nothing to do and they would collect £290.18 on 21st March 2013.
The amount seemed rather high so I checked on my bank statements and revealed that I paid this AA gambling machine £264.47 in March 2012 and £253.00 in March 2011, where I concluded that I was annually being overcharged for the services that we initially wanted and requested, or some other unrequested services had been sneaked in by the AA who can then help themselves to whatever they want to using our DD agreement.
A web site AA and RAC comparison of what we actually require came to £144.00ish for both organisations. All we wanted was Roadside Assist, At Home and National Recovery for a married couple!
After a month of complaints and hassle with the AA admin team, who say that I never questioned their charges in 19 years, knowing that letters can be undelivered, lost, trusted or ignored etc… they have reduced our annual subscription for this year to £120.00. But I have another battle with the AA to have a refund for the previous years where they have plundered our bank account charging for services that we did not request or require! They are saying that this cannot be done because I have never questioned their charges before.
Anyone who believes that they are being overcharged by the AA should to complain to them, do not pay by Direct Debit and take your complaint to the Ombudsman if not satisfied (complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk).

DonnyDave

Radio 4's Moneybox programme has highlighted the issue of high premiums for renewing customers. It has talked about the fact that loyalty doesn't pay and highlighted Saga, which, like the AA, is an Acromas company.

Listen to 9 March - with interview from Saga Chief Executive.

There was a follow-up piece on 16 March (from about 12 minutes). Mark Garnier MP gave his opinion that, due to competition, the "entire focus" of insurance companies is on winning new customers and that the only way they can pay for this marketing is to offset it on to existing customers!

longstandingmember

I have been with the AA for 10 years and in that time I have had 3 recovery's.

I currently have a joint membership with me and my son covered and today I received a letter "Welcome to your new AA Gold Membership"

After reading the first 2 lines "As you have been a member of the AA for 10 years you will quality for our new Gold Membership" I thought how nice of them UNTIL I saw that they want £29.95 per month!

I was previously paying £13+ per month for roadside, relay and home start just for myself and added my son for an extra £3.50 per month a few months a go which at the time thought that was a really great deal.

It also said that as I have had 7 call outs over 2 membership years that they are charging an extra premium.

I do have home start, relay and roadside. But the cost for this new Gold Membership I have not asked for is a few pence short of £360 per year!!!!!

I might cancel home start as I was lied to about that, I was told with home start any repairs could be done on my drive at no extra cost however this was far from the truth and now when they have shown up they just offer to take me to a garage.

I had a problem with my indicators/hazard lights and called the AA and they could not find the fault and to be honest didn't even look for the fault, Later when I drove the car home I removed a couple of screws, took the indicator switch out, cleaned it and put it back in and bingo, Job done.

Most of the call out's I have had have been a waste of time, The AA are good for recovery and that's what they should stick with!

I have had a 55 minute phone call with them today and they have offered to reduce the monthly payments down to £19.50 for me and my son but won't add the wife for that price, I was happy to pay the £20.40 a month for the family cover for the 3 of us which the AA are advising on their website but they won't do that so the wife will have to continue driving the car with no cover like she has been doing for months since she passed her test as I tried to negotiate back them and it got too stressful after a long chat with the AA.

We are under our 5/6 call outs a year for the last 2 years and for most years there have been years that I haven't even used their services!

Money grabbing people who don't award their long standing customers!!!!

Well looks like I will have to cancel my 10 year membership and get the wife to take out cover as to be honest she's the only person who drives the car these days.

Tried to explain all this today over a 55 minute chat with the AA, The stress is becoming a lot more hassle then the break down cover, Are all breakdown companies like this?

Richard53

I joined the AA many years ago, and needed to call them out twice. The first time was in winter, on the A5 near Corwen, when they refused to send a vehicle because they thought they couldn't get there in the snow. I had to sort myself out that time. The second time I was left for about 8 hours by the side of the A1 in driving sleet while they sent a total of three recovery vehicles and eventually got me to garage around 9 pm. I told them in my first call that the car had suffered a wheel bearing failure and was not towable, but they still sent two tow trucks before finally sending a flat bed which could do the job. Rude, utterly incompetent, and I didn't renew after all that.

I've been with the RAC for the last 17 years and for the three times I have called them out they have been fine, but renewal next month is almost £140, and having read about alternatives on this forum I think it may be time to change.

hemsby

zebrastripesrule wrote: »

My AA renewal has come through and they have upgraded me (for free apparently) to a gold member to recognise my loyalty. However my renewal fee has rocketed, £60+ more than if i was joining as a new member, doest sound much like loyalty rewards to me!).

There doesnt seem to be too much information on the website other than 'enhancements' to your membership.

Does anyone know what the extras are, and are they worth it?? Otherwise i may cancel and rejoin/join the RAC.

thanks

Hi This has happened to me this year however l search the AA net and found the same cover for £44-99 cheaper than my Quote of £126-99 so l called the AA call centre and they reduced it to £82-00 so don't automatic renew your membership call them or re-join as a new member