AA breakdown cover rip off

bazza1978

Hi all, I am looking for some advice.

On Friday I was driving home from Skegness to Glasgow with my wife and two young kids in the car. I reached approximately two miles outside Penrith where I got caught up in some traffic. As I was crawling along I noticed some smoke coming from the OSF wheel area so I managed to get the car into a safe place and call the AA.

Here is the time line -

17:15 - Called the AA

18:30 - AA patrol arrived and found a small piece of soundproofing that had partially melted, this was removed and the AA said everything was now fine and jumped into his van to go to his next call.
I tried to start the car and heard a horrible squealing sound from the engine area. I then had to ask the AA patrol to have another look. He connected a booster pack and tried to start the car again. The noise was still there and it still refused to start. He then diagnosed a crankshaft pulley failure and it was impossible to drive home and the car would need recovered.
I didn't have relay as part of my policy so he priced it up and it would cost £330. Well I really had no option and had to pay it.

20:30 - Recovery truck arrives which was a local garage.

22:10 - Recovery truck leaves us at Happendon services and tells us another recovery truck will be along soon. By this time it is getting dark so decide to take the wife and kids into the services to get a cup of tea and use the toilets however the services are closed.

23:40 - Second recovery truck arrives to take us home.

01:00 - Finally arrive home.

So it took 7.5 hours for a 2 hour journey.

The next day I call the AA again to get the car transported to a garage.

Today(Monday) the garage calls me to tell me the problem. Its a seized air con compressor but as this is not covered by the parts and labour warranty they have just removed the drive belt and I can pick it up whenever I want. All I have to pay is a labour charge of £34 as they found the problem right away.

Now the bit I need advice about. Do I have a case against the AA for misdiagnosing the problem, mis selling me relay and abandoning us at a closed services. The garage has said that AA could easily have removed the drive belt and let me drive home with no further apart from having no air con.

I must add that my youngest son was so scared at Happendon services he was in tears.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Barrie.

spacey2012

People are bailing out of the AA like rats from a sinking ship, I am sure they are determined to bankrupt the business by 2015.

AndyPK

AA bloke does sound usless to not even try and start the car.

I'm not very amused with the AA call center.

bazza1978

I got in contact with the AA member relations department by email this morning.

I have just had a phone call from a very pleasant woman from the AA who have agreed to refund all my costs including the garage cost, a £75 compensation payment and free relay until my renewal.



She had spoken to somebody from their technical department who confirmed that it should have been fixed at the road side.



I think that the AA have realised that they have a bad reputation and are starting to listen to their customers.



So it goes to show that if you are not happy with a service that you receive it pays to complain and give them a chance to put them right.

Barrie.

Hoof_Hearted

They have done the right thing. A good result.

motorguy

I pay £59 per year for a StartRescue breakdown recovery policy (one of the recommended on the MSE board for this) and that includes relay and its for me, not just the car.

I've used them twice now over the last three years. Both times recovered the car, my passengers and I to my home and were out within the hour.

Dont understand why people pay the AA more for less.