AA Rip off

motorguy

burlington6 wrote: »

I'm sick to death of the average joe public in the uk expecting businesses to operate this way.

+1

I have to agree. Peoples expectations for what they pay have gone through the roof, but the price they expect to pay has gone through the floor.

You can buy AA cover for £29.99 - do people really think that buys them an all inclusive parts and repair service specific to their car, carried by a van driver and including full recovery of the said vehicle? Do people really think thats a profitable model?

I also saw on another thread a guy who bought a car 8 years ago has JUST found out the car was Cat D before he bought it. He has an expectation that he can go back to the supplying garage and recoup the money he paid above market value, based on laws of disclosure that only came in after the time! :eek:

Ebay is the same. Ebay expects YOU as a seller to allow the customer to keep an item if the CUSTOMER isnt happy with it, FREE of CHARGE - no maintain ebays customer experience! :rotfl:

The whole world is going mad

Muscle750

Ive called them out a couple of times in the last 5 years both times theyve said i need a new battery and quoted me £160 to which i told them no , and the thing is still going 2 years since they "condemed" my battery. I know batteries dont last forever but as the callouts i made were totally unrelated to flat batteries it seems to me as if they are commission to flog bits you dont want.To the OP if you said ok if i need a coil pack ill get one and fit it , nothing they could do.

arcon5

Hold on.... breakdown cover is all about them taking calculated risks about whether you will or won't breakdown. So of course the membership fee includes wages, fuel, van etc etc etc, for an allocated amount of time and within a certain distance (policy permitting).

In fact that's EXACTLY what you pay for... you pay to have all this available to you at the click of your fingers where ever you are (policy permitting) and at no charge for the service.

They lost, op broke down, they therefore had to provide the service they took a calculated risk on!

Coil packs are not exactly difficult to diagnose or fit, certainly not time consuming so unlikely he went over an apportioned amount of time to sort it which could justify a labour charge beyond that allocated.
Leaving the cost of the part. Yes it's reasonable to add a markup. But jesus christ they've certainly done that!

Absolute daylight robbery!!

Same with their batteries!!

As soon as they see an opportunity they will stop at nothing to extract as much money for as little work as possible, especially when you're at the side of the road and have very few options available to you.


Absolutely make a complaint! I'm with you all the way here

arcon5

motorguy wrote: »

Thats quite key here. The AA provide a breakdown recovery service.

The car hadnt broken down so why not get a local garage to diagnose it (or buy a £10 code reader) and buy the part online?

You cant have your cake and eat it.

Actually AA go way beyond that. Hence why they went to ops house to look at the vehicle despite the fact the engine was running and he wasn't at the side of the road


But as usual motor traders around here jump to the defence of anybody in the same sort of industry as themselves, despite the fact they are defending crazy practices.

burlington6

arcon5 wrote: »

Actually AA go way beyond that. Hence why they went to ops house to look at the vehicle despite the fact the engine was running and he wasn't at the side of the road


But as usual motor traders around here jump to the defence of anybody in the same sort of industry as themselves, despite the fact they are defending crazy practices.

I'll defend any business that wants to make a profit.

Sick to death of tight customers, chancers and scam artists that this forum seems to stick up for.

If a company does charge too much, they'll soon lose custom and considering the AA have a few hundred million quid invested......I wish them all the best in maximising their profit .

You don't work for free, I don't work for free and I'm sick to death of the U.K. public expecting companies to do the exact opposite.

motorguy

arcon5 wrote: »

Actually AA go way beyond that. Hence why they went to ops house to look at the vehicle despite the fact the engine was running and he wasn't at the side of the road


But as usual motor traders around here jump to the defence of anybody in the same sort of industry as themselves, despite the fact they are defending crazy practices.

I'm not a motor trader, they're not motor trade and i'm not subjectively defending them.

I'm an IT contractor and they're running a business, and i'm objectively giving a view.

motorguy

arcon5 wrote: »

Yes it's reasonable to add a markup. But jesus christ they've certainly done that!

Absolute daylight robbery!!

Retail prices on a repair they'll have to stand over with parts of a specific brand and quality or spurious bits from unknown sources off of the internet?

They're running a business. They're not your best mate.

Iceweasel

Nobody is forced to join the AA.

They need profit.

Think of the shareholders.

How will they get a fat dividend if 'members' aka 'suckers' don't pay through the nose for parts?

It's called capitalism - remember a certain Mrs M Thatcher - she explained it - "Charge as much as the market will bear."

motorguy

Iceweasel wrote: »

How will they get a fat dividend if 'members' aka 'suckers' don't pay through the nose for parts?

I think its even more fundamental than that.

The markets expectation is that you should spend around £30-40 for breakdown cover.

Thats only profitable if its not used by the customer. One call out will cost more than £30 so try to "upsell" parts / batteries etc when you're out there to make profit.

If you read this, it certainly doesnt read like a bouyant business making a fortune....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/04/05/aa-profits-crash-on-transformation-costs/

parking_question_chap

So what exactly happened? How did the phone conversation go and what did you say to the mechanic?

Did you ask them to fix the car or did you ask them to tow you to a garage of your choice?

Or did you just call them and leave them to their own devices?

Without knowing this we cannot really offer much advice.

Why didnt you drive your car to a local indi for a quote?