Complaint to the AA

Louzrbabe

Hi everyone,

I'm after some advice about filing a formal complaint to the AA.
I broke down in my car on the way back Silverstone on Sunday evening. I have AA cover so rang them around 7.30pm and finally got through around 8pm. Explained the problem with the car etc... they said they would be with me within the hour, so around 9.30pm an independent garage rescue guy turned up, had a look at the car and said it definitely needed to be recovered so called the AA and told them. My car is a show car (hence driving back from a show at Silverstone), and it's lowered and has a bodykit so needs a low loader to be recovered. The independent garage guy told the AA this info and off he went.

I waited, and waited and waited. A guy turned up around 1.30am with a standard flatbed that my car will obviously not go on. So I rang them again explaining again it needed a low loader, getting very frustrated, worried and upset about the situation.

I rang them 6-7 times throughout the night asking what the hell was going on and they didn't seem too bothered about trying to get this low loader out to me. I was told it would be 3am, then 4.30am (then was told one had broke down on the way), then 6am.

Nothing turned up. I was crying on the phone to them because I was a lone female, 3 hours from home at night stuck by the roadside. It was only around 6am that they started saying we could offer me a hotel (abit late for that) or get me a patrol out to take me home and the car would have to stay there and be recovered later.

I didn't want to leave the car as I don't trust them with it at all and with it being a show car it's not your average car. Anyway, I had no choice but to leave it. A patrol guy eventually came out to me around 7.45am and picked me up and drive me home. We had to leave the car to be recovered.

Once I got home I called them to find out what was happening with the car, I was told it was recovered and was in storage overnight and would be delivered to my garage this afternoon. No sign of it yet but we'll see. I just hope it turns up undamaged.

So, I was left by the roadside on my own for pretty much 12 hours. Which surely in anyone's book is totally unacceptable?

Can I send an email or should I send a proper letter with a formal complaint?

Thanks

AdrianC

Louzrbabe wrote: »

My car is a show car (hence driving back from a show at Silverstone), and it's lowered and has a bodykit so needs a low loader to be recovered. The independent garage guy told the AA this info and off he went.

When you phoned, you would have been asked about the car - including whether it's standard or modified. You explained the extremely limited ground clearance at that point?

How limited is the ground clearance? Modern tilt-bed recovery vehicles are very flexible, and even relatively extreme approach and departure angles are within their scope. But if you have chosen to modify your vehicle to take it way outside the normal ranges of vehicles, you need to consider whether that will cause you problems in perfectly normal situations. If it does, then that is your responsibility, because that is something you have chosen to do. If the problem is a very long and low front or rear valance, then you need to consider whether you should be making them removable to allow for this kind of situation.

I don't think it unreasonable for the availability of specialist equipment to be restricted through the night, especially on a Sunday night.

If you read the AA's breakdown Ts & Cs, they include this clause...

Matters outside the AA’s reasonable control
17. While the AA seeks to meet the service needs of Members at all times, its resources are finite and this may not always be possible. The AA shall not be liable for service failures where the AA is faced with circumstances outside its reasonable control. Events which might constitute circumstances outside the AA’s reasonable control include (but are not limited to) Acts of God, outbreak of hostilities, riot, civil disturbance, acts of terrorism, acts of government or authority (including the refusal or revocation of any licence or consent), fire, subsidence, explosion, flood, snow, fog or other bad weather conditions, vehicle, roads that are not reasonably accessible by the AA, equipment or systems failures, shortages of fuel or other necessary supplies, failure of telecommunications lines or systems, default of suppliers or sub-contractors, theft, malicious damage, strike, lock out or industrial action of any kind

http://www.theaa.com/resources/Documents/pdf/breakdown-cover/terms-and-conditions-current.pdf

You are going to be hard pressed to argue that extreme modifications to your vehicle, making it unsuitable for recovery by normal equipment, did not fall under that.

Louzrbabe

I was never asked such questions about the car initially. The first time they were told was when the independent garage guy phoned them at 9.30pm saying it needed to be recovered. I then told them a further 4 times.

It's not extremely low at all and it's not extreme, there are far more cars out there that are lower it's lowered 3mm. It's the bodykit that makes it look lower. I can get over standard bump bumps fine, it's the front that is lower than the sides or rear. I did tell the independent guy that I can take the front splitter off if it helps. Yep it's my decision to modify my car and like I said there were options around it, the splitter could have come off, the patrol that turned up at 7.30am did say he probably could have got it on his A frame, but as the plan was already in place for him to drive me home didn't change it. I don't expect when I pay £140 a year for cover to be treated like that.

I totally understand this, however the AA surely must accommodate for any situation and vehicle, and I understand at night patrols are limited, again I pay my yearly membership, whether I break down at night or in the day, I expect to have assistance. But really, leaving a female stranded for 12 hours? If they could forsee that getting a low loader at night was going to be difficult, tell me, give me another option, don't tell me 3am, 4.30am, 6am etc....

BeenThroughItAll

Louzrbabe wrote: »

I was never asked such questions about the car initially. The first time they were told was when the independent garage guy phoned them at 9.30pm saying it needed to be recovered. I then told them a further 4 times.

It's not extremely low at all and it's not extreme, there are far more cars out there that are lower it's lowered 3mm. It's the bodykit that makes it look lower. I can get over standard bump bumps fine, it's the front that is lower than the sides or rear. I did tell the independent guy that I can take the front splitter off if it helps. Yep it's my decision to modify my car and like I said there were options around it, the splitter could have come off, the patrol that turned up at 7.30am did say he probably could have got it on his A frame, but as the plan was already in place for him to drive me home didn't change it. I don't expect when I pay £140 a year for cover to be treated like that.

I totally understand this, however the AA surely must accommodate for any situation and vehicle, and I understand at night patrols are limited, again I pay my yearly membership, whether I break down at night or in the day, I expect to have assistance. But really, leaving a female stranded for 12 hours? If they could forsee that getting a low loader at night was going to be difficult, tell me, give me another option, don't tell me 3am, 4.30am, 6am etc....

Where on earth did you find 3mm lowering kits?

One assumes you mean 30mm?

If the details you gave the AA were as sketchy as those you're giving here, it's no wonder they were hard pushed to sort you out.

And let's not be sexist here, why the hell is a female being left for hours any worse than a male being left. I'm sorry, I just don't get that bias - feminists can't expect equality to work both ways.

Guest101

If your car isn't 'bog standard' its really your job to tell them that.

Louzrbabe

No 3mm, Eibach xpower springs.

Sketchy?

I'm just posting for some advice, I didn't expect this.

It doesn't matter male or female, I was pushing the point that I wanted to express to them that I was on my own.

Louzrbabe

They were told by the independent guy when he called about the car, I also told them 4 times. They did know at 9.30pm the situation.

Lomast

Why didn't you use the flatbed that came at 1.30 if you could so easily remove the splitter

BeenThroughItAll

Louzrbabe wrote: »

No 3mm, Eibach xpower springs.

Sketchy?

I'm just posting for some advice, I didn't expect this.

It doesn't matter male or female, I was pushing the point that I wanted to express to them that I was on my own.

So why mention it?

3mm? Then unless your splitter is about a foot deep, a standard beavertail or tilting flatbed would have done the job fine.

AdrianC

Louzrbabe wrote: »

I was never asked such questions about the car initially.

I've always been asked whenever I've phoned any recovery company.

It's not extremely low at all and it's not extreme, there are far more cars out there that are lower it's lowered 3mm. It's the bodykit that makes it look lower. I can get over standard bump bumps fine, it's the front that is lower than the sides or rear. I did tell the independent guy that I can take the front splitter off if it helps.

Then it would have gone onto that first flatbed, just fine. Was it actually tried? Or did you just decide that it wouldn't, and that was that?

I totally understand this, however the AA surely must accommodate for any situation and vehicle

Any reasonably expected situation. Either your car could be accommodated by standard equipment, or it could not.

whether I break down at night or in the day, I expect to have assistance.

You did have assistance. Within two hours, you had somebody there, assessing the situation. From there on, the requirement for a recovery vehicle to deal with an unusually low car may very well have delayed matters. <points to Ts & Cs>

But really, leaving a female stranded for 12 hours?

Don't play that card. Your gender is irrelevant - unless you think it should entitle you to special treatment? What would your reaction be if you were asked to pay more because of your gender, but it got you special treatment? You would - quite rightly - call it discrimination.

If they could forsee that getting a low loader at night was going to be difficult, tell me, give me another option, don't tell me 3am, 4.30am, 6am etc....

Or, perhaps, they were genuinely trying to get something in place, but it was delayed for reasons beyond their control?

Louzrbabe

This is my first thread and my last! Not a very friendly forum.

I was after some advice, not to be told what I had wrote was sketchy etc...

I'll ask somewhere else, thanks anyway.