Complaint AA Breakdown Renewal without notification

spindle19

I was checking my credit history and report over the weekend and found a 'default' against my name reported by MBNA. Thw default was recorded earlier in the summer this year after six months of non-payment of a credit card balance. I was puzzled because the account was an old closed one and a transaction of £55 pounds had snowballed to £151 due to non-payment charges. I couldn't possibly have known or paid as I had moved twice since closing the account (paid down to zero) and nearly five years had passed since closure. Clearly MBNA didn't have my new address and they shouldn't have needed it. It turns out that it was the AA (automobile Association) re-activating my breakdwon cover (it was suspended at my request after I got a new car that had breakdown cover included). So, even after the best part of five years the AA charged an old account. They claim they have done nothing wrong and this indeed may be the case legally etc, but morally I think it's disgraceful and very irresponsible as well. The MBNA have at least agreed to accept payment of £151 and they'll write to the credit reference agencies to clear my finacial name, but I feel they are partly to blame too for agreeing to honour the transaction. I'm now £96 out of pocket and after calling the AA to ask if they might compensate me in some way, they flatly refused. The MBNA told me they had never seen anything like this before. I may never see any compensation from the AA (and I accept it was just a silly unfortunate string of events). I would have thought the AA would want the matter closed too (after all they still got the £55 and no bad publicity). Obviously this is just an outline of what happened. I really think the system should change, all the AA had to do was warn me that the payment details were out of date, even the renewal docs didn't show any card details atall. I'd like to see this sort of practice stopped as someone could get into real financial strife as a result of this type of thing.

wealdroam

spindle19 wrote: »

...all the AA had to do was warn me that the payment details were out of date, even the renewal docs didn't show any card details atall.

So the AA knew you new address?

The AA would not know that the payment details were out of date. They asked MBNA for the money and got it.

They sent you renewal documents which didn't give any clue about how they thought you would be paying? Amazing.

spindle19

Yes, the AA had my new address! However, I couldn't figure out how they could renew as I couldn't possibly have valid payment details on record (or so I thought!). The new membership card was sent out before the actual renewal date (same as CC companies do) and I just assumed that the membership was invalid after the expiry of the old one. I won't be making the same mistake again!

spindle19

sorry, missed out a part of my reply....Wouldn't the AA have had a record of the card expiry date? Also, the card address and my current address wouldn't have matched. If either of those things were wrong at the time I 'signed up' wouldn't the card payment have been rejected (hypothetically speaking of course)

mike_6480

We had the same issue.

On the first year we had discount cover for £40, but this year we have had no notification of renewal, and they charged us £152.

They claim that they have sent three letters, but we have not received any.

We did get a discount to £99, but they refused to refund us.

Again, the credit card used had expired before payment was taken, and also it was in my wife's name, and we got married 6 weeks before the payment went out (and her card was changed to her new name). I think this is bad on HSBC's part that they let this go through!

Gene_Hunt_2

This post was started almost 3 years ago.

Inactive

Gene_Hunt wrote: »

This post was started almost 3 years ago.

I know, I spotted a post the other day that started in 2004 would you believe..

Gene_Hunt_2

Inactive wrote: »

I know, I spotted a post the other day that started in 2004 would you believe..

Who would have posted on that?

rc83_2

Can anyone please advise on the best to contact The AA to get a refund as I have the same issue, the renewed my AA without me knowing which as I did not receive any notification that they were going to renew. I have tried to ring them on their complaints line with no answer except a voice recording to tell me to bare with them as they are very busy at this time of year, i have email their customer support and i have used their online complaints form, with no response. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The_AA_Company_Representative

Hi there, I work at the AA and I would like to apologise for the difficulties you have had trying to contact us. Just to confirm, the correct number to phone is 0845 607 6727 and I hope we manage to speak to you shortly.