Complaint AA Breakdown Renewal without notification

Mr_Watson_2

Ishtar wrote: »

I have been a customer of the AA for around 15 years - last year they sent my renewal through and wanted something daft like £197 for me to continue (I have a joint policy, any vehicle)...I gave them a call to tell them I was cancelling as I could get the same cover everywhere I looked for much less (even from them as a new customer).

Surprise, surprise, because I am a "loyal customer and had been with them for so long" there were some discounts they could apply - which knocked almost £70 from the cost, making them very competitive, so I stayed with them. I've never had any other problem with them.

If I were that important, why couldn't the discounts have been applied before sending my renewal through?

Exactly the same thing happened to me. Member since 04, my wife and I were covered as individuals ( not just vehicle ) got the usual ( your a long time customer ) dropped it down to £100, tonight driving my daughters car ( fully insured ) car quits, Phoned the AA who informed me that I had gone on the website in 2008 and ADDED my partner ( who's been a member from the beginning and has the cards to prove it ) and I apparently also changed the policy to just one vehicle. This, I assure you never happened. I can only assume the representative could give me that discount by changing my policy to a lower one.
We got told by Leigh or lea ( young lady ) that there was nothing they could do unless I paid another £50 to make a new policy for me as an individual. I knew it was a blatant scam and refused so I was left stranded. She also told me that my card was wrong and they don't send cards out anymore....yep... this thing I have in my hand right now that came last month is scotch mist.
Awful customer service who barely know the job let alone how to treat customers, as everyone says Avoid them at all costs.... I've come across this 'auto renew policy' with a few company's now and it's basically small print where you 'allow them' to renew your policies and take the money by hook or by crook, old cards direct debit, any way they can, even after doubling the cost you originally paid. This is something that we all need to confront because its basic embezzlement.
Will be cancelling everything and advise you to check your policies after they give us that 'valued customer reduction' incentive.
Good luck everyone.

The_AA_Company_Representative

There is a mix of comments on this thread, which has been posted to for quite some time. Given the limited information it is difficult to give answers to specific questions. However, I can advise what happens in general to each point raised here recently.
We are only able to collect a continuous credit payment from a customer’s credit card account where we have received prior agreement. Subsequent documentation will confirm these arrangements, including that sent prior to the date of collection. We will always cancel a policy if requested although, if this request falls outside of the 14 day cooling off period, an administration fee will be required, as is the case with all products and similar to many other retailers/service providers.
A Direct Debit payment, which is quite different to a continuous credit card payment, is fully guaranteed in line with the Direct Debit Guarantee. Prior to collection of a payment, the AA will write to advise when the payment is due to be collected and how much will be taken, giving the customer prior notification in case they wish to make changes or cancel their cover.
I am not able to explain the position about the changes made to the membership as described by Mr Watson but if you would like to call the AA on 0844 2090566, we will happily reinvestigate this for you.

gazebo

funnily enough, after recalling the direct debit, the phone call where I was pretty much called a liar and the subsequent call asking to verify my address - I have received a covering later dated after renewal date,which confirms the renewal letter was returned to you. It states quite clearly that whilst the AA are sorry I'd not received the letter prior to renewal, here's a copy, oh, and we've taken £115 from your account already, not that you mind of course.

That's not quite it's content, but near enough.

Anyway, I now have written proof that I didn't receive the renewal letter, I've got my money back through the direct debit indemnity scheme and I'm no longer with breakdown cover.

In the grand scheme of things, I haven't won as I'm not covered - but I will be covered for half the price now I know how much you'd wanted to charge, I'll be going elsewhere.

londonjez

I am the victim of yet another AA automatic renewal. I have been working away and returned on the evening of 28 June 2011 to find a renewed membership pack for a renewal on 23 July 2011. As I was going away again the following morning, I decided to write to the AA cancelling my renewal and enclosing the new card. The car in question is no longer in use. I thought nothing more of it until I checked my credit card statement in July to find that despite my cancellation, they had put through an automatic renewal. I contacted The AA via email and was allocated a service request number (1-19287479). I was astounded by the reply. Reading between the lines, they were basically calling me a liar. Comments like "If you could please supply us with the telephone number that you call us on then I can arrange to listen to the call." and "If you are unable to supply us with the information, as you are within the 14 day cooling off period I am able to close your membership and arrange for a refund less the administration fee."

I never once mentioned that I called. I cancelled well within the required time limits.

I have sent several further emails since this one and all I have had back is acknowledgements saying somebody would contact me shortly. Surprise surprise, nobody bothered coming back to me. After a week of hearing nothing I telephoned today and my refund has finally been agreed - but will take 2 weeks! They are quick enough to take the money but not so quick to hand it back. Why the hell should it take 2 another 2 weeks to make a refund. This is the 21st century. By the time they eventually make the refund, I will have had to pay my credit card bill. I presume The AA will be compensating me for any interest payable.

The 'customer service' levels that The AA have shown are beneath contempt and I will never use any of their services again. As a parting gift, I am the logistics manager of a large UK organisation. We currently have over 400 vehicles covered by the AA. I will ensure that come renewal time, these are moved to another breakdown company that actually treats it's customers with some kind of respect.

Money_Minder_3

I have just found out - the hard way - another aspect of AA membership which I was unaware of before. When taking out my membership 3-4 years ago, I opted to pay for the full year at the start, rather than the monthly payment option. The monthly payment option costs a little more, as is the case with many monthly payment plans. My membership has been automatically renewed each May since then. The price has steadily increased. I have been considering cancelling my membership, and thought that I would be entitled to a refund of the unused part. This would be in the same way as with car tax and insurance. This is not the case with the AA! Had I opted for the monthly payments, I could have given 30 days notice, and then no more would be payable. As I have paid for the full year in advance, and as the 14 day cooling off period has elapsed, I am not entitled to any refund at all. The only option available to me is to have my membership suspended. I can then 'use' the remaining portion at a later date. This could be up to 4 years later. I would just like to make everyone aware that this is (apparently) explained in the small print of the membership agreement, and so is not illegal. I am annoyed that I had felt that I was getting the best deal by taking out the most economical option, but had not realised that I was committing myself irrevocably to the full year. Apart from myself, I have friends who are not able to drive for long periods of time (through illness - not from other restraint!!!), who will need to consider the AA's T&Cs very carefully. A good time to consider all of the other options, I think.....

mattgod69

I have the same problem.... free cover for one year (following purchase of car), 75% discount for second year, which i paid for and then massive price rise. Cancelled on the phone and was told that no payment would be taken. Payment was taken (surprise surprise) and i have now called three times to try and get sorted. I have now faxed and emailed them (today) so waitying for a response.

If they cant even do the simple things correctly, why on earth are we all letting them loose on our cars that at incredibly complicated and cost thousnands of pounds!!!!!

The cynical amongt us might think have practices like this to catch us out..... in my view, there really hardly any need for automatic renewal..... most of us want to check we are paying a fair amount before renewal as most companies want to get as much as they can out of us. The practice should not be allowed and how it can happen on a cancelled or out of date card is incredible.....

Veryannoyed_3

Hello,
I didn't realise that this automatic renewal and failure to send out paperwork was such a common problem for AA members. I am furious over my experience.

I took out AA breakdown cover to tide me over in the few months between the warranty on my car expiring and taking delivery of a new car which was covered by full warranty and breakdown cover.

So I never wanted to renew this AA cover, it was simply a stopgap.

Last week I saw that £54.50 had been reserved against my bank acccount on August 30. This remained the case for several days and I phoned the bank to find out what it was for. They said they didn't know so I said I didn't want it coming out of my account as it might be fraudulent.

On Monday September 5 I found that this reserved payment had been taken off the account so I thought it must have been some sort of bank error. However, the following day I saw that the money had been taken by the AA.

I had definitely not had ANY paperwork to cover this and no opportunity to cancel it. Even worse, they had reserved this money on my account BEFORE the due date so there was never any intention of allowing me to cancel it, even if I had received any insurance documents.

I phoned the bank who told me I had to try to get it back from the AA. I phoned the AA who tried telling me I must have had the documents as they had sent them. They finally said they would put £34.50 back into my bank account but I had to pay an admin charge of £20 so I wouldn't be getting the full amount back. Didn't realise it would cost £20 to hit one button to cancel a policy and another to put money back into my bank account.

I have taken advice from the Which legal service and been told that what the representative said - that I must have received the documents - was total nonsense as they had not been sent by recorded delivery.

He has advised me how to write to the AA to ask for the £20 admin fee back.

Let's just say that I will definitely, under no circumstances, be putting any business the AA's way again and despite the fact that this is a relatively small amount of money I will be pursuing the AA for it because they had deliberately reserved this money on my account before the due date, denying me the opportunity to cancel by failing to send me any paperwork.

So if anyone from the AA is reading this...... you should get my letter of complaint today and if you don't give me a full refund I will be making a complaint to the relevant regulatory service.

Clearly, the AA has a problem with these automatic renewals. There is no way that they should help themselves to customers' money before the due date which is essentially what they did with me.

The idea that the post office is so reliable that letters must be received is ludicrous, the AA cannot rely on this assertion.

mikey72

They are covered by the FOS, so you can make a complaint to them if the AA don't refund in full.

TraceyB_2

Basically, I cancelled by membership in August last year, got a letter in July of this year saying it would be renewed automatically.

Called them and explained that I cancelled it last year and was told that my account had been suspended and not actually cancelled. I was most definitely not told this last year as I would have insisted that it be cancelled. As it was suspended and not cancelled, they were able to take the money from my credit card in August of this year.

Following my call in July I received a letter to say that they understand I wanted to cancel and that they would refund my credit card (I didnt even realise at this point that they had taken the money as it was in between statements.)

When my credit card statement turned up they had taken the full subscription but then refunded me all but £20 of it!

Just called 0845 607 6727 and spoke to a very pleasant Nigel Barrett who has confirmed that the £20 retained was an admin fee but that a cheque for £20 will be with me in 5 working days and that the reason it is by cheque is because all ties with my membership and credit card have been severed and my membership is definitely cancelled and not suspended.

Hopefully that is the end of it for me - good luck though to all of you still fighting:mad:

Glad I came on here first but suprised at how many people are in the same boat.

Veryannoyed_3

Here's an update to my problem with the AA. (two postings up!)

I've just had a load of printouts from someone at AA member relations which they hoped would 'confirm' that I must have known about their ongoing permission to take £54.50 from my bank account.

Unfortunately they have shot themselves in the foot.

One of the printouts said this....

"You previously paid for your AA Membership by credit card on a continuous payment authority, meaning your AA Membership could be renewed for you using the credit card account details you provided.

"However, we were recently advised by your credit card provider that the account details we hold for you are no longer valid.

"Unfortunately this means we cannot automatically renew your AA membership at this time."

This letter then went on to tell me that I had to contact the AA by phone to renew my membership.

As I've replied to Ms Yvonne Hamer, who sent me the letter insisting the AA would only refund me £34, I most certainly did not want the membership, did NOT renew the subscription and did not phone the AA except for a single call on September 5, 2011 to complain about money being removed from my bank account.

I've asked Ms Hamer to refund the £54.50 removed from my bank account without my authorisation IN FULL and to explain to me how the AA has been able to access money from my bank account without my authorisation.

I will also be taking this up with my bank to find out how this can have happened.

As it wasn't authorised by me, if I have any difficulties getting the whole amount back (and so far not a penny has hit my account) I will not only be asking the bank to refund the money, I will be contacting the relevant ombudsman.

What surprises me as much as anything else is that the AA member relations dept clearly hasn't even bothered to read the documents before they sent them to me because if they had, they would have realised they have nowhere to go on this one.

They have supplied evidence which clearly shows that my membership could not be renewed automatically! I'd suggest anyone else with problems similar to this contacts the AA and asks for copies of all the correspondence.