Screw AAA

[studemax]

Saturday afternoon, my mom called me about 3PM – she had a flat tire west of town. It took me a half-hour to drive out, and found she had driven on the flat for a mile to a convenience store. The wheel cover sliced open the sidewall, ruining the tire. The donut spare was under the vehicle, and I couldn’t get to the darn thing. Finally asked if she was up-to-date with AAA. Blank look, she never thought about calling them.

Apparently, their call center is staffed by morons.... When the truck didn’t show in a half-hour, Mom called back. They thought she was in West Virginia, not Kansas! Another half-hour – now they were sending a truck 2 hours away to Hays, Kansas! At this point, I take over the phone calls and feed them a big slice of get-your-crap-together pie. Another half-hour (in high 90 temps w/ no wind), and they are back to thinking she is in West Virginia. I lose my cool big time, and blast them with both barrels. Another half-hour, and the tow truck driver calls “I’m here, where are you?”. “Well, I’m a fat guy wearing a yellow T-shirt. Can you see me?” The moron was a mile away at an apartment complex.

So, 2 hours after the initial call we finally have a rollback truck. I read the riot act to the driver, who said he would take the vehicle 5 miles to the nearest WalMart. I told him he’d be buying the tire, too – but he didn’t agree. So we get to WalMart, and he drops it off in the lot. While Mom talks to the shop apes, dumbass tow truck driver is detailing his rig outside. I get him to give me his phone, and I got AAA to give Mom an extra year of coverage as payment for the hassle. Finally got her home after 4 damn hours.

So, pardon my French - SCREW AAA.

[pdub]

"They thought she was in West Virginia, not Kansas!"

WOW, that DOES suck. You've got every right to be pissed off, I would be, too.

We've got AAA and used them only once, but it was not at all an emergency. Man, that's something to think about right there. BUT, without them, who would you call at all? It's a quandry.

[SuperBuickGuy]

My dad had an issue with a AAA in Louisiana, where they towed him to a parking lot rather then to an RV park then the shop on Monday (was Friday well after the shop had closed) where first they dispatched the truck to somewhere Kansas. Had they got the truck right the first time, he wouldn't have had to camp in a truck repair parking lot for a weekend. But outside of that they've been awesome. From the time where they towed my truck back from Steven's Pass resort - in a snowstorm and after they let me ski all day (scheduled the tow truck on a snow day that had snarled the entire area) to using them to pick up the strays that land at my house "sure, it ran right to this spot". AAA does depend on contractors, and yeah, I get some of them really need to get an IQ test for the drivers (or at least keep the below-40 score drivers away).... so nope, not feeling your pain - you got a free tow and another year - a $200 value for 4 hours of your time....

[studemax]

so nope, not feeling your pain - you got a free tow and another year - a $200 value for 4 hours of your time....

Not exactly, SBG. It was $91 for this year, and a free $91 for next year - not the value you perceive.
Plus, Mom still had to pay $99 for a new tire. That is not a bargain in any shape or form.

The LOCAL tow truck driver was a dumbass for not knowing the difference between a convenience store and an apartment complex, but the call center folks are TOTAL ####ING IDIOTS for somehow getting West Virginia TWICE, and Hays, Ks ONCE, when the nearest big town is WICHITA. This is STOOPID on a massive scale, and there is no excuse for it.

[dieselhead]

"Apparently, their call center is staffed by morons"

There's no doubt! I had AAA for years when I did a lot of traveling but never needed to use it once while traveling. A few weeks after I had replaced the water pump, radiator hoses, thermostat and idler pulley on my Dodge diesel I was going down the highway about 4 miles from my house when I noticed the engine temp was climbing rapidly. I pulled over shut off the engine, popped the hood and figured out the new thermostat had failed to open. This was on a typical 100 degree Texas summer day. I called AAA and gave them my exact location and the description of my truck. They knew I had a 3/4 ton 4wd Dodge diesel pickup but didn't know the color. About an hour later a small pickup sized wrecker showed up and told me his wrecker was too small to tow my truck. He called AAA and told them to dispatch a flatbed wrecker to haul my truck. After waiting for another couple of hours AAA called me an told me the tow truck driver couldn't locate my truck. I got the tow truck driver's cell number and called him. AAA had dispatched him to the wrong intersection about 2 miles south of my location. By the time he showed up about 15 minutes later my engine had completely cooled off so when got ready to winch in up on the trailer I told him I could just drive it on the trailer and did. When it came time to renew with AAA I called and cancelled.

[Loren]

I've had mostly good experiences with triple-A and a couple bad ones, agreed about the call center. They made the news here a couple weeks ago by reviewing hundreds of local homes they insured in a particular area, picking the ones they thought had any chance of ever making a wildfire claim, and cancelling them outright for no other reason. The one on TV happened to be owned by a fire captain, conformed to all regs, and had gone the entire time (20+ years or so) without a claim so AAA did very very good on that deal by taking his premium money all that time and then running. He said he was not bitter however because his next insurer gave him a better deal on the same policy, he wished he'd switched earlier...so AAA made their business decision but wound up looking like a bunch of jackasses in any case.

It's been my experience, they are not the place to go for auto insurance either although they like everybody else claim they'll save you a bunch of money. Mercury, GEICO much cheaper.

We do belong to the Auto Club however. It's better than dialing around in the middle of the night trying to find a tow service yourself.

[DanStokes]

We have the AAA road service w/o their insurance and so far they've been OK though I'm not sure it pays off (cost of membership against the cost of any tows we've had). But they have pulled us in off the highway a couple of times and it was a Good Thing to get out of harm's way. I'm REALLY assertive when I call in and have the dispatcher read back our location before I sign off ("please repeat our location to me") and IIRC that's saved us a couple of times

Dan

[Gary 351C]

Maybe it depends on where you live but my wife and I have had great service. Every time we nee a tow ('cause we drive old junk) the tow truck shows up in 30 minutes or less.
Plus, when we need to get our cars registered or something else car related we don't have to go to the local DMV which is run by the devil himself.

[studemax]

I called AAA customer service just now and have a case number. They say they'll get back to me by Friday...

[Loren]

They're busy just now, working on the Cruise-Ship and Insurance marketing plans.

[JOES66FURY]

I get free towing with my USAA insurance. I worked for AAA as a driver back in my youth...I know better than to deal with those ####tards.