trogdor
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 posted on 21/8/08 at 12:05 PM |
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Not Happy with AA
I am posting this because I used the AA for the first time after being a member for nearly a year now. I was coming home after going to the beautiful
days festival, the car park was about ankle deep in mud in the better places so was had fun trying to get out, didn't bother waiting for the
tracter and just got a push then floored it til i got stuck again and needed another push.
Anyway the upshot of this was that the alternater belt vanished and something got wrapped round the power steering pump. So no power steering. Call
out AA and he has a alternator belt for us, so he fits that. And gets the tights or whatever out of the pump. But to fit the alternator belt he has to
cut off the power steering pump belt (the pump and alternator are on different belts) and he can't fit a new one as he says the bolts are
rounded.
So i have to drive 250 miles with no power steering which wasn't that fun. Anyway get a new belt and come to fit it. Whats that no rounded bolts
and the tensioner is seized? So all we had to do was take it off and unseize it presto new belt fits easily.
i guess he didn't want to Lie under the car fixing that so i had to do it myself. Lazy Bugger. Not impressed to be honest with the service.
Considering how much i have spent on the AA. Next time i break down think i will say just take me home i don't trust anyone that comes. As i
have probs in the past with other recovery men (not AA).
Also not impressed that he seemed to think that driving with no power steering was ok, I had a couple oh s**t moments and i have quite good upper body
strength. If my wife had been driving she wouldn't of been able to drive safely.
Anyway has anyone else had any bad or good moments with the AA or anyone else?
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paul the 6th
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| posted on 21/8/08 at 12:09 PM |
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about 10 years ago my dad was driving down to london to rig for a conference/exhibition (since that's what he does for a living) when the van
started kicking out white smoke. They waited 3 hours for the aa to turn up, and when they arrived, they just towed him to the services before
announcing they'd be back in half an hour with some tools. They didn't come back for 8 hours. Not good when business is involved.
I'm with rac and have always been impressed with their service (only had to use them about 3 times in 5 years).
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whitestu
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| posted on 21/8/08 at 12:11 PM |
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Going back a few years the AA man suggested trying to bump start an Alfasud with a broken cam belt!
Suffice to say I didn't let them!
Stu
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balidey
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| posted on 21/8/08 at 12:18 PM |
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AA have helped me out a couple of times in the past, but once they put me on hold for 45 minutes so they could check if I was alive. I hung up and
re-rang them.
The reason was, my grandfather was a member for many years, he had just renewed and within days he died. His widow asked for money back. AA politly
said NO. But they could transfer his membership to me for free. This means my membership card says I joined in 1973, not bad as I was born in 75.
Cue me breaking down and being told 'Sorry sir, but we have you down as deceased' I explain the situation, then she says 'Hold on,
let me just check' 
I was on hold for way too long, so in the end I hung up, re rang and got the person with the other half a brain.
But my dealings with the patrolmen has been OK.
Although there was that time Paradoxia0 went off the road and the AA couldn't recover him, so I did.
[Edited on 21/8/08 by balidey]
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BenB
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| posted on 21/8/08 at 12:19 PM |
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I'm with the RAC now. I used to be with the AA but left because I was pissed off with their sales technique. I rang them up and said I broken
down and if I joined could they send someone out straight away. They said "yes, but to be seen straight away you'll need to buy a level of
cover costing £140". So I thought "hell, I've just built my own car, I might need uber cover for a year or so". They sent
someone out who had a fiddle with the car and temporarily sorted the misfire. Six months later I break down again only to be told that I actually only
had £38 roadside assistance and they'd actually charged me £102 call-out fee. Looking back "you'll have to buy a level of cover that
costs £140" is deliberately non-transparent in my books....
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balidey
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| posted on 21/8/08 at 12:21 PM |
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One more thing. When it comes to renewal time, don't accept the price theyu send you, its cheaper online, so ring them up, complain and they
should do it cheaper. Bloody well should be for loyal customers too
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trogdor
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| posted on 21/8/08 at 12:39 PM |
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Mine is a rolling month membership for about a tenner a month, covers roadside, relay and home start for that. Have pushed the car home and used
homestart before.
It also only covers the car and not me.
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alistairolsen
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| posted on 21/8/08 at 12:53 PM |
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As the one cencession to my driving that my parents always pay for I have AA ubercover which covers me for homestart, relay, the works, for me, no
matter what car Im in.
Ive used it a number of times, mainly to relay the length of the country when poo goes badly wrong, but at times the roadside assist has proved
fruitful.
I hear good and bad about all the companies tbh.
In the case of the OP, I would have asked for relay home as the car was undriveable.
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smart51
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| posted on 21/8/08 at 12:56 PM |
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My sister in law broke down. Was rescued by the AA man only to dump here in a motorway service station 10 miles away as his shift was ending. She
had to wait agian for another driver to take here home. Very poor if you ask me.
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nitram38
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| posted on 21/8/08 at 01:05 PM |
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I'm with axa assist which is part of my lloyds tsb select bank account.
I broke down on the way to bognor (A29) and a local firm came out and helped me in 20 mins.
I broke down again on the way back and a recovery truck came within 30 mins at 10pm to carry us home.
I think using a company like green flag, axa assist etc ensures that local garages come out.
Your nearest AA man for the area might be miles away on another call, hence the long wait....
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trogdor
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| posted on 21/8/08 at 02:36 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by alistairolsen
In the case of the OP, I would have asked for relay home as the car was undriveable.
If it had been my wife that was driving or could only drive the car I would of made them relay us home. I think in future unless its something really
simple I will just insist on a recovery home
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trextr7monkey
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| posted on 21/8/08 at 04:13 PM |
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I was a member of AA from about 1981 until about 2 years ago - covered me and my wife and we were happy with the roadside and odd relay over the
years.
What finished me was the pricing where regular standing order, low use, loyal customers were bled white by annual rises.
When I saw them offering my deal for about half the money somewhere I phoned up steaming and got a 50% cut - I think I posted it on here for the
benefit of others at the time.
Next year when renewal came up we parted company and now get RAC cover in with Marks and Spencer car insurance for the regular cars and to avoid
abusing the system the kit is covered by Sykes.
I think if the insurance companies can broker bulk deals with a recovery service they have a bit more clout than individuals and owners clubs.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14016102@N00/ (cut and paste this dodgey link)
Our most recent pics are here:
http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p211/trextr7monkey/
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dhutch
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| posted on 21/8/08 at 05:07 PM |
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S'bit poor.
- My boss has just lagged of there insurence as well.
Apparently they sticked him up twice, lost his 6years no claims on a policy, and tried to get him to do a 50/50 claim rather than stick up for being
at no fault!
Daniel
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johnston
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| posted on 21/8/08 at 08:04 PM |
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The wife's mum and step dad are with the AA with the full doggies cover as they have a fleet of bikes camper and tintop between them. never had
much use of them (i usually got called instead) until he took the royal enfield to scotland (from NI).
Anyway she threw a push road on way home and the rest of the lads had to catch the boat so left him thinkin AA was just around the corner.
Nope he was left standing in middle of nowhere for hours then it Took something like 3 recovery wagons to get him to stranrar then they
weren't gonna put him on boat just let him push it through docks.
Then when he got off boat at larne left him stranded again. .Eventually got home checked cover and it says they should get one wagon none stop to
boat and another waiting for them coming off.
They got on phone and ended up with a year or 2 free plus some lifetime special deal.
But they've said they wouldn't really trust them if anything happened again
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