[Closed] The AA - what a joke...

Hire a car for £50 a day, gain £250 a day?

I'd image all of them are the same at them moment.

Although you've paid extra for the homestart I can quite understand how it would be the lowest priority. I'd choose me being stuck at home over someone else not being able to get home in this weather

Go hire a car for £30 if you're loosing £300 a day

That may be the next solution after the mechanic calls today - we'll see what he says

get a grip! taxi / hire car / bike / walk / bus

hmmm, don't think it's just the AA you'd be having these issues with.

And you earn £300 for what, your ability to think straight...

is your journey essential - unless your a gritter or dealing with one of the major services and even then front line - Electric / water /gas then no ....

Thanks for that teej.

I'm quite capable of deciding to hire a car as and when the suitable time arrives - I'd like to get my own fixed if possible.

That wasn't the real point of my post, was it?

Bike, bus, walk not an option btw.

I guess it's not as easy as just hiring another car if it's a van/truck loaded up with tools or equipment. I'd be pissed off as well, but there's not a lot you can do.

And you earn £300 for what, your ability to think straight...

FFS, - no, I'd not thought about solutions.

I was having a moan at the AA, not looking for smart arses stating the bloody obvious.

I'd not be very happy if I had a night on the hard shoulder because the AA was busy jump starting cars whilst their owners were in front of the telly with a cup of tea.

I support them, though obviously the comms could have been better, a simple text would suffice.

Bit harsh TJ/br I think I'd be a bit peeved too. So what's the general consensus on this sort of thing, I note british gas promise to be there for you in double quick time except for weekends holidays and [i]busy periods[/i] - that'll be the whole of winter then!
So should AA, british gas and others be putting more staff on or are TAFKA_STR and me being unreasonable?

Edit, I agree spooky but I'd be expecting a refund for my homestart if the one time I called them they refused to come out. (BTW I don't have AA homestart or BG home/boilercare) 🙂

yes, the AA are the only people having a few issues with the recent weather.

As I've said, I'd find even a 9hr wait acceptable, but to wait 9hrs, have my visit cancelled without being told and then told to not even bother for the next 24hrs, is beyond acceptable service.

I also accept home starts will be at the back of the queue, however I'd expect them to be able to offer a better service than 36hrs, be it winter or not.

Given the conditions I think its perfectly reasonable that AA home start becomes a low priority. There are people in greater need and the AA men themselves have to travel around safely

I for one would not be moaning about loosing £300 a day. I would have alternative plans in place or I would not whine as without alternatives I would accept it as my fault.

But then I believe in being prepared and self reliant. I have been to work every day I was supposed to over theis period and will be at work again tonight - for rather less than £300 a day

not looking for smart arses stating the bloody obvious.

So you posted here??

[i]So should AA, british gas and others be putting more staff on or are TAFKA_STR and me being unreasonable?[/i]

I guess it's what the market will bear. The company could employ extra seasonal staff (though getting seasonal skilled staff in itself is going to be pretty unlikely), but assuming they can do it, it will cost money, which will be passed on to the customer. If the competition aren't doing this, they will be cheaper and get the custom. Because at the end of the day "We offer a better service in winter", doesn't outweigh "We cost £20 more than the other guys" to your typical punter.

It's not because it's 'winter' it's because it's rather a extreme weather thing that is hugely worse than expected. Haven't you seen other threads about 15 hour journeys and feet of snow? If you were stranded miles from home would you say you should have priority over people whose cars are on their driveways? [i]Maybe[/i] there are hundreds of people stranded miles from home?

Love the self-rightious/important tools on here.

He paid for a service and hasn't received it, and in fact recieved bad service for not being informed of what was going on. If the AA can't cope then it is their problem not his.

If you were stranded miles from home would you say you should have priority over people whose cars are on their driveways?

Do you really think that the AA are risking getting stranded themselves getting to these people? They drive Vans not tanks.

wot GrahamS sed.

I swapped to the RAC after having to deal with the AA's 'customer service'.

Granted they've got problems, granted you were a low priority, but a phone call whilst pressing the 'cancel this callout' button wouldn't have taken any more time.

RAC have a much better telephone manner, when I did call them out, they phoned me three of four times to keep me informed of the timescales.

If it was me, it wouldnt be the delay that made my blood boil, but the lack of communication

Never let being selfish, inconsiderate and a complete know-it-all retard get in the way of having a unjustified rant, eh?

Sorry I forgot you the centre of the universe.

Given the conditions I think its perfectly reasonable that AA home start becomes a low priority. There are people in greater need and the AA men themselves have to travel around safely

I for one would not be moaning about loosing £300 a day. I would have alternative plans in place or I would not whine as without alternatives I would accept it as my fault.

But then I believe in being prepared and self reliant. I have been to work every day I was supposed to over theis period and will be at work again tonight - for rather less than £300 a day

I've already accepted that Home Start is low priority, but see above regarding my treatment and the actual length of response time.

So Teej, what alternative plans would you have in place at nearly midnight - another van sat on the drive just in case?

Driving 200 miles to do my job doesn't present itself with many options, although I'll hire a van if and when I deem it necessary. I have other ways of making some money today and I'll take yesterday as a hit, as I had some paperwork to do anyway. It was more a hypothetical point, that unfortunately seems to have detracted away from the actual point of my post.

He paid for a service and hasn't received it, and in fact recieved bad service for not being informed of what was going on. [b]If the AA can't cope then it is their problem not his.[/b]

It's quite evident that it has become his problem.

We all like to vent from time to time, nowt wrong with that, but what are the AA expected to do when demand outstrips supply? - aah that would be prioritisation then. And yes, maybe they should have called him to apologise / explain, but perhaps the poor buggers on the phones are as busy as the mechanics on the roads. 🙄

Nobodies died, folk off in worse position than you, etc etc.

LOL TJ, that's the best post I've seen from you for some time.

Completely missing the point, self-important, self-righteous, inverted snobbery, comparing the incomparable....

Ah well, I suppose there is some reason and perhaps truth in it also 😀

We all like to vent from time to time, nowt wrong with that, but what are the AA expected to do when demand outstrips supply?

Learn from their mistakes and plan accordingly.

Why is it in this country that when the going gets a little harder than usual, we think it is ok to just sit back and accept crap service?

[i]RAC have a much better telephone manner, when I did call them out, they phoned me three of four times to keep me informed of the timescales.[/i]

+1, RAC customer service is excellent.

[i]It was more a hypothetical point[/i]

well, hypothetically, we could[i] all[/i] be losing £300 a day if our cars break down.

the aa are supposed to subcontract to local garages, when supply exceeds demand. They absolutely need to have a plan in place for inclemental weather (as this is why people pay £100s for their service) as it happens every year. If I were the OP I'd be looking to see if they have a clause in their contract to allow this (they probably do) and if not, be asking them for (at the very least) a full refund of his annual fee

Sorry TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR, couldn't resist.

tbh I left the AA 20 odd years ago when they decided to reduce the service to m/c's (can't remember what it was they did/didn't, but...). Been with the RAC ever since.

Agree with you that the comms you faced were crap, but based upon the current conditions I'm guessing they were a wee bit busy.

Learn from their mistakes and plan accordingly.

Go on then cleverclogs, crack on with the suggestions! 😛

The AA are quite rightly prioritising those in greatest need, and to be fair the OP understands and accepts that. They could have been better communication wise, but I doubt any other organisations would do better given the current situation, and I think the OP understands that too. Its hard not to get frustrated tho, and if you cant blow off a bit of harmless steam on the internet then whats it for?

What I cant understand are the people spending hour after hour stuck in their car because they couldnt bear a 2 mile walk, then didnt take a flask, sandwich and sleeping bag.

Go on then cleverclogs, crack on with the suggestions!

You must work in the AA strategy department with an attitude like that!

🙄

What bank are you with? I get free Green Flag amongst other things with Natwest.

Called them out to my van yesterday, thought the battery had died as it had been slow for a few weeks, them totally dead yesterday. Changed it for a new one but still dead. When I called thy were very apologetic and said it would be a very long wait of about 90 mins! I was expecting 4hrs to be honest.
The guy turned up after an hour, was really helpful and diagnosed the problem as a faulty starter circuit and possibly starter too. Couldn't have been more helpful.
If also said in chatting, that he'd was from huddersfield and had been staying in manchester due to the snow making travel harder as had a lot of guys. They made them stay where they were needed and put them up.

Excellent service and free too

Green Flag are excellent as are the RAC, the AA are awful.

I don't know how much profit the AA makes, but we can imagine that their headcount is based on an average condition (same as most of our employers I expect).

It's very frustrating to not get the service you have paid for, but I would suggest that the potential costs of having sufficient cover for such peak moments would just be passed onto the consumer, probably making the annual cover even more expensive to the point of being unrealistic.

If the AA are making huge profits then there is clearly something terribly wrong with their priorities & their customers should consider alternative suppliers in the future...

Although frustrating that you have paid for a service that you havent received, and the service was a bit crap, but what do you expect?

They will be snowed under with urgent calls, people stuck in dangerous situations on busy roads, or in the middle of no where freezing cold.

Quite rightly people requesting Homestart isnt a priority at the moment because they are home, safe and warm.

When the bad weather has all calmed down, contact them for some compensation on you premium.

Given the conditions I think its perfectly reasonable that AA home start becomes a low priority.

Why? The driver stuck at home could be a surgeon/doctor/nurse/fireman or whatever who [i]needs[/i] to get to work urgently. And the AA are probably going out to some dorris who's gone to the supermarket because she's down to her last 8 loaves left in the freezer!

On 8 May 2007 the AA was the focus of the BBC's "The Money Programme". The sale of the company to CVC Permira was criticised and the detrimental effect this has had upon the company's performance was exposed. Following the October 2005 buyout the company has been saddled with £1.3 billion of debt and the number of patrols was cut significantly, with many of these cuts said to be under unfair circumstances; a third of the 10,000 staff were cut in order to "improve efficiency". Tim Parker, the previous chief executive, has since admitted that the cut-backs were too great, and that with the increased work load in the 2006 summer they required more patrols.

The RAC have more patrols per member and are cheaper.

😯

[i]surgeon/doctor/nurse/fireman or whatever who needs to get to work urgently. [/i]

well, they have priority response for people who identify themselves as the former. For the latter group there's middle managers all over the land who fall into that category...

I got a flat at the Brass Monkeys a week ago and couldn't jack the car as the jack just sank. They were with me in half hour.

Admittidly I wouldn't have bought the policy with them if it didn't come for a few quid with house insurance.

When my microwave went wrong the other week (I was melting the snow from my driveway one bowl at a time) I called the AA but they were very unhelpful. They wouldn't send anyone out or offer a replacement oven or anything.

Then they said that I had to be a "member" or something.

Disgraceful........

Now I know they have emergencies

Seems like perhaps you don't quite understand the scale of their problems...

If your earning £300 a day why not buy a reliable car that can cope with cold.......?? Hehehe..... I'll get my coat

the-muffin-man - Member

Given the conditions I think its perfectly reasonable that AA home start becomes a low priority.

Why?

TBH it is the none essentials who go out and get stuck, then call the AA et al in their FWD Transits who need to be left to their own devices.
If I worked for the AA I'd prefer a day of Homestarts, with tea & coffee on tap, than pushing/pulling knobs out of ditches.
I have some sympathy for the OP in his circumstances.

i went out this morning to defrost the car to take oh to work. battery done. was going to jumpstart with the van but two weeks sitting doing nothing rendered it equally useless.

phoned the rac. they phoned back an hour later to say they were delayed. they phoned again to say they couldn't say when they'd get here. and then texted to make sure oh was okay. and phoned again. then appeared after three hours. similar experiences last year. attentive and the guy in the van was super decent.

Because your vehicle is obviously not in a particularly reliable condition, and the AA man should probably advise you not to risk taking it out on the winter roads and risking getting stuck somewhere. If it needs a new battery go and get one. If it just needs a jump start ask a neighbour.

My otherwise reliable, 3 year old fully MOT'd, fully serviced (ironically) 4x4 won't jump start - until it's finally given up the ghost today, didn't need a new battery and, according to the mechanic who's just been out from a local garage, is suffering from frozen fuel.

I checked the battery voltage yesterday and it was fine, although it's now taken exception to too much heavy load and died - that wasn't the initial problem though.

[i]is suffering from frozen fuel[/i]

good job the AA didn't come out then and concentrated on those that were already out and about, they'd not have been able to help...

Last year my prop went, they were great. I had several countdown texts to keep me informed. They loaded my Landy, and dropped me off at my cross race then took it to the garage of my choice.
Best few quid I spent was on a battery starter.
I need my car for work, so I have to be ready for any situations.

Frozen fuel? Was it a tank from earlier in the year?

molgrips - Member
Frozen fuel? Was it a tank from earlier in the year?

It hasn't got cold enough by a long way for either petrol or diesel to freeze in the UK yet. If your fuel is freezing there must be some contaminant like water in your tank.

If the diesel in there hasn't got any additives in it then the diesel could be "waxing" that starts below about -10degC. This kills the filter.

I didn't mean froze solid - as LHS says, 'waxing' -17.5 was reported overnight here, so yes the temps are cold enough.

molgrips - Member
Frozen fuel? Was it a tank from earlier in the year?

Eh?

As above, plain diesel starts to wax at -10 or so, so in the winter months they put anti-waxing additives in it. If you fill up in early Autumn then don't use it all up before early severe cold then you can have problems. The amount of additives varies depending on where they sell it, so you can also have trouble if you fill up in the sunny south and drive up to Scotland (if you can manage it on one tank).

The additives affect the energy content of the fuel too, which is mainly why you get worse MPG in the winter months - it's cos you are using winter fuel.

No, I do around 700 miles per week - it's a half full tank of BP Ultimate

I didn't mean froze solid - as LHS says, 'waxing' -17.5 was reported overnight here, so yes the temps are cold enough.

Ahhh waxing why didn't you say that
Still BP ultimate which is definately treated this time of year should be fine with current temperatures. Maybe just got a cr*p tank last time you filled up, hope its sorted soon. 😉

inclemental weather

Weather that's slightly worse than the day before?

I am with the Royal Automobile Club, which I find most satisfactory.

I figured out that if it's good enough for Queen Elizabeth, and after all, she can hardly afford to lose a day's wages, then it's good enough for me.

last couple of days aa have recieved three times normal workload.patrols drive vans so are getting stuck in traffic ect same as everybody else and are therefore able to attend less jobs than normal.contractors also streched to limit as they all work for green flag and rac aswell!!..prioroty must be given to motorways,lone females ect..some people are just useless and are holding everyone up by calling in for things like washers frozen,snow on driveway,brakes failing!!(when abs works)...ive just finished a twelve hour shift and done four jobs normally would do eight to ten!! 🙁

My wife's car lost power and she was advised by the garage that the car needed to be towed asdriving would damage the engine. The RAC came out and refused to tow the car. They were not interested in helping her at all.
They left her stranded and in tears. A total waste of money. There is no point having cover as you have to sort it out yourself anyway.

And so it continues.

Been told all day at numerous times that they would be out at 19.40.

Had a missed call at 15.30, so rang back and was told that it was an updated ETA, but still 19.40.

Got to 20.40 and gave them a call, just to see if they knew an ETA. After much umming and ahhing and being put on hold I was told that my job had been logged as completed!!!!!!! WTF

Got a 20 something team leader on the phone masquerading as a manager rolling out the company line and eventually established that the call at 15.30 had been to tell me that my job had been cancelled, yet no-one saw fit to leave a voicemail, or call me back. The muppet I spoke to half an hour later still had my job logged in at 19.40, yet for some reason marked the job as resolved when he put the phone down.

Needless to say, he got both barrels. Shocking customer service and busy or not my treatment has been totally unacceptable.

I thought you had had the local guy out? Why are the AA still coming?
Oh, and agreed, the service you have got is pretty shoddy, but don't forget the reasons they are so busy, harsh weather and hundreds of poorly maintained cars with owners relying on the fact that the AA will sort out their maintenance failings.

Local guy came out, had a sniff round, thought it was fuel - not a lot he could do without it warming up/stripping down and he didn't have time.

As I've paid for Home Start, I want the ****ers to come to my home and start my vehicle, or at least determine exactly what's wrong with it.

Local guy since called back and said he'd been to a few similar today and it turned out to be water in the fuel filter, which he may be able to sort for me tomorrow - if that's the problem.

3.5/10 Poor rant. Suck it up, people have been stranded for 24 hours in their cars, and your greeting about frozen fuel, FFS.

*DISCLAIMER* I do actually care for your situation and have empathy with your plight but I have posted a cynical, unhelpful reply in a sarcastic tone which is the current form on here. Hope you are up and running soon.

It could be worse, like me having to commute on my bike in temperatures of minus 11 on icy roads. I cant wait till tomorrow morning!

I'm in Derbyshire, not Lanarkshire - I very much doubt anyone has been stranded around here for 24hrs in their cars.

Not sure who I'm greeting, but I'm moaning about a bloody poor service from someone who's supposed to provide one of the best.

If I'd chosen not to take out breakdown cover, with an extra premium for 'Home Start', then I wouldn't have anything to moan about, would I?

greetin' is Scottish vernacular for crying.

Jesus man get over it, its not exactly an emergency is it. They've not handled it well but you really are making a mountain out of molehill.

As I've paid for Home Start, I want the ****ers to come to my home and start my vehicle, or at least determine exactly what's wrong with it.

I'm sure they will. It might take several days though. On account of the weather. Were you in a hurry ?

i would want some money back but also realise i am not a priority - surely a garage will come and have look /fix it if you are in such a ruch as the AA may not get it started - imagine you wait 2 weeks and they just says take it to the garage mate

NZCol - Member
Jesus man get over it, its not exactly an emergency is it. They've not handled it well but you really are making a mountain out of molehill.

It's pretty important to me not to have my vehicle off the road for 3 days - which is why I bought breakdown cover.

Can you not read, or do you just notice the words you want to for the sake of an argument - I've repeatedly stated I can handle them being busy considering the conditions, but to fail to provide a service (or arrange a contracted mechanic) for 3 bloody days is a bit rich even in the circumstances.

Even that aside, it's the level of incompetance with regards to simple communication that is boiling my blood most. To expect a repair and to find out at 11pm and 9pm that I've been cancelled without notice isn't conducive to being able to resolve the problem through other avenues is it. I've already incurred callout costs and will be incurring further costs and time lost sorting it out myself tomorrow.

Strike me down if this isn't why I use someone such as the AA, otherwise why bother?

it's the level of incompetance with regards to simple communication that is boiling my blood most.

Maybe the weather conditions has resulted in less staff turning up for work, which when combined with a much greater workload than normal, has resulted in fewer people doing a larger amount of work, and less dedicated time for each case.

Personally I can't see much of a problem. If you can't wait for the AA to turn up, then just get your local guy to sort your car out. You now know that Home Start is not as reliable as you would like it to be when there is fairly severe weather conditions and high demand, so don't bother with Home Start when it comes up for renewal, if you think that isn't good enough. I wouldn't get too worked up about it.

I've been with the AA for about 20 years. I think between the two of us (and this includes for 3 hire car callouts where we'd been given a fiat (they should all have an AA van following them) and a renault and then a vauxhall), we've called them out about ten times.

I think the only time I've not been 100% happy with the performance is the very first time where the guy was particularly sarcastic about my adherence (or lack thereof) to service intervals (which was a fair point), he fixed it quickly though.
Since then, they've been absolutely brilliant. One guy towed me 30 miles home (timing chain snapped) when my cover clearly states they'll only tow me to the nearest garage. When the hire car I had broke down in Newcastle, the chap turned up in about 10 minutes, found the problem in a couple of minutes, (water in one of the relays), sorted the problem and then followed me back to my hotel to make sure the car would start again after the battery had been charged for a little bit.

I think they're freaking great!

edit: Oh, and for the last few times, the call centre person has asked if there's anyone who needs to know that I'm stuck and did I want them to give 'em a ring and let them know I'll be a bit late. Now that's service.

Maybe you should have bought an LDV Pilot instead of that cheap shite you have, your words, eat, enjoy.

They had me off the M6 in 15 minutes and after the mechanic found I only had roadside recovery not full relay, he spent the next 2 hours running and clearing fault codes, following me around til it broke again, calling his mates for advice on the model, and- woo hoo- fixed it. My local garage had offered to charge me £70 I think it was just to read the fault codes off once never mind look at the fault. Can't speak too highly of them meself, the guy was an absolute legend.

OTOH the RAC once refused to come and recover me from a barren hillside in the middle of nowhere with no houses or people in view, because I couldn't tell them the postcode. "Just ask someone" .And another time refused to send out a relay til they'd "assessed" my bike to see if it could be ridden in, after it went on fire. First van turns up, less than a minute later says "That's been on fire. You need a relay, I can't tow a bike" and left. 2 hours wait for the first, 4 hours for the second.

Classic stw this thread.

Everyone having a go at the op and twisting his words presumably for a bit of fun.

STR FWIW (not much I'd expect) I think you've got a perfectly reasonable point, but no doubt you'll be prepared and get the bus next time 😀