Called them out yesterday morning and was very understanding that they had a 4 hr wait considering the conditions.
Subsequently got my vehicle running and presuming it was just the cold and not wanting to waste the AA's time I cancelled the call.
Had problems later on, so rang back and was told a 9hr wait - putting it at around midnight. Not a major problem, as I now wasn't going anywhere anyway. Rang them at 11ish to see if they had an ETA.....
At this point (bearing in mind I'd spent approx 2hrs during the day on hold to them) some call centre worker mumbled something about my visit being cancelled and said he'd ring me back.
45 minutes later, no call back, so another 20mins on hold and I got through to someone who told me that at 7pm the decision had been made to cancel all Home Starts (which is a service I've paid for by the way). Apparently someone should have rang me to tell me, but they were very sorry and don't even bother ringing them for the next 24hrs - WTF!!!!
Now I know they have emergencies, but to not be able to come out for at least 36 hrs when I've paid for a service is taking the piss. Currently sat at home losing £300 per day and waiting for a local mechanic who, although very busy will be with me in 2hrs.
Anyone get treated like this, or know if the RAC are any better?
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 safelyI 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........
