AAA Consumer Reviews - Page 7

WOODHAVEN, MICHIGAN -- On April 5th 2012 my husband called to make payment arrangements for that month on our auto insurance. He told them he would not be able to pay until the 12th. Now mind you we have had 2 cars insured through them for 8 years. I recently had a stroke after my child was born and my husband had to take on all income alone. We have never in those 8 years had our Insurance expire or terminated. Well the lady said "not a problem the insurance would still be active but next month you may get a bill for double, that as long as you pay on the 12th its fine." So the next month my husband was in an accident rt when our insurance was due.

He called to pay May's bill and submit the claim. Well everything was fine and she was ready for our monthly payment until he also told he needs to make a claim as well. Right then it switched. She put him on hold and then told him "sorry your car was not covered at the time and your insurance is terminated because your last month bill was late." I was stunned. I spoke with every person possible and each said even tho she did not tell him it would be terminated he should have known because when the next month bill came in and it showed double payment. After talking to everyone possible I decided I could not deal with the stress anymore. I will chalk it up to a loss.

So as I try to pay my may bill again the same day she then tells me instead of being 285 as normal it was now 1400. I almost died. Just before telling them about the accident (which was only a single car, no damage to anything or anyone but our car) all I owed was 285. I am not letting this go. I filed a formal complaint with the company and I will call and complain everyday until something is handled professionally. They were the nicest people to deal with when all I was doing was paying them for 8 years and the one time I actually need to use the insurance they screw me with some BS. Worst auto insurance ever. Do not use them!

DEARBORN, MICHIGAN -- During the yearly renewal of our AAA a representative suggested we upgrade our membership to AAA plus RV. It sounded like a reasonable deal so I agreed to the 175.00 cost to be upgraded. It included travel interruption reimbursement involving car mechanical issues on a trip which required costs on the trip. The protection plan states that it covers rental vehicle, hotel, and meal costs to your planned destination up to 72 hours after the car breakdown to 1000.00.

Our 19 year old son who is covered under our policy had severe car issues on his way back home with 870 miles left to go of the trip. Because he is not of age to rent a car my husband had to drive from our home to help him. On his way home he had planned make 2 stops. AAA made many calls from their investigative center in Southfield, Michigan about this reimbursement request. Each voice mail or phone call sounded like a police interrogation.

**, employee # ** was the last person to interrogate my son. I was listening to the questions she was asking him and asking the same questions many different ways. She decided that she would only cover the first night hotel charge after the breakdown and total disablement of the vehicle. I then called the customer service dept. at AAA about the situation. I talked with ** in member relations who declined to give me an employee number. I explained the situation. She was not helpful and argumentative not letting me speak. She explained that since the cost of the protection was only about 45.00 per person that each and every reimbursement request is sent to AAA investigation dept. and the employees have to be interrogating otherwise they could not stay in business.

She said that since my son planned to make a stop before he got home that he was only covered until the stop. AAA covered 95.00 out of the 539.09 claim. This was contraindicating to what the Car Travel Interruption Protection Plan is supposed to cover and it states that it will cover up to 1000.00. If I wouldn't have persisted I don't think they would have covered anything at all. When I told her I would file a complaint about this issue she said they get complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau all the time and it is not a bother to them.

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA -- The very first time that I've ever used AAA services since I've been a member and this happens. The towing was great, did a good job. I called AAA and the lady suggested that I have my car towed to one of the AAA car care centers (Charleston, Sam Rittenburg Road). The shop called me and said that the oil control valve was bad and had to get a new part from Toyota and it would take 3 days for the part to arrive. It would cost me over six hundred dollars. I agreed to have the work done.

I picked my car up four days later and as I drove away from the shop a large amount of white smoke came out of the exhaust pipe. I drove it straight home and the car stayed in my driveway for about five days before I used it again. I was very lucky that I happen to see oil in my driveway before I started my car, because most of the oil had leaked out. I refilled the oil in my car and took it back to the AAA car center and they told me that the head gaskets needed to be replaced and it would cost another three hundred and sixty dollars.

It's fine if the gasket needed to be replaced, but I think they should have discovered this before they let me drive away from their shop and maybe damage my engine. I took my car to another shop and they replaced the gaskets for less money and they completely cleaned my engine to make sure that there wasn't any other leaks. AAA should have cleaned my engine and found this leak before they allowed me to drive the car. I spoke with the guy at AAA counter and all he could say was sorry.

Years ago I owned a Corvair and when the clutch cable broke I called AAA to tow it to a service station for repair. Please note that this was a standard shift car and without a working clutch it remained "in gear". This means that the drive train is always engaged. The proper way to tow would be with a tow truck to lift the wheels off the ground for towing. The company that AAA called sent two men over with a pickup truck. Since the car was stuck in gear, they pushed it to jump start the car and drove it through town to the garage. Needless to say there were stop lights and they would have had to yank the gearshift out of gear to stop.

After I had my garage replace the clutch cable I got in to drive the car only to find that the car made a horrible clanking noise and couldn't be driven. It was found that there were broken teeth on the gears in the transmission which were broken when the gear shift forced the car out of gear while it was moving according to the repair shop mechanic. I called AAA and was told that even though they hired the towing company, they could do nothing about it and I would need to deal with the towing company direct. Even though it was obvious how the transmission got damaged, they refused responsibility and would do nothing.

It cost me over $400 to repair the transmission which was working perfectly prior to the towing or lack thereof. I have been approached by AAA many many times since then to purchase their membership and I then told them the story to which their response was "oh, we're sorry about that". Since they refused to take responsibility for the contractor that they hired, the very least they could have done was to refund my years membership or offer an extra year which they did not do.

Each time they try to recruit me I tell them that I would NEVER use them or trust them again and to stop annoying me with their sales people. I still get constantly mailed and called to join. The bottom line is that they hired the towing company that ruined the transmission and expected me to deal directly with them to which I had no leverage since I didn't hire them. AAA would not even come to my defense.

There is no customer relations address or telephone number to contact AAA so consequently no person in authority to complain to that can correct anything like this happening again. If you are dissatisfied with their service, who do you complain to? Evidently, once they get you hooked into their service they no longer care.

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA -- Rip-off Artists/AAA Associates at this location: **. The One Honest Associate in the bunch: The Actual Mechanic who serviced my vehicle. The Problem: Had my car towed for the first time to the AAA Car Center to change two parts on my vehicle. My vehicle was in their possession for 5 days, and ** constantly called and coerced me to buy an alternator and new battery to repair my vehicle. After these two parts were replaced, I was told that my vehicle was repaired and was "good to go".

However, when I arrived to pick up the vehicle, it would not run. When I confronted **, he attempted to find out why my vehicle would not run. He then comes out of the garage, shrugs his shoulders and says "I don't know what the problem is and we do not fix older model vehicles to driveability." I asked him why wasn't I told this before I came to pick up the vehicle and before parts were replaced on my vehicle. I then asked to speak to the mechanic who actually worked on my vehicle.

The mechanic explained to me that he replaced the parts but could see that my vehicle still was not completed fixed to driveability. He stated that he mentioned this to **, the front desk associate, that my vehicle 'still ran roughly', but she did not convey that message to me. They chose to let me come to pick up my vehicle, take my $500.00 first, and then let me find out for myself that the vehicle still would not run.

They should have been honest and told me over the phone that my vehicle still would not run. I ended up having to have it TOWED from the AAA Car Care center to an Auto Repair that actually knew how to REPAIR a vehicle. I WAS CLEARLY DECEIVED, ROBBED AND RIPOFF BY THESE CRAFTY MONEY GRUBBERS.

FLORIDA -- I went to work for AAA Auto Club South as an insurance agent at the Palm Beach Gardens Florida Office. The pay structure was very odd, you get a very meager base pay plus points (commission). You are assigned different points for various insurance products. Depending on the product and the company, your points (commissions) vary. To complicate matters, AAA withholds 50% of the commission points until you have worked about 6 months, then if you are still employed you get the other half of your money.

My complaint, I resigned effective 1/4/2006 and was told by my manager that I would receive the 50% December commission points. After waiting over a month the check never arrived. AAA decided not to pay me the approximately $800 due me. When I spoke with Dan Jiles, AAA's Vice President of the Insurance Agency (who ironically does not appear to have an insurance license in the state of FL). He stated that AAA does not pay any of the bonus points (commission) unless you are employed on pay day.

I expressed my dissatisfaction with this policy, asked him to reconsider and was told no. I suggested AAA change the policy as this is unfair. I also suggested they make this policy known as neither I nor my manager knew this policy existed. Dan Jiles stated that this policy was in writing. That may be true but it was so vague and confusing no wonder we misunderstood.

Since leaving AAA on 1/4/2006 AAA placed Help Wanted ads in the Palm Beach Post for agents at the Palm Beach Gardens Florida office, the Lake Worth, FL office and the Delray, FL office. Almost 2 months have passed and apparently AAA can't find insurance agents willing to work for the meager pay and the promise they may get their commission points bonus check if they are still employed on payday.

WARNING - if you are in the insurance business think twice before considering working for AAA. In my opinion the pay is poor, you do not get paid for policy renewals, a ridiculous dress code for South Florida (men must wear a neck tie and no facial hair), and a rotating Saturday work schedule. My experience was not favorable. I plan to cancel my AAA Auto membership and move my insurance policy to another agency immediately.

For emergency road service...when I think of the money wasted each year on AAA membership dues and rarely ever used the road service, I won't miss this expense. For travel...I will definitely use EXPEDIA.com, Travelocity.com or ORBITZ.com. AAA kept my $800 commission (points) and that is all the money AAA will ever get from me and my family. Coming soon...www.AAAScrewedMe.com A website dedicated to people that are not happy with AAA.

On October 24, 2005 I called AAA after being a loyal customer along with my parents since the 80's and my car which was out of commission for about a month needed to be towed to the dealership to be fixed and when the driver reached my home he informed me that because that the registration was expired and we had yet to receive the copy of the new registration in the mail that it would be a charge to tow the car. He then instructed me to call and find out how much - when I called back they instructed the driver to leave the car because we didn't have the new registration which was ordered for us and that we were to call another company to have the car towed.

This is ridiculous because the registration issue was something that they were aware of stranded there is no point in paying AAA. It costs more to pay a years membership than to just call a generic tow truck/company when you need them. I am irate and since then have cancelled my membership along with other members of my family. This was also referred to by the customer service rep Lillian ** as a new policy which I had never been informed of until I needed their assistance.

This is a shame and a waste of money. In addition the rep was extremely rude when she was talking with me and insulted me as a driver and made me feel as though I was incompetent. In addition to the fact that I was up against a wall and found that I had been paying for a membership that didn't even apply to me or my vehicle at the time.

Also, I asked for the drivers name and she refused to give that information to me as well. I just feel as though the customer service for AAA is a disgrace and is a deterrent for all people who belong and have to deal with it and I also feel that it is my duty along with the many other people who have similar feelings that constantly write in to this site to protect other citizens from being victims as well.

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- I have booked 2 trips through AAA Travel and have had problems on both occasions. This first trip was 12/11 to Costa Rica. We booked the trip months in advance and worked personally with an agent. We were specific about our seat assignment requests & when we tried to confirm our trip we discovered the agent had failed to book our seats as requested.

I thought I would take matters into my own hands & purchased airline tickets through AAA website in March for a trip in July. I selected my seat assignments & received confirmation from AAA Travel. I received a flight change notice by email 4/16/12 & again my seat assignments were listed. I had a question about luggage & went online to research with the airlines only to discover my seats were "UNASSIGNED". I immediately called AAA travel agents and received a run around with blame being placed on the airline.

I felt if there was a problem with my seat selection then I should have been informed of the change by AAA as they had all my contact information. AAA Travel indicated that I would have been given a seat a check in, then why would I have bothered with the months of pre planning. I selected those seats specifically to be near other family members traveling as well as a way to accommodate tall travelers. What seat selections would I have been offered at the ticket counter?? I do not consider this service I consider this misrepresentation.

AAA Travel communicated with me on two occasions and on each occasion confirmed my prior seat selections. Had I not checked myself, I would have been left out in the cold. I will never use AAA Travel service again & I recommend no one else trust this company. As a result I have had to pay up-charges to try to get near the seats previously chosen months ago.

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA -- Last month I dropped my 2008 Hyundai Sonata off for an oil change at The AAA auto center at Sandhill Village in Columbia SC. I work at the village, so it is easy having my car serviced with this AAA. At lunch, I returned to pick up my car and was told that one of the service advisors wanted to speak with me. He sat down with me and started to go over services that my car need.

They were: Coolant Flush and Fill (My PH was beyond the freezing/ boiling point), Fuel Injection Service (He showed me a dirty c tip that was covered with grease), Transmission Service (He showed me a dirty brown speck on a booklet), New battery (My battery was rated at 600 CCA, but was now only 525 CCA), Power Steering replacement (Again he showed me a dirty brown speck on a booklet). He then asked me if I wanted to take care of these services today at a total cost of $645.00.

My 2008 Hyundai Sonata is just under 3 years old with only 28000 miles on it, so I declined. This horse and pony show took 15 minutes so I missed my lunch. As I was checking out, I overheard the manager asking his service advisor if he had gotten anywhere with this (in other work was he able to rip me off for $645.00 on services that I did not need).

When I got home, I opened my service manual and this is what I found for scheduled service for my 2008 Hyundai Sonata with 28000 miles: Oil Change every 5K; Transmission Service at 90k – Hyundai uses a fluid that last for 90K; Flush Cooling System at 120K – again Hyundai uses a fluid that last that long; Brake Fluid at 120K; Power Steering fluid – no need to change; Fuel injection Service – not needed unless engine is running poorly (My engine runs new); Battery – when it stops charging or about every 6 years to be on the safe side. Also, I did find my tire were at 25 so they need air. After all that, they missed filling my tires to 30.

If I did indeed need the service that AAA suggested, the price of $645 was higher than what I would have had to pay at my dealership. And there I would have had a certified trained Hyundai technician, not some kid that look like he was right out of high school, doing these repairs. I will not be coming back AAA for service or renewing my membership. It is not the same AAA that I remember 25 years ago.

I have been a long time member of AAA. My Members Plus membership has expired in 2009. I have not received any mails letting me know in terms of renewal. I talked to several people within their customer relations department and not one person has tried to help me. All I wanted to do was regain the status of my prior membership. It is not like I was out of membership for 2 or three years, it was 2009 it ended and it is now 2010.

Instead of keeping me as a loyal customer they are willing to just let me go. I am not calling for service but just to renew. This company doesn't seem to understand that there are many competitors out there and that they should try and retain their loyal customer base. I even told them that I would renew for multiple years but instead of this they said absolutely not and that they would only let me enroll as a new customer.

With the rise of Onstar, and auto insurance member services, along with other competitors you would think that they would want to retain members such as myself. But instead they have lost yet another person who was willing to stay/pay, who will now take advantage of other avenues that offer their same main benefits. Great Job AAA in hiring people that do not know how to retain your customer base. Great Job AAA in now pissing off someone who will be extremely vocal about this error in judgment.

Please note that this is a recession and people are extremely frugal in how and whom they chose to give their money to. If this does not correct itself in a couple days I will begin a relentless campaign to spread the word of your horrible customer relations and policies blocking loyal consumers with good intentions from renewing their memberships without penalty. I hope this makes it up to the top of the organization and if this messages doesn't I will be sure to do it myself. Thanks for nothing.