Has anyone else had a recent appalling experience with AA?

[FutureMarchionessOfVidal]

My previous experience with AA was a good one so I renewed membership with them.
However this time I’ve been waiting for hours, now in the dark.
The tracker on the AA app doesn’t work.
There are no text updates.
The customer service chat facility does not give replies.
I can’t get through on the phone. Rings & rings.
Has their service basically fallen apart, or is this a one off? What are others’ experiences? Have they made mass redundancies or something?

Oooh I had a very weird experience last month. I knew I had renewed with them (after a price haggle) but when I called they had no record of membership. They said I had breakdown cover abroad. Yes I had added it on for a trip to France last year.

after 12 minutes the guy initiated the call out. It was fine after that but I just couldn’t understand how my membership didn’t show the correct cover

the guy came quickly and gave me the required jump start.

good luck - hope it gets sorted soon.

I was with the RAC and had to use them a few times. Never got a roadside repair. Always had to be towed somewhere and always felt like they couldn’t care less. I’m with Green Flag now and would totally recommend them. Longest I waited was 45 minutes and had a proper local mechanic every time. Two out of three times they’ve fixed it and I’ve got on with my day. The other time they managed to repair enough to drive home with them following me.

I thought your post was about Alcoholics Anonymous!

I left them because when my clutch went on ‘the side of a mountain’ they said they couldn’t get there for 12 hours… wasn’t a mountain (Preseli Hills for goodness
sake!) and in fact was only 30 mins from a town. So I left - this was last summer. Am so sorry you’re stranded. Sending good vibes for an update and then a swift recovery. ❤️‍🩹

God I can imagine being driven to drink by this experience! 42 minutes to get through to customer services, the lady was very pleasant but it does not make up for app not working, no updates, no tracking, and loooong delay. Really frustrating just waiting with no way to track response time & obviously in some circs could be dangerous.

Planning now to transfer to Green Flag as soon as I can….!

Obviously no reflection on Alcoholics Anonymous intended!

Another one who thought this was about Alcoholics Anonymous, questioning why I didn’t know you had to renew your membership😂

Just had to look up Preseli Hills and it sounds very interesting! (Time in my car hangs heavy, by this rate I’ll soon know about all sorts of new things.)

Gorgeous place, but at their extremes they are definitely just hills with cattle grids and 30 miles outside of Haverfordwest! In the end I called my dad to come and get me and a local guy retrieved the car about four hours later and fit it in so it was his last job of the day and wouldn’t take more than £50 off me, so I gave him an extra tenner for some drinks in the pub. Champion chap.

I hope you are warm enough with enough ability to keep your car charged from the engine! If you were near Swansea I would
come and rescue myself and give you the numbers of two local tow chaps - Big Al and Franco - either would come out at any time of the day or night to get your car to a safe place. I do think local knowledge is so
underrated in this day and age.

What topic are you looking up next?!

Oh thank you! I am an expert on the Fermi paradox now, & still waiting, gnashing my teeth! If I had an AA doll I would stick pins into it.
12.30 now, apparently, though I have little faith; envisaging growing old here.

Oh goodness, by now I think I would be looking up parody songs on YouTube to keep my humour up! They should actually supply aforementioned doll for those waiting for a BILLION years for rescue! You'll have a PhD by the time this is over!

I had a horrendous experience. I had a flat tyre when alone in the dark and freezing cold, pregnant, in a public car park, and they said the car on my policy was one I had got rid of 5 years earlier when I knew I had changed it. Forced me to pay a £75 admin fee over the phone to change the car. Later apologised and refunded after investigation but it was an appalling way to treat a customer in such a vulnerable position, especially for something as quick and easy as a flat tyre.

Years ago was with AA, broke down in Central London on a diplomatic bay so absolutely no option to abandon it. Broke down 7pm, finally got on our way 2am in the morning. Part of the issue was that despite it being abundantly clear the car was not repairable they wouldn't send a tow truck on my say-so and insisted their policy was to send a van first (who confirmed it needed to be towed in less than 2mins). So we had to wait twice.

Moved to Greenflag who I was with for years and had very positive experiences, quick responses, app tracking etc. For a non-urgent home breakdown you can even book a 1hr slot at your convenience!! However, the reason that they are very quick is they sub-contract and then you are at the mercy of the calibre of the sub-contracted company.

Last year, I called them out to my home for a flat tyre. Guy came, changed the tyre, and so I thought put the flat tyre back where the spare was (I drive a campervan and spare is stowed in a wind-up cage underneath the van). A couple of days later I took into my usual tyre place and when they went to get the tyre it wasn't there 😳 I assumed it must have fallen out somewhere as hadn't been stowed properly but the mechanics showed me this wasn't possible as it was tightly wound in, the tyre had never been there. So then I assumed he'd nicked it to flog on eBay. Telling my neighbour the story and he said that's funny, there's a tyre in the hedge just down the road that feels like a coincidence...sure enough my tyre!! CF just couldn't be bothered to put it underneath!!!

So now we're on to RAC and I'm hoping third times a charm! 😁

Wasnt just me then! 😵‍💫 🤣

Have you been rescued yet, op?

I called the AA out earlier this week for a puncture , we logged it online and they were with me within 45 minutes and had it all sorted really quickly , couldn’t fault it . I was parked up at a motorway services as I’d limped off the motorway so I thought they’d take ages to arrive as I was somewhere safe and it was late afternoon .

I was told the AA prioritise fleets they have big contracts with. Years ago they were v good but how often do you see an AA van now? We’ve been with Green flag for years now usually a local garage but that was increasingly the case with the AA. They used to be a proper motorist club but that all changed.

DM had a terrible experience with the AA. She had an accident about 5 years ago, in her late 70s. The car was a write-off but she was physically unharmed, apart from some bruising from the seatbelt.

She was in Kent, just outside Tonbridge, and knew exactly where she was. She phoned the AA, a Welsh woman answered and for some reason she thought DM was in Bridgend in Wales and DM just couldn't make her understand where she was. The AA woman just had it fixated in her mind that DM was in Bridgend and was saying stuff like "oh my lovely, there's no A21 in Bridgend...."

DM was practically out of phone battery. In the end, she hung up and phoned us up, we drove to her with a charger and a flask of tea. On the way we phoned the AA. It was late at night and the recovery truck took hours.