To complain about the AA man

[TeaAndBrie]

So my car is having issues, I spilt a drink in the passenger footwell a week ago. The car was still working fine and I was advised it was safe to keep driving when I Took it to a garage yesterday, they couldn’t sort it but recommended someone else. He can look at it but not for a couple of weeks.
Today it wouldn’t start at all.
i contacted the AA and 6 hours later the AA arrived. Not an issue because I was at home but still a long time.
I felt like I was being told off by my dad. He kept asking if I understood that it was serious. It was an accident and he made me feel so stupid. He told me that cars can’t function if the electrics don’t work and that water conducts electricity 🙄
he told me that the garage only said it was fine to get rid of me and that no one will want to touch it.
I understand what I’ve done but it wasn’t on purpose and as a paying customer I don’t need to be told off.
currently researching RAC membership instead…

I wanted her to but she couldn't be bothered! 🙄

I wish I hadn’t mentioned anything about it. I should have played along and pretended I was clueless.
it doesn’t pay to be honest!

It's almost certainly because it's a Citroen, nothing to do with the drink. I had one years ago and it was horrendous for electrical issues

Because of the airbag pretensioner fault that kept flashing beeping approximately every 30 seconds!

I haven’t tried to leave anything out.
the drink was in the cup holder in the middle console between the radio and the gear stick. I drove off from the drive through and felt the lid on my hand when I changed gear. I pulled into a car park and it was dark. I tried to use napkins to get up the liquid from everywhere that I could see it had gone but it was difficult to see exactly.

it was a genuine accident. I don’t deserve to be told off about it. I already feel stupid for doing it

What a shame you had that experience!
I had to call the AA man out last night. My teenager had left one of the inner lights on and the battery went flat.

He was lovely! Never once even hinted that I was an idiot, though I certainly felt like one! He spotted what was wrong straight away and sorted it all out for me.
Hope you get someone like him next time!

My Citroen had a tantrum after being valeted because the pressure washing caused an electrical issue. I’d had it valeted because it was going in for MOT the next day. Drove to the MOT with a warning light on. It sat at the garage for a week and had hundreds of pounds worth of investigations. Eventually it just dried out and the warning light turned off.

Maybe Citroens really are just shit with liquids.

I am certainly learning that Citroens are problematic and a bit sensitive!

So glad to hear that your experience was much more positive :)

I wouldn't complain and I wouldn't swap to RAC. AA don't train their recovery people to patronising arseholes, you could just as easily get one from RAC.

I would grow a back bone and thicker skin for dealing with similar dickheads in the future because there will be a next time.

Mine has had a warning about the parking sensors being faulty for a couple of years. No one can find it on a diagnostic check so I’ve learnt to live with it. Sometimes it shouts, sometimes it doesn’t.
it sounds like electric issues are common!

Hmmmm. If it was that easy to kill a car by spilling a drink, I'm pretty sure that firstly cars would be breaking down far more regularly and secondly they wouldn't put cup holders in them!

That’s a good point

The warning will be for the seatbelt pretension, possibly uses the same warning light as airbag though. There will be a plug for it under the seat somewhere, they're bad enough for giving problems anyway never mind if they've had a soaking, that's more than likely the issue with warming lights. The non starting could be linked but without pulling codes from the car you're just guessing.

I would do the following

find the battery reset procedure for that model, google it, and see if disconnecting the battery and then reconnecting it works, I know this is a valid procedure for certain BMW models, but I am not sure if it is recommended for your model car.

or

play safe and order a diagnostic tool from amazon (around £25) , its normally here the next day, that will confirm if one of the airbag sensors has been damaged, or one of the wires to the sensor is damaged and that will probably be cheaper than having an auto electrician essentially do the same thing.

Its possible the car is refusing to start as it has logged a permanent airbag fault.

Thank you, that’s really helpful :)

Loads of cars have electrics and various modules under carpets. Issues are normally caused by water leaks and wet carpets are a telltale. One of my cars was recovered from the continent prior to my ownership due to a blocked drain soaking the carpet and killing a module (a really common issue). Normally it takes quite a bit of liquid but this is a Citroen so doubt a thimble full of water could kill it.

Was it one of those ginormous Stanley cups that hold a swimming pools worth of liquid? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Yes, but not for the immobiliser! And certainly nothing to the functioning of the engine. The internal looms will generally deal with internal features (as you said heated seats) rather than something preventing the car from starting. Even on an electronic gear stick, it’s simply liable to make the gearstick not work, rather than prevent the starter motor from working.

nope it was a medium macdonalds cup of coke! It was a bit half of that that spilled.
im not cool enough for a Stanley cup! 😂

He sounds like he was doing the usual 'I'm a man doing a big important man job and you're a laydee who clearly doesn't know anything about science, mechanics or any object with moving parts'.

I don't think there's much point in making a complaint. Give them a bad review and switch.

But it does seem like there must be more to it if a 200-500ml drink spilled into the foot well could be rendering the car unusable.

Many cars have electronic modules under the floor, although it’s often boot not in the footwell. We had a BMW that leaked into the well in the rear of the car and fried the roof motor and electronics that controlled the windows and doors. So I wouldn’t be so quick to say it isn’t true, especially as the OP mentions it’s a Citroen, and French cars aren’t renowned for robust electrics!

as for the AA man, his job is not really to lecture you, its to get you going again, so yes, in my opinion he was not doing his job. He should have explained what your options were in so far as what the AA were going to do next to help.

Most garages do not touch electrical problems, so his assumption that they were trying to get rid of you is unprofessional as was his diatribe. I would personally ring the AA, explain what happened and ask what the policy is for someone in your position and what options are open to you for any assistance if the car needs to be relayed to a garage, or see if they can send someone else to inspect the car who is able to have a look at it without lecturing and just see if anything can be done to get going. In my experience such abuse tends to go hand in hand with incompetence and lack of knowledge, so maybe he was just trying to cover his own inability to do anything.

Course it's a shitroen! Their electrics stop working with no help from water. 🤣

I'd complain. Who does he think he is! Prick! I'd have told him in person too. I had an AA guy tell me my car with no working turbo was fine and to carry on driving. It was diesel so a bit slow.

I'd speak to a local mechanic after getting recommendations but I'd also look at claiming on insurance.