AA membership hidden charges?

[The Monk 50]

Well, I've been a member with them since I put the VR on the road in October.

At the time of joining, membership was £34 for the year. After being bombarded with life insurance policies from them and all the rest of it, I just accepted the basic deal....roadside assistance and pick up.

I asked if there was any hidden charges involved and that I wanted the full T's n C's in my membership letter.

I read through all of it and couldn't find any obvious loops for them to grab more money. How wrong was I??

3 call outs on the road in the first 2 months.....which I'd already diagnosed the problems before ringing the AA control office, having to be told that none were fixable, even though 1 required a 15mm socket and a jack.

The 3 occasions had different techs all ignoring my diagnosis and giving me other faults....one went as far as to say my tranny was destroyed and a piston had blown. This one was 2 cylinders not firing from a faulty coilpack..........why I CANT get a job with them I'll never understand...these people have to have atleast 3 years exp before joining and they were out diagnosed by a college grad...har har har....suck it!.

Anyway, an end of year/new membership year has cost me £139.

This bill is infact money I owe the AA for call outs.....that was covered for by my £34 I paid at the start of the year. When I told them I'd cancel my membership, they responded with requesting the money anyway. When I stated that there was no written documenttion enforcing or informing of that, they told me there was a second letter that must have gone missing in the post.....not MY fault.

Anyway, I told them it was there duty to inform me. They told me as a customer, it was my duty to request all info...... remember the call I made about the T's n C's.

Anyways, they tried to take the money on the same day as the letter arrived, bank canceled DD as I had £50 left for the 2 days before I got paid. I had a letter through warning of no payment and legal action to be taken if I failed to pay again.

They got it though but didn't give me the next year as was stated. Customer service and about 6 transfers later, they agreed to put it back on.

You have been warned.

[loubyvr6 0]

maybe im reading this wrong, but do you mean they charged you extra after your £34 premium for the call outs?

i was with the rac for 12 years and was realy impressed with them till june this year when they bipassed the heater matrix on the vr6 for me and totaly messed it up, causing a lot of probs that i shouldnt realy put on a public forum as im in the process of making a clam from them.

as a result i changed to the AA, now im wondering if i made the right desison!!

[thegoth 5]

Anyway' date=' I told them it was there duty to inform me. They told me as a customer, it was my duty to request all info

[/quote']

that sounds complete bollox. surely it's their reponsability to give you all the information.

I know that all recovery firms get narked if they get called out for the same fault more than once, as they expect you to get the car fixed after the first call out. Also that your premium can go up if you call them out too often. But never heard of having to pay after the fact, even from Tony!

[jims13 6]

ah tony is with the rac... as am i, both as bad as each other

[CALICO 130]

ah tony is with the rac... as am i' date=' both as bad as each other

[/quote']

What you and Tony or the RAC & AA lol

[The Monk 50]

Yea, it would seem the premium was put up after more than 1 call out. All 3 times were different reasons though.

Coilpack 1st time.

Water in the engine electircs 2nd time (didnt have WD40 but they did).

3rd time the top caliper mounting bolt came off causing the same effect as a brake drum self servo on the alloy....everytime I braked, the top of the caliper dug into the inner alloy...simple fix....put bottom bolt into top hole.

The non info still didnt change the charge. But the biger part of the bill was Roadside relay....which I guessed was roadside assistance/towing.

I didnt get to the bottom of it all and to be honest, an AA call out is a hell of a lot cheaper for you than breakdown cover from your car insurance.

I'll still use them, it's just there is no mention of higher premium for different problematic call outs.

"join the AA for as little as 34 a year"....by the way, call outs mean we double your charge each time.

Loubyvr6, at the end of the day, no national recovery service is going to have coilpacks or other stuff like that in the van for a VR. They do the one thing they need to and that is getting you home ...perils of owning a VR lol.

[thegoth 5]

ah tony is with the rac... as am i' date=' both as bad as each other

[/quote']

What you and Tony or the RAC & AA lol

I didn't even read the RAC & AA comparison into it at all. shame on me!

[craggsy 91]

Plus they charge you extra for an older car.....I got rid on that basis alone. Really do need to join one or the other, just for the free lift home

[anna 0]

i am with britania rescue they are great you dont get great roadside assisatnce but you always gt a flat bed and they have never been more than 45 mins to get to me and small repairs they do. We have 3 cars on it in the house and its 9 quid a month never had any extra charges or anything

[thegoth 5]

Plus they charge you extra for an older car.....

I've noticed that for european cover but not for uk

[RAPgolfvr6182 2]

yeh when i broke down in my vr6 at markfield service on a50 leicester told them it was broken aux belt n tensioner. but had spare tensioner with me so while waiting fitted it, to be told oh we dont carry aux belts for a vr6.

[djmorgz 0]

i work for a recovery firm and we have the whole insurance contract for pembrokeshire so we get all the flat bed work i get more jobs from the rac and aa than anyother company eg green flag nearly all ive met dont have a clue im picking up cars that could of been fixed but either they dont know or they dont want to fix it and i end up taking the car all over the country lol