Have a lousy week, decide “I’ll take a weekend getaway!” - - > Happy customer :-) Try to order a map from AAA but can’t because Triple A California won’t
mail to Oregon, but AAA Oregon/Washington won’t serve me because my membership is still in California region - - > Annoyed customer sends web request to AAA to please
make the region transfer that was requested MONTHS ago
Reply from AAA: No.
You must prepay another year if you want
us to mail you a map during your current membership period. - - > Take me off auto-renewal
Reply from AAA: No. You must have California take you off
auto-renew. - - > Okay, and, hey, California, while you’re at it, cancel my membership and refund
the rest of the membership period since I can’t use it anyway!
No Reply from AAA
So I call AAA. Get
very rude CSR. Oh, we did process your
cancellation, we just didn’t bother to tell you so**. Oh, and
we’re not going to refund the balance, it’s only refundable in the first 90
days.
- - > Customer asks for copy of
relevant membership contract that says it’s non-refundable – I was sure I
remembered it being refundable at any time.
CSR says no, you can go search our website if you want to, I’m not
sending you anything. - - > Disgusted customer doesn’t really give a flip
about the $20 or so, just doesn’t want d-bag company to keep the money as
profit on d-baggery, hangs up phone
Then CSR does send the refund policy. Which means “nannie-nannie-boo-boo I’m right, suck it!" Now I’ll include the e-mail
exchange, because it’s short and pithy and, for anyone who ever needs to find the membership terms, there's a link, since Triple A CSRs get to decide whether or not to help you find it.
-------------
From: AAA C"s"R
To: Fed-up Customer
Subject: RE: Here is the information you requested
2. Membership, Reimbursements and Other
Policies
Refund
Policy
AAA does not provide refunds on fees for enrollment, instant activation of ERS benefits or ERS calls beyond Membership coverage. We will provide a pro-rated refund on Membership dues at any time. If your refund is requested within the first 90 days of your Membership year, we will deduct any ERS charges incurred on your behalf. We pro-rate the refund of Membership dues for downgrades.
AAA does not provide refunds on fees for enrollment, instant activation of ERS benefits or ERS calls beyond Membership coverage. We will provide a pro-rated refund on Membership dues at any time. If your refund is requested within the first 90 days of your Membership year, we will deduct any ERS charges incurred on your behalf. We pro-rate the refund of Membership dues for downgrades.
(Note: Highlighting as sent by TripleA "Member Generalist;" Employee signature redacted in pity)
-----------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Fed-up Customer
To: AAA C"s"R
Great, so please refund
it. That IS a period between “We will provide a pro-rated refund on Membership
dues at any time” and the next sentence, right?
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: AAA C"s"R
To: Fed-up Customer
If
your refund is requested within the first 90 days
of your Membership year
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Fed-up Customer
From: Fed-up Customer
To: AAA C"s"R
Yes, that is the next sentence:
“If
your refund is requested within the first 90 days
of your Membership year, we will deduct any ERS charges incurred on your
behalf”. Periods are used to end
sentences, to convey that the contents of one sentence are complete, and that
the next sentence conveys a new idea or expands upon the previous idea.
The relevant sentence, which is
the one I am asking you to act upon – because I am NOT in the first 90 days of
my membership year (and thus the sentence about the first 90 days does not
apply) is “We
will provide a pro-rated refund on Membership dues at any time.” This is an
“any time” and I am asking for that pro-rated refund on my membership dues.
Thanks so much for your help!
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: AAA C"s"R
From: AAA C"s"R
To: Fed-up Customer
Subject: RE: Here is the information you requested
can I get your member number
again please
(Note: the obvious time and effort put into punctuation and courtesy, in an attempt to convey the value AAA places on customer service)
-----------------------------------------------------------
I sent my member number. No reply.
I sent my member number. No reply.
-----------------------------------------------------------
The annoying thing is, that’s 4 different customer “service”
reps in a row that didn’t help. Not one
employee stopped and thought “are we doing the right thing for this
long-standing customer? If our policies
are not helping our customer, can I find another way to provide the customer with the service which we promised to provide in exchange for the fees we received?” Not
once. All I wanted was a map. Mailed to my address, which they have had for
7 months or more. Instead, I got a
demand for more money – which they knew that they would get in ~a month, because
I was on auto-renew.
So the last C”s”R was really douche-y, but I can’t blame
that one employee. When it’s four
employees in a row, that’s not a bad draw – that’s a bad company. Note to companies - when you've had a customer for almost 20 years, cancel them politely or they'll never come back. Don't be a douche about it. You created the problem and you refused to fix it in a fair and helpful manner; you created the system where my easiest solution was to cancel.
Anyway...
It got me thinking about why I’ve wasted so much
money with AAA. They’re ultra-expensive
as Motor Clubs go (I've been paying ~$150/yr. for a couple). They don’t cover my
RV, so I have RV tow insurance – which is the better bet – and it turns out my
RV insurance covers my passenger cars, too.
Damnit, I’ve been renewing AAA out of habit because I might have needed them when
I was 22, dumb, poor, and didn't think I could afford towing (yet I never needed a tow, so AAA membership was wasting money I couldn't afford – I did say I was 22 and dumb).
When I’ve needed a tow, I’ve had to wait a loonnnggg time
for Triple A; if I’d been a cash customer, I would have had leverage to get a
faster response or to choose another tow company if the first one took over an
hour to come out. Maybe I was paying for
the convenience of having a single number to call – but my credit cards have
services that offer the same convenience. And a lot of repair shops have relationships
with tow companies; the repair shop has the leverage to maintain good service
and fair prices.
Here are some alternatives to Triple A:
Do you even need roadside assistance coverage?
Maybe not. If your car(s) is (are) newer, the manufacturer may provide free roadside assistance. If you take good care of your vehicles and rarely leave your keys in the car, run out of gas, or leave your headlights on, you may never need roadside assistance. I've had AAA for nearly two decades; if I had paid full retail on every single call AAA ever covered, it would have cost me a few hundred dollars, but I've paid AAA more like $2k+. I almost never use their discounts; there are other programs that offer better discounts. I justified the membership by the maps - back before GPS, those triptiks were pretty handy. Not $2k handy, but sometimes we need help rationalizing a waste of money. Of course, now AAA won't mail me maps under my paid-up, non-cancellable, non-refunded, non-transferable membership, so moot point.
But I think I do need roadside assistance coverage.
Okay, then here's some options:
- Allstate Motor Club starts at $52/yr. up to $108, with no extra charge for your spouse.
- Your car insurance policy probably offers roadside assistance as an optional add-on. With USAA, it costs ~$1/month per car. If you get car insurance through Costco for Executive Members, roadside assistance may be included already.
- If you have an RV, your RV roadside assistance might cover your cars, too. Good Sam does.
- I you're an AARP member, roadside assistance is available for $36 (one person) to $101 (up to 6 family members) per year. *
- Better World Club bills themselves as an eco-friendly Motor Club and they offer car, RV and even bicycle coverage; from ~$55 to $150/yr. - and they waive the enrollment fee for people switching from AAA
- Visa and MasterCard offer dispatch service. It's not insurance, but a negotiated program where you pay a flat-rate per service call. More details on Credit Card Deals.
- American Express includes roadside assistance with most of their cards at no extra charge.
- Most cell phone carriers offer roadside assistance for a few dollars a month per phone.
- Pepboys offers $50 flat-rate towing to your nearest Pepboys.
- American Motorcyclist Association includes MoTow Roadside coverage (cars AND motorcycles) free with membership on auto-renew (membership costs $49/year)
- eCarCare costs $44-64/year plus $15-20@ to add family members. Their comparison chart shows Triple A's Plus program having a limit of 100 miles per year, not per incident. ??
I'm going to sign up with AAA anyway
Good luck. But note that when you add a 2nd user to your membership, the discount is nominal and it does not increase the benefits - i.e., you still get the same number of covered calls, but you share them. Also, you don't actually have to sign up with AAA today to use them if you need them later - that "instant activation of ERS benefits" in AAAs refund policy? For a fee of ~$45 (in addition to the membership and enrollment fee), you can sign up and "instantly activate" Triple A immediately if you need a tow. Which suggests that it really only costs them about $45 to get you towed - of course, that's about the same price as calling Mastercard or Visa, and you don't have to pay a separate membership fee. See "Five Reasons to Cancel Your AAA Membership" from StopBuyingCrap for some thoughts on the instant activation approach - because AAA seems to value NEW members a lot more than existing members. And be careful to check whether you're getting a NEW membership or renewing an old one. Costco got slapped with a class action for applying membership payments from the date the old one expired rather than starting on the date a lapsed member signed up, but AAA seems to still be doing this bill-you-for-the-last-three-months approach to payments from lapsed members.
AAA segregates members into different regions that apparently have different policies and prices, and their cookie system shuffles your web session to the club nearest where you logon - which may not be the club you joined. Make note, since the policies, prices, and terms you see on their site may not be the ones you get.
Here's a post about a AAA member who tried to cancel due to illness making her unable to drive anymore; 2 weeks into her membership period, AAA refused to provide a refund. I don't know if she was in a region that doesn't offer refunds, or if they just ran into the same brick wall I am - even when the policy allows refunds, you have to fight to get it.
Another one on AAA's patchwork of membership policies and inadequate documentation of the policies they hold members to: "I did a little research and could find no disclosure of AAA’s
nonrefundable enrollment fee. To be fair, AAA doesn’t have a central
site — each chapter runs its own site..."
** Fun tidbit - I logged onto AAA today to see what I had been paying; the website shows I'm still on auto-renew. So the saga shall persist, it seems,
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