Complain about a product or service

Automobile Club of Southern California

Ramon of Rialt CA (05/29/08)
On May 28th I called AAA for towing service since I'm a member and have been for a long time. I put in the call about 6:55 pm and waited until 8:20pm and still no tow truck. So I canceled the tow truck and left my car parked on the side of the street. On May 29th I tried again this time a tow truck arived fairly quickly about 30 mins. Since I recently had a sergery I'm unable to lift, pull, or push heavy objects, the tow truck driver asked me to help him push my car to the middle of the street, I told him that I would stear while he pushed, we finaly got the car towards the middle of the street started to hitch the car on and then asked me to sign a waiver in case he damages my bumper. Since I've been a member I've never had to sign a waiver so I told the driver that I would check with AAA to see if this was normal prosedure. As I was with an attendant the driver detaches my car and leaves without any words he was gone, my car in the middle of the street and I'm left there standing telling the attendant what just happend. Soon after that I recive a phone call from an attendant who was pretty rude so I asked to speak to a supervisor who was no help and offered no confort. I am soo disapointed.......

Salvador of Sun Valley CA (04/24/08)
insurance fraud.

Deb of Alameda CA (03/06/08)
March 1st my car blew a head gasket. I pulled off the freeway and stopped in a really bad part of town, and called AAA Roadside Assistance for a tow. They assured me a tow truck would arrive in 30 minutes or less. I was referred to a AAA auto shop 3.5 miles away from my location, which fell within my 5-free miles of towing ($12 per mile thereafter). So after 45 minutes, a AAA non-tow truck arrived and left. The area where I was stranded had a homeless encampment on the corner, concertina barbed-wire topped fences, and some gangster looking guys kept strolling slowly by. I was very nervous and concerned for my safety, and called AAA a couple times to ask that they hurry it up. Well over an hour passed before a real tow truck showed up. The car was towed to that AAA shop, which was closed. Didn't they know that when they referred me?

So it was towed another 2.5 miles to a non-AAA shop. That's a total of 6 miles, which after my free 5 miles, should have cost me $12 for the 6th mile. However the tow driver insisted on payment of $72. I have requested AAA to reverse the credit card charge. They refused and offered to send me a claim form. What this means of course, is that I will have to spend lots of time and phone calls fighting for a refund of the money they fraudulently extracted from me. I'm trying to remember WHY I'm paying AAA? Remind me: I benefit how?

AAA left me stranded in a dangerous place, didn't know their own shop hours, didn't show up within their time limit, and stole my money.

Trudy of Grand Rapids OH (03/03/08)
At approx 4:45 in the afternoon, my daughter's auto broke down on Interstate 75. Traffic was stop and go due to an earlier accident just north of her location. She called AAA. Our family has three memberships, and she is on my membership as an associate. The person who answered her call told her that she could not send anyone to help her due to the road traffic because of the accident (traffic was still moving). My daughter then waited for 45 minutes and called again, and it was unfortunate that she got the same AAA representative. Once again the AAA rep told her that she couldn't send anyone due to the road conditions. My daughter told her that traffic was moving, but it didn't make any difference. By now my daughter is cold and scared. It was getting dark and she needed to use bathroom facilities. She had no power which meant no flashers with semi trucks moving past her at and above the 65 mph speed limit. She once again called AAA , her mobile phone battery low, and thankfully that call was answered by a nice AAA rep who was concerned and said there was no report of her two previous calls!

Our daughter called us hysterical, cold, needing to use the bathroom and terrified of being in complete darkness with traffic whizzing by. By this time she had been waiting for hours. Her father and I took off for her location. (We were about 35 min away.) We arrived about the same time as her tow driver at a AAA car care center and feel lucky that she was alright. Today, Monday March 3, 2008, I called AAA Northwest Ohio to lodge a complaint. They said they would review the tapes and call me back. I received a call back from a Ms. Ester Mosley who did offer an apology and said she would waive my daughters fee for next year. She told me that the person who did not take care of my daughter was trained on future calls! BIG Deal. She assured me that if we had an emergency in the future we would be taken care of. That 's what I thought my membership offered in the first place.

The damage is that we did not receive timely rescue service and this was physically painful and mentally painful. I am not looking for money; I just want more than a slap on the wrist.

Karri of Los Angeles CA (02/19/08)
I had locked myself out of my car at a service station and had waved down a police officer for help. All he could do was call Triple A for me. They came, and before the guy did service I was concerned if I would be charged. I am a member but had used up all my services in the prior year. It was the new year, I had received a new card, but the payment was in the mail. I had the service guy call to let me know before he did any work. He was on the phone with dispatch and gave me the news that I did not have to pay. To say the least I was very relieved. Then about a week later I received a bill, and so I called. I spoke to a woman named Carolyn. I explained to her what had happened and that I was told I would not be charged but then received the bill. She looked things over while on the phone with me, then put me on hold to double check something; and when she came back on the line she said that I don't have to pay. Why I received the invoice was probably because they hadn't received my new membership payment, that they probably crossed in the mail, but they had it now and could disregard the bill.

I asked her how I could verify this in case another situation came up, and she said that she would note it in my file and again reassured me that it would be disregarded. Again, I was relieved. Then about 10-15 minutes later she calls me and says that she made a mistake and that I had to pay it. I told her that if this was the case in the first place I would not have accepted service from them and that I was told two times by two different people that I did not have to pay--and now they say I have to. She then said I could fight it and faxed me a form which I filled out and faxed back. I have not yet heard anything. But because I was told on two different occasions by two different people that I did not have to pay, I don't think that I am obligated to. Can you let me know what my rights are in this situation?

The cost of the service was supposedly free with my membership; then they sent me an invoice for $60.

William of Santa Rosa CA (02/10/08)
I have just attempted to make an online payment for my AAA Automobile Insurance Policy on the AAA Bill Matrix Payment Processing Website. My policy payment amount is $42.68. I have $63.00 in the bank account of which I used to make the AAA payment. Upon clicking on the process payment I was directed to another page informing me that my payment had been declined. I immediately went to my bank website to verify that there were sufficient funds available in which to make that AAA payment and noticed that the $42.68 had been deducted from my bank account. What is happening here is that Bill Matrix makes 2 deductions for my policy payments anytime I go to make a payment. In this case the 2 deductions came to $85.36. Since I only had $63.00 in my bank account, then Bill Matrix would not process the payment; however, they did deduct $42.68 from my account and will no doubt reverse the payment sometime in the future, usually 1 to 2 weeks.

My last payment took 2 weeks for them to reverse the one deduction. The other amount was applied to my policy. Although I had sufficient funds to make my automobile insurance payment this time, it was not applied to my policy. However, Bill Matrix did deduct the amount ($42.68) of which I will not get back until they feel fit to give it back. I have no access to that money now, and they will use it in some way, probably to collect interest for 1 to 2 weeks on.

I am very angry at this practice and feel it should be illegal. It amounts to theft, in my opinion. I will now need to go and personally make the same payment amount at a physical location, all the while Bill Matrix is sitting on this same payment. The damage is that I am out this money while they are using it. They have taken this payment and NOT applied it to my policy. What is being done with it? How many people does this practice affect? How many other people's money do they have without permission?

Jose of Victorville CA (01/27/08)
My family and I were in a Ford Expedition in Mountain High ski resorts where there was a storm, and an avalanche could kill us anytime. It was at 4 PM on Saturday, January 26, 2008. We called AAA because we ran out of gas. They told us they would be there from 1 to 1 1/2 HOURS. I saw a bunch of AAA tow trucks passing, and none of them came to help us. We called again, and they said they already had helped us, but they didn't! We placed ourorder over and over again because they kept doing the same thing. I was right next to the SAN ANDREAS FAULT IN WRIGHTWOOD, CALIFORNIA. So anytime now there could have been an earthquake or something. They came to help us at almost 10 PM.

We almost got in a car crash because they weren't there.

Justin of San Francisco CA (11/15/07)
I bought a 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser at the end of May 2007. On October 28th my girlfriend borrowed my car to visit her parents. At 1:30 in the afternoon a drunk driver on a rampage hit her while going 100 plus miles per hour. This sent her rolling 3 to 4 times. This man hit a total of 20 vehicles and was drunk and high on cocaine. He is a multiple felon and a career criminal and was even on probation.  My car was totaled. With the amount of money that AAA are offering I will not only be unable to replace my car but I will also be in debt from my existing car loan.

Anthony of Chino CA (10/29/07)
I had an auto insurance policy with Automobile Club of California. I canceled the policy which expired on 10/22/07 and informed The Automobile Club in person that I was not renewing on 9/21/07. Their Representative entered the cancellation into the computer. On October 23,I received a cancellation confirmation letter from Auto Club on this policy. On October 24,while reviewing my checking statement I noticed a deduction of $108.89.

This left me with an overdrawn checking account fee of $26.00,plus the $108.89 I am out.  I spoke with a Jeri Anne who was unsympathetic to what this has done to my finances, as I'm on a very limited income.  They resolved it, but I am out the above money.

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