Disney1fan2002
<font color=red>Like OMG the TF is SOO psyched to
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2002
- Messages
- 12,072
We have hardly ever had to use AAA in the past. I have used them when I have locked my keys in the car, and 2 years ago, I got stuck in the snow and they came and pulled me out. That's it. No complaints.
Until now....wow, they really cannot handle a snowstorm.
On Dec 26th, I was delivering pizza and lost my brakes in a snowstorm. Nothing huge, I was backing out of a driveway, and my brakes were to the floor, but I was still going backwards. I thought I was sliding on some ice, so, I just let the car roll back into the street, and put it in drive. Again, it seemed I was on ice. I didn't force the car forward, but I rolled my window down, hit the gas, to see how the wheels were spinning. The front driver's side tire was not spinning at all! Damn. I did what I could to get the car to the side of the road and called my DH. (During a Patriots football game...whoops).
He brought me his truck, and waited for AAA, they had said a 2 hour wait. This was at 2:30pm. I got a text from DH at 4pm to say he was still waiting. At 4:45pm, I called him to see if he was still waiting and he was. When I finished work at 5pm, I went to the car. DH was going to need a ride home after the tow truck took the van, so I figured I would wait with him. at 5:30pm, we were still waiting, so DH called AAA to get an updated ETA. We realized it was a snowstorm and they were busy, but it had gone past the 2 hour window. We were told that the tow truck driver was coming from 3 towns over, and he was gassing up and would be there in 30 minutes. DH asked why a tow truck was coming from out of town, when he knew of 2 tow companies IN TOWN were AAA sub-contractors. We were told they were busy. HA HA ...wasn't every tow driver in Mass. busy that day?
Normally, any time we had used AAA in the past, we always got a call from the driver when he was 5 minutes out. That's what we were expecting this time. It so happened the street I was on was blocked at one end. DH told the dispatcher that, but he was waiting for the tow driver to call so he could explain it better. (how to come in from the other side) At 6:30pm, DH again calls AAA because we are still waiting. The kids were home alone and DH had been waiting 4 hours. He was told that the driver got to the street, but it was blocked off. HE LEFT! Just left. Never called us, nothing. DH was dumbfounded. Why hadn't he called us? We were waiting to explain how to get to us. The dispatcher said he would call him back. Oh please do. It is now 6:50pm and we can see flashing orange lights at the top of the street. Could be the tow truck, could be a plow. So I drive up, and see it is the tow truck. I start flashing my lights to let him know we are here. He leaves. Gone. Buh bye. WHAAAATT???? DH calls AAA back and asks why the driver just left. Oh he said he could not get down the road. (you need to understand, the only communication we are getting from AAA is when we called them, nobody in the 4.5 hours had called us about anything, they would have let us sit there all night). We were on the road and watched him. He never even attempted the road. Had he, he would have gotten down it just fine. Heck we were driving back and forth on it. So, it's now 7pm...the kids had texted us to say they lost power, so my kids are home alone in the dark. The tow truck just left us there and we were pissed. AAA saying there was nothing they could do for us, since the driver can't get down the road. BULL. So, we leave the car and go home after waiting almost 5 hours for nothing. (Well DH waiting the almost 5 hours, but I was there for 2)
The next morning, we have to dig out of 18 inches of snow. I get DH out of bed at 7am, because I have to work at 1PM and was going to need his truck if my van was going to be in the shop. I call AAA right away, because I know it is going to be another long wait. I was told 2 hours. Yeah right. In the meantime, I call the police in the town my van was in to see if it would be possible for the tow truck to access my van from the blocked end of the road. I was told they had my van towed overnight! WOOOHOO. I thanked him whole heartedly and told him they did what AAA would not do. (he probably never had such an excited person being told she was towed). He told me what tow company had the van. I call AAA and explain I now need a tow from theis tow company to my garage. This tow company is a AAA subcontractor, so she gave me their number direct. She put in my ticket, but said I could call and work out a time with them. COOL. Dh can finish shoveling out his truck without pressure. I called the company and was told they were shoveling out and it would probably be lunch time. No problem, as long as we did not need to be there, we just need to get a tow release from the police and drop off my keys.
The police tow cost us $110.00 that we were going to submit to AAA for a refund. ab-so-fricken-lutely.
Here is where is gets better. We get in the truck around 9AM to go to the police station and DH has a voicemail on his phone. It's a AAA dispatcher. They have a tow truck from ABC company looking for the van. (this is another tow company in the same town). WHAT???? Why,oh why would they send a tow driver from one AAA company to tow a vehicle from the yard of another AAA company???? DH calls them back, livid now. We did not rush to the van, because we thought the 1st tow company had it. She had given me their number for crying out loud! So this 2nd company is out in a snowstorm, wasting their valuable time looking for a van that is going to be towed by someone else.
So, it all gets worked out. Tow company #1 is going to get my van to my garage through AAA. We paid them and left. DH called AAA to discuss the $110 we just paid, that we would not have had to pay had we been towed the night before instead of stranded. She gives him instructions on faxing her a copy of the reciept.
Yesterday, we get a check in the mail and a letter of apology from AAA. The service we recieved was horrible and they had spoken to the owner of ABC towing to discuss the policies and practies of AAA. OMG!!! This tow company did nothing wrong, except to take a ticket from AAA that never should have been up for grabs. They needed to talk to the tow company from the night before the one that refused to go down the road to my car. From start to finish, it was a big mess because there was NO COMMUNICATION.
So, lets wrap this up. Assuming AAA pays the tow drivers for going out, whether or not they actually tow a vehicle, we have 3 tow companies getting paid, and a $110 refund being sent out. All because if the 1st tow driver had talked to DH personally the night of the storm, DH would have explained how to get to the van. Nobody called us, everything was done through dispatch.
I understand it was a storm, and things happen, but this was beyond ridiculous. They need a better system in place for storms. I am sure I was not the only person stranded that night. I feel bad for people who may have had a mechanical failure, where they maybe had no heat. At least my engine worked and DH had heat and a radio (for football) during his 5.5 hour wait.
Just think about this story the next time we get notice that AAA is going up on their membership fees.
Until now....wow, they really cannot handle a snowstorm.
On Dec 26th, I was delivering pizza and lost my brakes in a snowstorm. Nothing huge, I was backing out of a driveway, and my brakes were to the floor, but I was still going backwards. I thought I was sliding on some ice, so, I just let the car roll back into the street, and put it in drive. Again, it seemed I was on ice. I didn't force the car forward, but I rolled my window down, hit the gas, to see how the wheels were spinning. The front driver's side tire was not spinning at all! Damn. I did what I could to get the car to the side of the road and called my DH. (During a Patriots football game...whoops).
He brought me his truck, and waited for AAA, they had said a 2 hour wait. This was at 2:30pm. I got a text from DH at 4pm to say he was still waiting. At 4:45pm, I called him to see if he was still waiting and he was. When I finished work at 5pm, I went to the car. DH was going to need a ride home after the tow truck took the van, so I figured I would wait with him. at 5:30pm, we were still waiting, so DH called AAA to get an updated ETA. We realized it was a snowstorm and they were busy, but it had gone past the 2 hour window. We were told that the tow truck driver was coming from 3 towns over, and he was gassing up and would be there in 30 minutes. DH asked why a tow truck was coming from out of town, when he knew of 2 tow companies IN TOWN were AAA sub-contractors. We were told they were busy. HA HA ...wasn't every tow driver in Mass. busy that day?
Normally, any time we had used AAA in the past, we always got a call from the driver when he was 5 minutes out. That's what we were expecting this time. It so happened the street I was on was blocked at one end. DH told the dispatcher that, but he was waiting for the tow driver to call so he could explain it better. (how to come in from the other side) At 6:30pm, DH again calls AAA because we are still waiting. The kids were home alone and DH had been waiting 4 hours. He was told that the driver got to the street, but it was blocked off. HE LEFT! Just left. Never called us, nothing. DH was dumbfounded. Why hadn't he called us? We were waiting to explain how to get to us. The dispatcher said he would call him back. Oh please do. It is now 6:50pm and we can see flashing orange lights at the top of the street. Could be the tow truck, could be a plow. So I drive up, and see it is the tow truck. I start flashing my lights to let him know we are here. He leaves. Gone. Buh bye. WHAAAATT???? DH calls AAA back and asks why the driver just left. Oh he said he could not get down the road. (you need to understand, the only communication we are getting from AAA is when we called them, nobody in the 4.5 hours had called us about anything, they would have let us sit there all night). We were on the road and watched him. He never even attempted the road. Had he, he would have gotten down it just fine. Heck we were driving back and forth on it. So, it's now 7pm...the kids had texted us to say they lost power, so my kids are home alone in the dark. The tow truck just left us there and we were pissed. AAA saying there was nothing they could do for us, since the driver can't get down the road. BULL. So, we leave the car and go home after waiting almost 5 hours for nothing. (Well DH waiting the almost 5 hours, but I was there for 2)
The next morning, we have to dig out of 18 inches of snow. I get DH out of bed at 7am, because I have to work at 1PM and was going to need his truck if my van was going to be in the shop. I call AAA right away, because I know it is going to be another long wait. I was told 2 hours. Yeah right. In the meantime, I call the police in the town my van was in to see if it would be possible for the tow truck to access my van from the blocked end of the road. I was told they had my van towed overnight! WOOOHOO. I thanked him whole heartedly and told him they did what AAA would not do. (he probably never had such an excited person being told she was towed). He told me what tow company had the van. I call AAA and explain I now need a tow from theis tow company to my garage. This tow company is a AAA subcontractor, so she gave me their number direct. She put in my ticket, but said I could call and work out a time with them. COOL. Dh can finish shoveling out his truck without pressure. I called the company and was told they were shoveling out and it would probably be lunch time. No problem, as long as we did not need to be there, we just need to get a tow release from the police and drop off my keys.
The police tow cost us $110.00 that we were going to submit to AAA for a refund. ab-so-fricken-lutely.
Here is where is gets better. We get in the truck around 9AM to go to the police station and DH has a voicemail on his phone. It's a AAA dispatcher. They have a tow truck from ABC company looking for the van. (this is another tow company in the same town). WHAT???? Why,oh why would they send a tow driver from one AAA company to tow a vehicle from the yard of another AAA company???? DH calls them back, livid now. We did not rush to the van, because we thought the 1st tow company had it. She had given me their number for crying out loud! So this 2nd company is out in a snowstorm, wasting their valuable time looking for a van that is going to be towed by someone else.
So, it all gets worked out. Tow company #1 is going to get my van to my garage through AAA. We paid them and left. DH called AAA to discuss the $110 we just paid, that we would not have had to pay had we been towed the night before instead of stranded. She gives him instructions on faxing her a copy of the reciept.
Yesterday, we get a check in the mail and a letter of apology from AAA. The service we recieved was horrible and they had spoken to the owner of ABC towing to discuss the policies and practies of AAA. OMG!!! This tow company did nothing wrong, except to take a ticket from AAA that never should have been up for grabs. They needed to talk to the tow company from the night before the one that refused to go down the road to my car. From start to finish, it was a big mess because there was NO COMMUNICATION.
So, lets wrap this up. Assuming AAA pays the tow drivers for going out, whether or not they actually tow a vehicle, we have 3 tow companies getting paid, and a $110 refund being sent out. All because if the 1st tow driver had talked to DH personally the night of the storm, DH would have explained how to get to the van. Nobody called us, everything was done through dispatch.
I understand it was a storm, and things happen, but this was beyond ridiculous. They need a better system in place for storms. I am sure I was not the only person stranded that night. I feel bad for people who may have had a mechanical failure, where they maybe had no heat. At least my engine worked and DH had heat and a radio (for football) during his 5.5 hour wait.
Just think about this story the next time we get notice that AAA is going up on their membership fees.
They did say if I ran off the road and got stuck in the ditch they could help.
