On Sept. 28, I wrote how discouraged I was with AAA’s customer service about my battery that seemed to have more and more difficulty holding a charge.
When I called for service after I’d left an interior light on, a young guy rolled up in his car with a magnetic AAA sign on his car and the radio blaring. He got out and left his car running and the radio on.
When I asked him why he didn’t turn off the radio and engine, he said he wouldn’t be there very long.
He was right. After jumping my car, he left. He didn’t have any batteries.
I started shopping for a new battery. I thought I’d go to Costco and have them install one. But, I looked online and Costco sells batteries, but doesn’t install them.
Walmart does install batteries. It’s a $10 charge if you don’t buy it from them.
Then, I researched which battery to buy. For years, I bought them from Sears, but that’s no longer an option.
As I delayed, I had to call AAA on Dec. 5 and get the battery jumped again.
The guy who came this time didn’t have a battery either although he had a van. He did tell me that my battery was under warranty, and although he didn’t have any batteries, AAA would contact me about replacing my battery under the warranty.
This seemed like good news. A new battery is about $250, and it’s always nice to save money.
As I was busy getting ready for the holidays and waiting for AAA to call me, I headed to the airport to go to Sacramento. In the back of my mind, I wondered about my battery.
When I came home from the airport Dec. 27, I had trouble. I parked in my driveway to unload my suitcases. When I went out to my car about 20 minutes later to put it in the garage, my battery was dead. If I’d stopped to buy gas or get a drink or snack, I would have been stranded at 10 p.m. at night. Since it was late at night, I decided to call AAA the next day.
When I asked for road service, I requested to speak to the supervisor because I didn’t think that the person who took the road service call would have the authority to get me the replacement battery under the warranty.
What the supervisor said was surprising. Not only did she not have the authority to approve a new replacement battery, she didn’t know whether the person who would be dispatched to my home would have a battery in his rig. Then she said would I like someone to jump my car, or would I like to wait until Monday to call the business office to see if I could get the replacement battery.
I said just send me someone to jump my car. I’ve been on vacation and needed groceries and I needed my car for other purposes.
I waited. About an hour later, when I thought the AAA road service would be coming, I got a call from another woman who was checking to see if I was going to wait until Monday to see about the new battery.
I said, no. There’d been a misunderstanding. I needed to get my car jumped. She said she’d place the order, but the person coming wouldn’t have a new battery in his vehicle. I said O.K., just send me someone to jump my car.
About an hour later, a guy in a van arrived. He did have a battery. He checked mine and said it was seven years old and it wasn’t under the warranty, which was six years.
My battery, he said, was fully charged, but it didn’t have enough power to send out electricity to start my car.
He replaced the battery and gave me a tip. He to call AAA every season to have a battery check. If the battery is failing, it will be replaced under the warranty. It seemed like a good tip, however, the AAA battery warranty has been reduced to three years. My old battery, which had signs of failing at seven years, it’s unlikely a battery would show signs of failing at three years unless it was defective.
All in all, I’m disappointed that AAA is just another company that has reduced its customer service. It’s apparently using third-party contractors to provide road service. The guy who came said he rejected a call to go to Lakewood before he came to my home.
Update: I called AAA to complain about this low-quality customer service. The customer service representative did a good job of listening and said she’d forward the complaint to the battery manager so his department could could have a meeting to figure out how to improve customer service, especially one road service person saying the battery was still under the warranty and another saying it wasn’t. After speaking to her supervisor, she said I’d get the next year’s membership for no charge. At least that’s something, $107. I was hoping they’d reimburse me for my new battery.
Agree that AAA isn’t quite what it used to be: last time I asked for a Triptik, AAA gave me a triptik using only interstate highways. I said I’d rather drive on quieter roads & got a blank look, but just about everyone just wants to get there as fast as possible, I was told. I don’t, I said, so can you create a trip tik for me? Nope.
Also learned that the towing distance has changed in the past ten years—the standard AAA membership covers (at least where I am) a tow for 3 miles. I once needed a tow to the garage/mechanic I use from my home. The garage is all of perhaps 4 miles from my house. So I’ve had to pay for a AAA+ membership for the past 5-6 years (4 calls, tows up to 100 miles), just in case my car needs to be towed again from my home to that same car repair garage–even though it’s just 4 miles away–not sure why the basic membership can’t cover tows of up to 10 miles. .
I think my closest AAA has alot of employee turnover, I’ve yet to deal w/the same person . The employees don’t know much about triptiks, hotel/motel available in the PNW (where I live), et al. I had car insurance through AAA for one year, when I tried to call the AAA employee who’d found the insurer for me, she’d left AAA, and I never got a call back from any other AAA employee re: finding another auto insurer. Same center. So yes, I agree & at least w/regards the AAA center closest to me, I think it’s due to too frequent employee turnover plus less offered in basic AAA membership.
Yes, it’s disappointing. AAA had hero status because they’d come and rescue from a problem. Now, it’s their third-party contractors — at various levels of service — who show up.