American Automobile Association [AAA]
Reviews and Complaints

On 03-23-18 The Costa Mesa, Ca Office of AAA held an awards dinner at the Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach. I work for the Valet section of the Hyatt. At approximately 10:15 p.m., most of the guests had retrieved their vehicles and had left. Around that time, Mr. D. Nguyen came to me and requested his vehicle. He was extremely intoxicated. He had a friend with him and Mr. Nguyen said that they were going to a nearby bar and that he was "good to go". I refused to release his Porsche.

I am retired Police and have made over 150 drunk driving arrests. I have investigated way too many fatal and injury accidents caused by drunk drivers. Mr. Nguyen was very intoxicated.

As a service to Hyatt guests, I offered to call a cab or asked that he find someone to drive him (several AAA guests were still at the hotel). Mr. Nguyen refused but when I still refused to release the Porsche, he said the man with him would drive. I asked the other man if that was "ok" with him and he agreed.

I then requested the car be pulled up and I walked out to our doorman, David Gray and told him that Mr. Nguyen was not to drive, the other man was to be the designated driver. Mr. Nguyen immediately began telling the doorman that he was okay as he swayed on his feet. Mr. Gray then offered to drive Mr. Nguyen and the other man over to the bar in the Hyatt Shuttle for no charge. Mr. Nguyen refused.

Mr. Gray was helping another guest when the Porsche pulled up in the driveway. Mr. Nguyen grabbed the keys from the valet and got into the drivers seat and sped down the driveway with squealing tires.

This is a AAA employee. What does this say about your business? What does this say about Mr. Nguyen's concern about his or others safety.

I looked up the party contract and saw Mr. James Song was the AAA employee on site and in charge of the event. I learned he was still at the hotel but was in the bar and unable to see me.

It is understandable Mr. Song did not want to see me and take a complaint at that time, but it is also the reason I address this to the main complaint site instead of Mr. Song.

Please feel free to contact me if you desire but there is not much more I can add.

Peggy O'Rourke
[protected]
[protected]@gmail.com

Yesterday, 3/21/2018 I had a tire blow out in Berea, Ohio and called AAA at 7:50 pm for help. I have had back surgery and could not change the tire myself but I have been a member of aaa for 32 years and thought they would be there quickly. I received a text stating that my technician had been dispatched and would arrive shortly (I was told in about one hour by the agent I spoke to). At about 9:10 pm, I called again to ask the location of the technician and was told that he was changing a battery and I was his next stop. At around 9:50 pm I called again and was routed to three (3) separate agents all of whom asked me the same questions - I was told each time I was put on hold that they were checking with the company dispatcher to find out where my guy was. Finally, at 10:30 pm I got out of the car, and changed the tire myself. I spent the night sleeping in my chair with Vocodin and other pain killers due to the stress I put on my back. I was able to change the tire and called again to cancel the service and was told again that I was his next stoop. Apparently, he stopped somewhere else along the way, I guess, to service a flat tire that had been called in after I had called. To say the least, your service was terrible and inexcusable. There was no snow storm, traffic was mild, no rain, no ice, no below zero temperatures at all. What there was, was, total incompetence. I wish to cancel my membership in AAA immediately and I would like a refund of my money. There is no excuse for treating anyone like this and particularly a member for 32 years.

Good Evening. My name is Reginald E. Mays, and I have been a member of AAA since 2011. On Saturday, March 17, 2018, I called for a tow at 12:34 p.m., here in Memphis, TN. I was first told that my vehicle would be towed at 1:30 p.m. After the staff didn't show up, I received a text message stating that they would arrive by 2:30 p.m. I received another update after 2:30 p.m. stating that someone from the tow service would be available at 3:30 p.m. After this, I contacted Roadside Assistance by phone, and I was connected with a lady named Trishele. She was very rude and unconcerned. I told her that I was in an unfamiliar neighborhood and felt unsafe because of the long wait time. She told me, in a very nasty and condescending tone, to "call 911". I thought that she was unprofessional, because 911 is only used for emergencies. I tried to get her to contact the vendor for a status update because of the length of time that we were sitting outside, and she refused to do so. I then asked for her name or company identification, and she very rudely replied, "I'm the only Trishele here in this office". After the vendor didn't show up at 4:04 p.m. I called back and spoke with a different representative, and she was very polite, concerned, and helpful. She contacted the vendor, and he told her how much longer our wait time would be. In total, I ended up sitting on the road for 4 hours, and I am VERY disappointed with the service that I received today. I wish that someone could go back and listen to the conversation that I had with Trishele. This took place between 3 & 4 o'clock p.m.

I have never been so disappointed with AAA. I have been with the company since 1990 and yesterday, when i really needed AAA to show up, they truly let me down.
My daughter was in Newark Airport and needed her car to be towed because of a flat tire. At 9:55PM, the AAA representative said that JAC was coming to tow the car and would be there within the hour. She waited an hour in her car and when no one showed up, she called again - where the representative said, "sorry we haven't found a company to come and tow your car yet". At this time I am really uncomfortable with the message and I called AAA, the representative told me that the ETA time is 2 hours. I asked why we get different messages from AAA representatives. It was almost midnight and my daughter was alone in the parking lot and still not sure if AAA has found a driver and how long she has to wait into the night.
AAA is to provide peace of mind for customers in the event of vehicle roadside emergency. We didn't get the committed service and received conflicting messages from AAA representatives. I have been with AAA for over 20 years, purchased the Plus coverage and enrolled my daughter into the program.
What had just happened really make me think twice about using AAA. I am honestly thinking of cancelling my membership. I always pay the annual fee but when I finally need to use your service, it was not delivered.

March 9, 2018

Automobile Club of Southern CA
Covina, CA

Re: Emergency Roadside Service Complaint

Administrator:

Last Sunday, March 4, my tire blew out and I had a flat tire while I was travelling in Covina, I Called AAA at 10:59 A. M and called again twice because nobody was answering my call. None of my family members is available and I was frantic to get help.

What a blessing, a passerby stopped and helped me changed my flat tire and I paid him $30.00 for the service. I was wondering what happened why I couldn't get my CALL answered by AAA. What if it was a different scenario and same thing happened to me in the middle of the night in an unknown place and I am 78 by myself and I needed help from AAA.

I have been your customer for 41 years. A big company like AAA does not have a backup system to work in a case where your phone system failed. A neighbor said that your satellite communication probably failed. Again. How often does your communication system fail? I Am pretty sure you had a lots of complains that day for emergency road assistance.

Josefa Evans
Covina, CA 91722

https://www.complaintsboard.com/american-automobile-association-aaa-com-b117069

American Automobile Association / AAA.com Customer Care Service
American Automobile Association, Inc.
1000 Aaa Dr.
Heathrow
Florida
United States - 32746

After patiently wating your driver arrived and was combative from the start . When he finished telling me not listening to me he sid what i told him not to do and put a slim jim on my car . I demanded he stop and had to tell him three times to stop! He needs a urine test, he was high. The next driver handled my car just as I asked . My wife was very upset with the way the girst driver damage our door . He bent it and he scraped my custom wrap.

I would like to report an instance of terrible customer service that I dealt with on Saturday, 3/3/18 @ approximately 3:00 at 844-236-6556 with a female representative named Kris.
We (my friend and I) called to get some assistance with booking a trip. At the beginning of the call, we told her that our membership had expired, but we'd like to renew and book a trip and the website wasn't working. She was very argumentative about the website being down and kept trying to redirect us back to the website. After about 15 min, she put us on hold and we stayed there for 25 minutes. She did not pick up the call once during that time. When we eventually hung up and called back, she answered and stated that she had placed us on hold because she was trying to check with her manager to see if she can assist us even though out membership wasn't active. When we reiterated the fact that we wanted to renew the membership, she said that she can't help us and we'd have to call member services.
After calling member services and renewing the membership, we called back and spent 45 minutes going through the details of our travel plans with her so that she could assist with the booking. After supplying all of the information, including our credit card number, she said, "Oops. You said November, didn't you? I accidently booked you in May." She then canceled the trip (my credit card was still charged two charges, one for $20 and one for $1.01). We were beyond frustrated at this point and once we confirmed that the charge was canceled, we disconnected.
She then called us back and left a very rude message in which she states, "I'm calling you back because I was trying to finish a statement before you hung up on me abruptly..."
I am not sure where to go from here. I would for sure like for my credit card to be refunded. I would also like for some sort of action to be taken against the representative. I do not believe that this is the type of person that you would like to have representing your company.
I can be reached at:
[protected]@hotmail.com
[protected]

My name is Deborah Baldwin-Gates and I have been a customer with AAA since 1977. After 40yrs. And on January of 2017, I changed my AAA plus gold to AAA RV plus after all these years, because I was told that I could not use the card that I already had, but that it would need to be changed to RV Plus to tow this 1981 truck. I gave all the information that the AAA representative asked me for to make sure that the truck was the type that I could use to service the truck if I needed to. My daughter who is a member also of AAA purchased a truck and planned to make it into a food truck, she got on the Internet early in January 2017 and paid the amount to change our AAA cards to RV plus cards and we got them in the mail. We needed to get the truck towed from where it had been stored because it would not start. I called AAA road service and got it towed on January16, 2017 reference #55089. To a company for it to be fixed. The company let us know that the truck was to big to leave sitting on their lot. I called AAA again to have it picked up from where it was towed and to have it towed to a different shop called Ward International. The same person that towed the truck from where it was stored to the first shop was the same person who towed it to Ward International, I followed him in my car and I made sure that the truck could be fixed there before I left it. The shop to awhile but they did fix it. We were ready to drive it from Tallahassee FL to St . Augustine Fl. Where my daughter was going to have the inside fixed. We started out June 10, 2017, my daughter was driving the truck and I was following her in my car, with my grandson and my two little dogs. It usually takes 3hrs to make that drive to St. Augustine and we were on I-10 and had been traveling for an hour, when the truck started to slow down and my daughter pulled over off the road and I pulled over also. We sat on the side for a few minutes and she tried to start the truck so that we could continue. The truck wouldn't start, she tried to start it a few more times, but it still wouldn't start. We both called AAA and was told that a tow truck would be coming in about an hour. AAA road service called us back while we were waiting for the truck to come, and said that the truck couldn't be towed and that the company they had called was the company that had towed the truck the first two times. White Wrecking Company that the truck was not under AAA RV. He must know more than the AAA roadside company because they didn't find anything wrong until they talked to him. I talked to at least two managers about why he had towed me the other two times, I asked them to give my his phone number and I called him myself and asked why he couldn't tow it when he had towed it before and he says that it was a courtesy. When I followed him to the Ward Shop, and I talked to him while he was hooking up the truck to be towed to Ward International. And I talked to him when he was unhooking the truck to leave it at Ward. He mentioned that he knew who could fix the truck probably cheaper. He never said anything about the truck not being covered by AAA. While we were sitting on the side of the I -10 expressway and trucks were flying by. We had pulled over as far as we could and it was very scary for all of us. After talking to so many people with AAA, we sat there for over 3hrs. After being with a Co. 40yrs I can't even explain how I felt. Thank God my daughter was able to find and call a tow truck and they came and towed the truck to St. Augustine. The guy that I talked to from White Wrecking Co. Located on 2608 Tennessee St. In Tallahassee FL. The same guy said that he would tow us but it would be out of our pockets and not through AAA. When I got home and talked to AAA, they suggested my daughter sending in a reimbursement claim. She did, and sent a copy of the receipt charged by the company. Anita Dalton (RE:[protected]) July 14, 2017 is when we got the response letter. I have not agreed to some $40.00 credit from AAA. The reference #57579 is for the day that I was left on the side of the freeway (June 10, 2017). She paid $760.00 and was charged $40.00 dollars for processing fee. All these years sticking with a company that I thought was there for me. This is unbelievable and I can't believe AAA sent me a new card that I didn't request and it still has RV plus on it. I will not accept this treatment, is it even legal? Please help me, I will not give up.

I called AAA on 2/20/18 and they sent out After Hours Towing of Michigan. After Hours took off the flat tire and put on the spare tire.

On 2/21/18 I was enroute to Romes service to have the flat tire repaired when the spare tire came off the drum causing the van to drop and stop. The tire went rolling down the road and the left front fender was damaged when the van hit the pavement.

It is the opinion of the repair company that the spare tire was not tightened properly causing the tire to fall off while I was driving it. I barely got ten miles down the road before the wheel came off the vehicle.

No one was hurt. No other vehicles were damaged.

Upon contacting aaa, concerning a tire change at approximately 5:05 p. M., I was told it was a 45 minute wait. I requested a priority due to the fact I had a toddler as a passenger... After waiting 45 minutes I contacted aaa a second time to request an update, after a long pause I was told it would be another 45 minutes... About 30 minutes later I received a phone call from tow truck driver that he would be at my location in another 30 minutes. After waiting 2 1/2 hours, with a toddler, the tow arrived.
This service from aaa is totally unacceptable.
Not only did they not keep me updated and informed, but I believe they did not initiate the tow call promptly nor did aaa place my service call as a "priority".
I am disappointed in the lack of consideration.

On August 3rd, 2017 my tire blew off on the highway heading out to Rancho Cucomanaga. I called a tow company in the middle of the night and they gave me a very unreasonable quote. I waited until the morning and called my mom who is a Triple A member. Your company stated since I was out of the state lines they couldn't help since she is a member in Nevada. We are from Las Vegas. The agent stated I can enroll as a member tow the car and be reimbursed. I agreed and became a member that day. Triple contacted the tow company and helped me find a tire place in the area. I was relieved they were helping even though I went back and forth between many team members of Triple A over a three hour period. Every agent stated the same that I would be reimbursed. I finally filed my claim and there was an issue retrieving the receipts. Once I finally received everything i sent over and followed up 5 weeks later and they stated it would take 5 weeks. I followed up again after the holidays only to find out I can not be reimbursed only if it was 48 hours after being a member. Not one person informed me of this as I would have never used your service. I would like someone to contact me immediately about this issue.

Krista Farrell
(702) 306.2582
farrell.[protected]@yahoo.com

I asked for help unlocking my car. Not only did i show my license but i also showed my membership ID. At this point you have all my info now and the tech did not want to open the car because of "liability" issues? What type of tweeker cokehead response was that? If you don't like me or some reason? Maybe the color of my skin? I barely said many words to the guy for him not to want to help me out, instead he must've taken one look at me at judge me. That's fine but i would like nothing to do with AAA anymore if this is the type of employees you employ. I will let all social media and review apps know of this experience. I'm still sitting here waiting for my car to be unlocked. If it's not unlocked by a AAA member by 7am i will just call another company and sign up with them. I would like a refund of my annual fees and my account closed. What use is it paying a fee if you can't even get service ? I assume you will not be looking into this at all so i will go ahead and start posting this tow truck drivers license plate number and racial incident that took place!
25915E2

Dear AAA,
I want to inform you about some problems that have been going on for years with a towing company that you contract, S&J Towing in Pomona. The employees under your contracted S&J Towing company have been treated unlawfully and I think it is important for you to know. I have been employed by S&J Towing for 5 years. Howard and Bill are my managers and owners at this work place. I have always done my best to satisfy customers 100%, but I would like to explain some of the reasons why the work conditions prevented me from providing the best service possible and why you should reconsider contracting with this company unless they rectify their unlawful behavior.
First of all, S&J Towing over works its employees. For example, they would often have me working over 13hrs a day. There are times when I work over 12 hours without getting a lunch or break. I have brought this to their attention and I am told that I can quit if I don't like their rules, which is no lunch if there are still calls on hold. So, if I decide to take my lunch then I can lose my job. All the employees are threatened on daily basis with losing our jobs if we ask for lunch or break. After my 13-hour shift, I can go home but I am placed "on call". I don't have a choice about being "on call" or working overtime.
Second, S&J robs employees from their earned wages. As an employee, I am paid for regular hours not overtime. When I let Howard or Bill know about my check not adding up to the hours I work, they tell me they will look into it but never do anything. I recently put in a complaint with California Worker's Compensation because my overtime hours were not being paid. When I work 4 days out of the week on 13 hrs plus on call, I am unable to rest and get enough sleep. Sometimes I would feel drowsy and felt that it was unsafe to drive in those tired conditions. S&J does not care. When I take a call "on call", I never get paid appropriately as I should be. I am paid only for the time when I pick up the vehicle up to the time where I drop off the vehicle. So once the vehicles are dropped off where the AAA customer wants then I am no longer paid for the time to drive back to my home or office, regardless of the distance. For example, I have gone to locations 30-80 mins away at times from the office in Pomona, and I don't get paid to return to my location. I have even worked up to 17 hours straight and operating under 4 hours of sleep and they expect me to work another 12 hours the following day. 
Third, S&J drivers are always timed and rushed with each customer and therefore cannot always provide excellent service to its customers. I was timed upon the arrival of each AAA call, which made it difficult for me to do my best with each customer. Due to the pressure of getting to a site I frequently would drive over the speed limit. Even though our trucks are monitored, we are rushed to get to a site instead of driving safe within the speed limit. This pressure has also caused me crash into vehicles and damage a few vehicles. Customers sign a waiver for damages before they are towed so that they can't do anything about the damages, however, when a customer complains about the damages S&J deducts from our paycheck to repay the customers for damages. They do this without prior notice that they will deduct from our paychecks.
Fourth, the tow trucks at this company are usually unsafe to drive because they are in poor conditions. For example, tow trucks are driven even when they have the check engine light on. This makes it a hazard for employees and customers to be in the vehicle. When I let the manager know about this they tell me I can either drive it or go home; which means I won't work. These trucks are being driven like this until they break down in the road where even we tow truckers end up asking for assistance ourselves and sometimes even when we are in progress of towing a car. This company also does not provide the proper tools and equipment for us to get the job done correctly. At times I had to use improper tools to change a tire or open a car. So, instead I bought some tools myself to do the job correctly.  I think that providing employees with the proper work equipment is something our employer should do.
All of these problems have been going on since I started working at S&J five years ago and who knows for how long before then. I am not the only employee to be treated this way but everyone is scared to say anything because we are often threatened with being fired. S&J Towing takes advantage of me being a hard worker, but I have had enough. I like working with people and helping clients out in difficult situations with their cars, but I would also like to be treated with more respect by my employer. I think if they were following the laws then all of its drivers would do a much a better job in satisfying their customers at each call.
While, I understand it may be out of AAA's hands to help out employees like me who are being treated unlawfully, I think it is important to let you know the type of company that you are working with. S&J breaks the laws and does not treat their employees fairly or with respect. Perhaps you can inform this company that it is equally important to follow the labor laws and treat their employees fairly rather than only caring about servicing the AAA calls.

I will be staying at the Surf & Sand Motel in Fort Bragg, CA next weekend. I asked if they offer a discount to AAA members, and they said yes, but it's already reflected in the price because they are a AAA-approved facility.

I pointed out that any non-member would also get this "discount". They had no answer for me.

Obviously they do NOT give a discount for being a AAA member.

My membership # is 429 005 [protected] 0

Is this acceptable to your organization?

I called at 9 am to get a vehicle towed to Wal-Mart to get the tires and rim fixed. Original wait time was 90 minutes. I called again after 2 hours and it changed to 1130 am, and then called after that and it changed tho 1259 pm. I waited till 130 pm to call again and the representative hung up on me twice with different people each time. I then got a hold of someone at a different branch and they were more helpful, but ended up saying the tow would be at at least 730 pm, so I cancelled. This was the worst case of unprofessionalism I have seen from a company, and this was my first time using the services in over 3 years.

The travel manager, Tina, for the Irmo 32 branch is extremely rude and unprofessional! She tells all customers that she is from New York and then she talks down on Southern people. I have canceled my membership and I will never have any affiliation with AAA ever again. I am taking to social media to let everyone know how AAA condones their employees to talk bad about it's members. I have witnessed this numerous times. AAA should hire competent people. I have seen a huge turnover in this location and now I know why. No one wants to work with a manager like her. Do all your members a favor and send her back to New York.

We left the lights on in our vehicle while grocery shopping. We needed a jump start, we explained we had a sick dog at home and needed to get home as he has a surgical appointment in the morning. We now have been waiting almost two hours for someone to come help. The rep that took our information imputed the wrong phone number. Initially when we called she entered our account number incorrectly. We finally received a call that it would be another 20 minutes before someone would arrive. This is very disappointing and has changed my view on being a member of AAA.

I asked for a quote for liability insurance, and decided to go with another company. Mark Knight went ahead and enrolled me in a policy without my authorization, and I was being billed but didn't know it...eventually found out when I received a bill! I called and spoke with Mark and he explained it was an error, and that he would take care of it. When I got a notice from a collections agency for the upaid bill, I again called Mark; he now says that he doesn't remember the conversation, and is unwilling to correct this situation! He is completely incompetent, and anyone in the Indianapolis area should be warned, do not give this derelict your business! Is there anyone in this organization that can help me get this issue fixed? If not, I will be pulling all my business, including the coverage for my personal business as well as the auto coverage for my four (4) vehicles ASAP!

Kelly N.

I live in Boston and I've had to call Roadside Assistance twice in the last week due to a dead battery from the cold.

On both occasions, dialing [protected] would repeatedly result in a busy signal after trying to get past the automated message that they would route my call after looking at cell tower information, or when I tried to bypass this method.

Eventually, I was able to get through and select the automated request system because my car was at home. Unfortunately, the second time I got through, the system just stopped after a few responses. Calling back resulted in the same busy signal. I resorted to sending in my request online.

AAA Roadside Service has some problems (like the time I was outside Hartford, Connecticut with a flat tire and estimated time for service was 3 hours), but a busy signal when an automated system is available? In this day and age? That's nuts! There's no reason a company as big as AAA should route emergency users to a busy signal.

I was driving home from a 12 hour shift and my tire blew. I called 3 times for a grand total wait of an hour to talk to someone. If you know the storm is going to cause more calls, then staff better or hire some help. Because waiting in the cold when I havent eaten and I have to work another 12 hr shift the next day is ridiculous. Prepare better. Im paying you for a reason.