I joined the AA about 2 years ago at the AA Meadowhall Kiosk, talked to a good AA salesman, well trained "talk a good game" type. He told me £40 (about that) for local recovery, I wanted more cover for longer journeys so I finished paying £80 for National breakdown coverage.

Anyhow, phoned the AA recovery tonight to get keys locked inside my mothers car, my cars going in the garage so I'll need hers for shuttling around. AA guy came on it was like talking to A.I (Artificial Intelligence) than a person. He told me I was not covered for outside my house, unbeleivable I paid extra to iclude national coverage and yet I wasnt covered for outside my own house. ( how far away do I have to be, one thinks). So I asked how much extra for outside my house, "£34" I asked "Would there be an extra cost to get the keys out". "the cost is £34" came the reply, I said "You are being a liitle vague is there extra cost thats all I need to know" same reply as before "the cost is £34" I asked him if he was in a bad mood, "No came the reply", here for the first time in my life I told someone "to get stuffed" ( well who I dont know :-) ). I phoned back and made a complaint to the manager, never have I as a customer been treated so bad.

Moral of the story
Be careful when joining with the AA at the Meadowhall kiosk, you may not be covered.

As anyone else been dissapointed with the AA???

More Suited to General Chit-Chat :)

micksheff, I'm sorry to hear of your bad experience.

AFAIK, breakdown cover starts 1/4 mile away from your home. Any closer than that and you have to be covered under the Home Start scheme.

Moral of the story
Be careful what you buy from Meadowhall :twisted:

Used to be in the AA when I lived in Crookes and one day the da*n car wouldn't start (to me a car is either going or broken, no grey bits in between). Had to free wheel down to Upperthorpe library and then the AA came out. Bit dodgy across Commonside but people are nice and helped push me.

No moral, just rambling.

Lucky for you that you're never far from a hill in Crookes :D

I've been in the AA for a couple of years, with just the basic cover.

I've never called them out when I've had problems at home, because I'm not covered and anyway my dad can help me out.

When I was near Peterborough, somthing went wrong with my car (dunno what). I called the AA, and he looked at it. He said it didn't look good. I was only covered for a tow to a local garage but since it was 7.30pm nowhere was open.

He then suggested that he could tow me to a local branch of Halfords, I could buy a part which he would try to fit for me. He did warn me that it may not work, but he was happy to try. So off we went to Halfords, and he spent about 45 minutes working on my car on their car park. He was able to fit the part and I drove back to Sheffield.

A couple of days later I had my car serviced, and I told the garage mechanic what had happened. He looked at what the AA man had done, and said if I'd gone to the garage they would have charged at least £70 for the same job.

So I was quite pleased with the service I got from the AA. I suppose it's all down to who they send to help you.

I used to pay the full whack, all the bells and whistles about £140 quid a year I think (And I think that included an element of "no claims discount").

Then I skidded on black ice and came to rest completely undamaged, right way up, in a ditch. I just needed pulling out. I waited 2 hours for them to come and it cost me £70 "Because this is a tow truck and towing costs extra". Sounds like b******s - they would tow me to a garage for free if I'd broken down.

This was my third call on them in 20 years (the others were simple stuff like flat battery). Do the maths, OK I wasn't always on the expensive scheme but allowing for inflation etc they'd had £2000 off me over the years. Guess who didn't renew. I've joined a cheaper scheme with guaranteed response times and if I have to pay something on top I can afford to out of the money I save compared with AA.

It's an insurance scheme and like all insurances they are strong on verbal reassurance at sales time but even stronger on small-print exclusion clauses when you make a claim.

And once you're signed up you're on their mailing list for all their other money making schemes like motor and household insurance, aggressively promoted as independent advice "we search a panel of insurers to find you the best deals" but strangely I seem to be able to find better cover at lower prices from big-name companies quite easily.

we were travelling to oxford from hull new years eve 1998 when our peugeot threw a wobbler.

called the AA. 3 hours later some breakdown truck comes along, tows us to the nearest service station and tells us to buy an 'emergency replacement fanbelt' as this was the problem with the 205. then he left.

We were stranded and ended up calling our friends in oxford and getting them to come and pick us up. Called the AA the next day and had them pick up the car, replace the belt and bring it to us, at which point we promptly cancelled our membership.

I bought a "new to me" 9 year old caravan last year. Included in the deal was Free AA membership.
When the clutch on the car went a few months later on the M1 near Nottingham I was amazed at the response time from the AA.
They arrived within 30 minutes and transorted the car and caravan home.

How much would a tow for car and caravan have cost from a motorway had I not had the AA assistance?

Brilliant service!
Thanks AA.

So, if there's a moral to this, it's to not buy things from kiosks and make sure you know what you are actually buying.
I have AA cover with homestart, specifically because it's a real pain when the car is on the drive and just won't start.

We've been with the AA for about 9 years and have always been satisfied when we've called them out. It started off as a Christmas present from me with just the basic cover and then as time progressed, oh took it over and gradually built up to Home Start.
They came out to us when we were on holiday on the Isle of Wight, relayed us back to Bournemouth when we stopped off at Meadowhall after a trip to Leeds, (this complete with budgie in cage on my lap :hihi: ) and more recently when we were stuck in the doctors surgery carpark with a dead battery. This was the longest we had ever had to wait but then it WAS the beginning of the bad weather and we WERE in a long queue.
No complaints from us but Meadowhall remains a dirty word in our house:hihi: well, it was a long journey back in the cab of a couple of low loaders with a budgie cage on my lap. Having said that, the relay was there each time it was supposed to be and the drivers were great :thumbsup:

I've been a member since 1989, and used their services probably 10 to 15 times and I can honestly say they have been brilliant everytime, I get complimetary home start and have even called them out to repair friends cars who are not members, the advantage of the AA or RAC is they will do everything possible to get your car repaired at the roadside and get you on your way, the cheaper ones just want to tow to their garage and start charging you to do what the AA do for your membership fee.
if I am in a car with someone else and it breaks down I can call them and they will fix it.

ekilopter

I get free breakdown cover with my Car insurance (No they don't add it onto the premium as I only pay £103 for the year on a group 20 car).

I also get free cover on my company (leased) car.

I've only ever had to use breakdown cover twice in 24 years of driving.

The first time I'd already located the failed part, and stripped it from the car, just got the Green Flag guy to get me to the nearest motor factors to but a replacement part.

The second time was when I ran out of Diesel due to a faulty fuel gauge.

We have RAC cover...all the whistles and bells for nothing by using our Tesco points...

You should have bought it online, I did, and it cost me £7 per month with home start.

However, at the moment with the snow, I needed breakdown last week but because I was outside my house, the AA told me they couldn't help at this time and to go to the nearest garage, get them to tow me in and then send my invoice and a letter off to the AA for consideration of reimbursment!
Biggest is not always best!

I just joined AA last night, only the basic package though. You can get it for a year for £7 using the information in this link - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/cheap-breakdown-discounts