I took AA to Financial Ombudsman and won
Discussion
I took out AA overseas breakdown cover for a road trip to Spain in June but they left me stranded when I broke down, claiming that the fact I had the car transported out on the ferry meant that I wasn’t covered and citing some vague wording in their terms and conditions which said nothing of the sort.
I took them to the financial ombudsman who ruled in my favour and forced them to pay the costs I incurred but I got no apology and no suggestion that they will amend their terms and conditions to either make clear that this transport restriction exists or that customers are covered. In the meantime many people will be travelling in the belief that they are covered and will get a nasty surprise.
Having learnt that my Porsche cover is also provided by the AA I checked with Porsche and they said that I would be covered for trailer use!
This sort of behaviour - trying to get out of paying out when emergencies happen - is cynical and exploits the fact that most people don’t pursue claims. In my experience it also doesn’t happen in isolation; this is about corporate culture and integrity so I would recommend that people look elsewhere if they want to feel comfortable that they are covered.
I took them to the financial ombudsman who ruled in my favour and forced them to pay the costs I incurred but I got no apology and no suggestion that they will amend their terms and conditions to either make clear that this transport restriction exists or that customers are covered. In the meantime many people will be travelling in the belief that they are covered and will get a nasty surprise.
Having learnt that my Porsche cover is also provided by the AA I checked with Porsche and they said that I would be covered for trailer use!
This sort of behaviour - trying to get out of paying out when emergencies happen - is cynical and exploits the fact that most people don’t pursue claims. In my experience it also doesn’t happen in isolation; this is about corporate culture and integrity so I would recommend that people look elsewhere if they want to feel comfortable that they are covered.
I'm not even in the slightest bit shocked, any type of insurance cover, breakdown cover etc etc they will use any sort of get out clause to avoid paying out, and i suspect many people don't follow up on any sort of proceedings with big companies for that very reason that they probably expect they haven't got a chance.
I currently have a dispute with the AA. Their AA Cars section and one of their members. I won my county court case against the trader who advertised under AA Cars and the car had complete brake failure within 42 miles due to severely corroded brake pipes. Contacted the AA and they were not really interested as presumably, the member pays them for using the name? AA mediation was rejected by the dealer.
After the court case I wrote to their chief executive requesting they remove the member. He did not bother to reply but one of his minions sent the most arrogant response I have ever received. In effect it said this was an internal matter, we do not subscribe to any form of mediation and that's an end to it. A few days later I received another letter saying they were obliged to investigate my complaint but I think the previous letter was the 'final' one.
Now wondering if it is worth taking it to a Financial Regulator/Ombudsman but unsure if they cover this sort of dispute and is it even worth bothering with?
Well done in persevering with your case.
After the court case I wrote to their chief executive requesting they remove the member. He did not bother to reply but one of his minions sent the most arrogant response I have ever received. In effect it said this was an internal matter, we do not subscribe to any form of mediation and that's an end to it. A few days later I received another letter saying they were obliged to investigate my complaint but I think the previous letter was the 'final' one.
Now wondering if it is worth taking it to a Financial Regulator/Ombudsman but unsure if they cover this sort of dispute and is it even worth bothering with?
Well done in persevering with your case.
I've never met an AA "patrolman" who was anything other than brilliant, By the same token I've never seen an AA insurance quote that wasn't a rip-off, and I wouldn't take any notice of an AA inspection or warranty or dealer endorsement if I were buying a car.
There might be naive people out there who believe the bulls
t but the organisation itself went down the pan when it was bought out from its membership years ago.
There might be naive people out there who believe the bulls
t but the organisation itself went down the pan when it was bought out from its membership years ago. My only experience of the AA was their yearly price increases for cover that initially cost 39 quid and ended up being over 80 for the same thing.
And the utter bull they spouted on Facebook when challenged openly about it on one of their "buy our stuff" splurges during the kids holidays.
Despicable organisation who fleece million of people every year without the even knowing,.
More should be said about the fact that like your broadband, house, essential services and car insurance, if you don't renew it with another firm every year it will go up 20 odd percent.
My bad for not knowing this, but they tell you they send it all out in letters etc, I never received one renewal letter from the AA. They are con artists who make most of their money from people who are daft like I was and don't realise their premium costs go up every year without you really knowing.
And the utter bull they spouted on Facebook when challenged openly about it on one of their "buy our stuff" splurges during the kids holidays.
Despicable organisation who fleece million of people every year without the even knowing,.
More should be said about the fact that like your broadband, house, essential services and car insurance, if you don't renew it with another firm every year it will go up 20 odd percent.
My bad for not knowing this, but they tell you they send it all out in letters etc, I never received one renewal letter from the AA. They are con artists who make most of their money from people who are daft like I was and don't realise their premium costs go up every year without you really knowing.
Macneil said:
I've never met an AA "patrolman" who was anything other than brilliant, By the same token I've never seen an AA insurance quote that wasn't a rip-off, and I wouldn't take any notice of an AA inspection or warranty or dealer endorsement if I were buying a car.
There might be naive people out there who believe the bullst but the organisation itself went down the pan when it was bought out from its membership years ago.
My OH had a puncture a couple of months ago.There might be naive people out there who believe the bulls
t but the organisation itself went down the pan when it was bought out from its membership years ago. The AA attended and changed the wheel - full size spare. On checking the tyre pressure the following day the spare had 12 psi in it - ie the patrolman did not even check the tyre pressure before he fitted it to the car !
No biggie you say ? Well, what if my OH was on a long motorway journey with a tyre pressure of 12 psi ? Frankly, it is potentially dangerous.
Complaint made 8 weeks ago and still waiting for the outcome ...
The AA are - or certainly can be - pretty s
t.Some years ago I went into the AA place and asked for an insurance quote. The quote was reasonable but then the chap said it did not cover the cost of the ambulance in the case of an accident. Apparently in those days (do they now?) they reclaim costs against the insurance company. They stated I would responsible for the cost of the ambulance!
Never bothered with them again.
Never bothered with them again.
Take them to the ombudsman, win and recover your costs yet still moaning about lack of an apology. If I had made a full recovery of what I was seeking, I wouldn’t be arsed about the lack of an apology. County Court Judgments don’t make provision for apologies either.
If a wronged party receives an apology and no financial recompense, would they still be happy? Probably not. It’s never about the principle, it’s always about the money.
If a wronged party receives an apology and no financial recompense, would they still be happy? Probably not. It’s never about the principle, it’s always about the money.
Quite.
My daughter had the aa out a couple of days ago with an unexpected battery issue and the chap was bloody brilliant.
He suggested that the battery was replaced and once he got the car started, followed her to the garage to make sure she got there ok for them to replace it.
Fantastic service imo
My daughter had the aa out a couple of days ago with an unexpected battery issue and the chap was bloody brilliant.
He suggested that the battery was replaced and once he got the car started, followed her to the garage to make sure she got there ok for them to replace it.
Fantastic service imo
FWIW said:
If you won your case, what are you expecting an ombudsman to do?
A proper apology would be good, not just a token one. And for the dealer to be removed from their list of AA Cars which would go some way to helping their reputation. Only ever used the breakdown service once and it was excellent from 1st phone call to getting the car back on the driveway. So good I gave the driver a tip.LosingGrip said:
MB140 said:
I’m surprised it’s still here. I imagine AA and PH have some sort of financial tie in somewhere. Wouldn’t want to upset there advertisers with a negative review.
Almost getting like the Checkatrade thread going on.
Surely if something is factual it can't be taken down?Almost getting like the Checkatrade thread going on.
Even though said warranty company tried stuffing him to the tune of £25k for an M5 engine. He ended up going the Financial Ombudsmen route and won. So there was lots of factual evidence to prove what he was writing.
He then started a thread with a link to his blog. That was closed down pretty rapidly.
So yeah even if there is plenty of proof that the OP was telling the truth PH soon deleted anything giving bad light on the warranty company. Who happen to be a major advertiser with PH.
I await my ban for disagreeing with PH admin about deleting threads.
Red 4 said:
Macneil said:
I've never met an AA "patrolman" who was anything other than brilliant, By the same token I've never seen an AA insurance quote that wasn't a rip-off, and I wouldn't take any notice of an AA inspection or warranty or dealer endorsement if I were buying a car.
There might be naive people out there who believe the bullst but the organisation itself went down the pan when it was bought out from its membership years ago.
My OH had a puncture a couple of months ago.There might be naive people out there who believe the bulls
t but the organisation itself went down the pan when it was bought out from its membership years ago. The AA attended and changed the wheel - full size spare. On checking the tyre pressure the following day the spare had 12 psi in it - ie the patrolman did not even check the tyre pressure before he fitted it to the car !
No biggie you say ? Well, what if my OH was on a long motorway journey with a tyre pressure of 12 psi ? Frankly, it is potentially dangerous.
Complaint made 8 weeks ago and still waiting for the outcome ...
The AA are - or certainly can be - pretty s
t.
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