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You belong to Triple A, or better yet, Triple A Plus, so if you have a breakdown on the highway you will be OK, right?

Better have a backup or a good jack. On March 30, 2001 our new Subaru with 4,000 miles had a blowout on Route 11, right in front of the Route 20 exit in Ashtabula Township. This wasn't a good time. Daughter Megan was waiting for us to pick her up about 5 p.m. at the Ashtabula campus of Kent State University. She was there for Model U.N.

We were going to University Circle in Cleveland for a play and had to be there by 7:15 p.m.

My wife used the cell phone and called Triple A and explained the circumstances. The respondent was so slow, my wife had to ask if he was still on the line. She said we were on Route 11 northbound, between the routes 84 and 20 exits. Cars were speeding by and it was dangerous to try to change it on the freeway. Plus AAA said a tow truck would be out by 5:32 p.m., perhaps earlier.

Well, at 5:35 no tow truck driver, we weren't sure Megan got the message we would be late, we had given up on dinner and were just hoping to get to Cleveland on time. A second call to AAA and we were informed they couldn't find us. A red Subaru on Route 11 near the 20 exit, off the road, lights flashing and the tow truck could not find us. So they said they would try again.

In the meantime, I got the jack out, eventually changed the tire myself while worried about traffic, got dirty and we were on our way. This was an hour wait and no sign of AAA.

The kicker: We called to say forget it, we got the tire changed. AAA's line was busy for several minutes, while a recording told us how important our call was. We were livid. And we were paying primetime cell rates too.

We would have been better off just changing it ourselves, but then, why pay for AAA? We were considering AAA-plus. No way now.

Somehow, we got to Cleveland only a few minutes late. It didn't make for a wonderful evening.

Is this an isolated incident? Not really. A few years ago a hose went on our car while my wife was on her way to Youngstown. She gave specific instructions, again on Route 11. The AAA gave the tow truck driver the wrong directions. Thankfully, that time he persevered and found her.

So if you have Triple A, better have towing through your insurance special coverage with a new car as backup.

Oh, and if you want to complain at the AAA web page, don't bother to try. Most of their links don't work, including how to contact the organization.
It certainly is terrible what happened.

I know that there is nothing more annoying than when you pay for a service that promises the moon and delivers a pebble.

The old adage "You get what you pay for" rings very true in most situations.

Even if you spend $100 on a membership to AAA or any other roadside assistance program the bottom line is that the almighty dollar is the one that talks.

Priority is set on the dollar amount of the job. If the company is receiving $20- $30 for the call on a AAA call and there is a $100 - $200 rescue/recovery call on the screen as well, which call do you think will take priority to the company that is contracted out by AAA?

Sad but true.

It applies to most services in any industry. When you farm out the labor the service suffers.
Yes, one of the problems with AAA is that some of the dispatchers
are dumber than dirt, when I dispatched for a couple of months
AAA called me with a call that was 35 miles away. I told them I know you have someone in that town closer than us. And we're
supposed to have a 30 minutes reponse time or quicker or lose our
rating, and alot of times I've recieved the wrong directions or wrong location. I always ask if they gave a call back number so that I could confirm where they are. :talktohand:   :drivin:
:wacko: I'll say that AAA dispatcher are dumber than dirt. I think they were hired off the street and handed a Sears catalog to learn how to dispatch. I don't even think they know how to read a map. I have been dispatched to places that were in the wrong place, wrong information about the vehicle, color, plate #, etc. It takes a lot of indurance and patience to put up with them as dispatchers. I have come up on folks broke down that said they had been waiting for hours. They are willing by that time to just pay for the tow and try and get re imbursed by AAA. They are a sad excuse for a auto club.
Quote (towinlovinit @ Jan. 12 2004, 8:16 pm)
:wacko: I'll say that AAA dispatcher are dumber than dirt. I think they were hired off the street and handed a Sears catalog to learn how to dispatch. I don't even think they know how to read a map. I have been dispatched to places that were in the wrong place, wrong information about the vehicle, color, plate #, etc. It takes a lot of indurance and patience to put up with them as dispatchers. I have come up on folks broke down that said they had been waiting for hours. They are willing by that time to just pay for the tow and try and get re imbursed by AAA. They are a sad excuse for a auto club.

:beer:  :beer:
TRIPLE AAA CAN ALSO GET YOU BLACK LISTED,I WORKED FOR A NEW COMPANY TRYING TO GET THEM GOING,WE APLLIED FOR TRIPLE AAA,NEEDLESS TO SAY BECAUSE OF THE LOCATION AND MY SIMPLE EASY QUESTIONS.I GOT BLACK LISTED FOR ABOUT TWO YEARS TO BE ABLE TO DRIVE FOR ANOTHER AAA TOW COMPANY........
Sounds like aaa is really giving bad service to their customers,no wonder they would rather pay cash or credit instead of useing their aaa card. :veryangry:  :brows:  :glare:THAT WHY THE COMPANY IN VEGAS DOESN'T DEAL WITH AAA,THEY HAVE OTHER CONTRACTS. :happydance:  :sofunny:

I was a dispacher for AAA Southern New England for 4 years.  In response to the statement that the dispatchers are dumber than dirt, mostly that is true.  They give you minimal training and expect you to be able to do it on your own.  They hire mostly teenagers looking for a part time job.  People who just want the money and don't care about what they do. I would spend the time when I got a call to look it up and make sure the information made sense.  The majority of dispatchers dont.  They think that it's the drivers job just to go out and search for the people.  A big part of the problem is the call receivers, also people who don't care.  They dont care if the info is correct and they dont ask the questions to get the right info.  Anyway, there are a few who know what there doing but they end up firing them because AAA wants robots who dont question policies.  I questioned.  I got fired
Dispatchers don't really care if we roll or not,i've seen them tell the card holder it could take up to two hours to respond,and thats in a town of 2800 population in california,mojave to be exact our covergage was to cal city,to rosamond.to kramers junction,either way its only 10mins.tops.stupidity on their part meaning the hire ups in aaa.they are making money driving fine cars,etc.... :veryangry:
Quote (Guest @ Nov. 30 2003, 5:29 pm)
You belong to Triple A, or better yet, Triple A Plus, so if you have a breakdown on the highway you will be OK, right?

Better have a backup or a good jack. On March 30, 2001 our new Subaru with 4,000 miles had a blowout on Route 11, right in front of the Route 20 exit in Ashtabula Township. This wasn't a good time. Daughter Megan was waiting for us to pick her up about 5 p.m. at the Ashtabula campus of Kent State University. She was there for Model U.N.

We were going to University Circle in Cleveland for a play and had to be there by 7:15 p.m.

My wife used the cell phone and called Triple A and explained the circumstances. The respondent was so slow, my wife had to ask if he was still on the line. She said we were on Route 11 northbound, between the routes 84 and 20 exits. Cars were speeding by and it was dangerous to try to change it on the freeway. Plus AAA said a tow truck would be out by 5:32 p.m., perhaps earlier.

Well, at 5:35 no tow truck driver, we weren't sure Megan got the message we would be late, we had given up on dinner and were just hoping to get to Cleveland on time. A second call to AAA and we were informed they couldn't find us. A red Subaru on Route 11 near the 20 exit, off the road, lights flashing and the tow truck could not find us. So they said they would try again.

In the meantime, I got the jack out, eventually changed the tire myself while worried about traffic, got dirty and we were on our way. This was an hour wait and no sign of AAA.

The kicker: We called to say forget it, we got the tire changed. AAA's line was busy for several minutes, while a recording told us how important our call was. We were livid. And we were paying primetime cell rates too.

We would have been better off just changing it ourselves, but then, why pay for AAA? We were considering AAA-plus. No way now.

Somehow, we got to Cleveland only a few minutes late. It didn't make for a wonderful evening.

Is this an isolated incident? Not really. A few years ago a hose went on our car while my wife was on her way to Youngstown. She gave specific instructions, again on Route 11. The AAA gave the tow truck driver the wrong directions. Thankfully, that time he persevered and found her.

So if you have Triple A, better have towing through your insurance special coverage with a new car as backup.

Oh, and if you want to complain at the AAA web page, don't bother to try. Most of their links don't work, including how to contact the organization.

As a dispatcher for a AAA affiliated towing company in my area, I know well your concerns and complaint. It is valid, however, may I please urge viewers to read on further.

When a AAA member calls the number on their card for service, they are connected with a regional call canter. In som area, this call center is local, in other areas this call center may be several states away, habdling calls for a VERY large region. After their call is taken by the club it is then routed via computer to the AAA contracted Independant Service contractor (ICS) nearest the member. This routing can be instantanious or it can take quite some time dependant on the incoming call load. in some cases - depending on when you call, it might not go to the computer at all, but an actual person there will have to see where the member is at on a map, then find the proper ICS, then - if there arent a lot of calls for that area, your service call may take anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour or more to reach the ICS as the club will hold off dispatching calls sometimes until there are 3 or 4 calls to be dispatched to that ICS.
Once the ICS recieves the call from the club they have to be at the member's side within 30 minutes. If they are not they get penalized. If an ICS recieves too many penalties for being late then they can loose their contract with AAA so it behooves the ICS to be there within 30 minutes.

In the case mentioned, along the freeway, this call would be labelled as a rush call, cutting that response time to 20 minutes, or a hot call, giving the ICS a mere 10-15 minutes to reach the member.

Keep all that information in mind when calling the club, and please don't think the tow trucks had anything to do with an untimely response. When the club sends out those questionaires, if you waited a REAL long time, please remember that more often than not, it was not the driver's fault. If they arrived and gave you service in a professional manner then keep that in mind as well.
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