Quote:
Originally Posted by tjswarbrick
Let me know how that works out for you!
75,500 mi, I got the yellow, then red & no power (2000 RPM Max, slowing down massively, Don't Rear End Me, Mr Semi!)
Was 104 miles to my shop. (Technically 89 miles, but 104 on-road according to Waze, from my location to Bavarian Motorsports in Milpitas. I told them I'd happily pay by the mile for the last 4. Even though they estimated something ridiculous like $20/mile for it.)
AAA Plus Member. Since 1982! BECAUSE of the "100 miles towing."
AAA Dispatch at 6:20pm - "We can't find a driver able to make that trip."
I was on the outskirts of Sacramento. The State Capitol! And needed to get back to the Bay Area - where there are tons of shops, and food is available 24 hours. Saw 5 empty (and 2 loaded) tow trucks go by in 2 hours.
At 3 hours sitting on the side of the road, I requested a tow 35 miles away. They still said "We'll try. It's out of our normal range of 15 miles."
2 hours LATER. Yes, 5 hours on side of road, 6:05 pm to 11:03 pm, on a beautiful summer Saturday night, a driver finally shows up for the 1/2 hr trip.
I had to call them every hour for updates - they usually didn't have one. They said after an "unusual" amount of time I could call my own commercial (non-AAA) company, and they would Consider reimbursement. That tow would have been $450. I asked what's an "unusual" amount of time and 3 different agents couldn't define it. 3rd try, I asked for a supervisor. 45 minutes of hold later (Cell phone down to 7%) the Driver arrived, but the supervisor hadn't picked up.
This morning (Monday) I called and got a supervisor. She said 2 hours is usually the limit of how long they expect you to sit there. And yet, there I was for 5, 2.5miles from nearest food. (If you're not at the car when driver arrives, they wait 5 minutes, then leave. Per policy. No courtesy call, no return later.)
And since I don't know any indy's up there, I had it brought to a dealership. So Pump and Thermostat will be $1800, instead of the $1354otd my indy shop quoted.
After speaking with AAA Dispatch Supervisor and Emergency Travel Benefits, and lodging a formal complaint, I THINK they're going to reimburse the rental car. But they still can't promise anything until after I submit receipts and 8 pages of forms.
I think I'll add the $500 overcharge to my reimbursement request.
Rant over.
I just need to drive the despised rental Camry 150 miles tomorrow night to get my baby back!
I hope my experience leads to better training and procedures so that doesn't happen to anyone. Ever again. But I'm not going to hold my breath...
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Holy smokes, what a disaster.