I figure I'd put this ins seprate post, because it is sort of a rant, and some people won't want to read it.
Last year my 90 YJ Blew a water pump and AAA had an independent tow truck to me in less that 30 minutes, polite tow person, offered me his cell phone to make arrangements with garage, wife, employer, and offered me a ride.
But yesterday I had my worst experience with AAA.
My Jeep gets hung up in a snow bank, because a plow went through an intersection, didn't raise its wing and buried the front of the Jeep with a few feet of snow. It was on an incline, at a red light, with a line of traffic behind me. Long story-short, going up over the snow bank, does something to kill the starter and the electrical system.
OK. Call 911, because I'm blocking traffic on the exit ramp and I am one quarter of the way in to the intersection, which is not a flat intersection but a hump, so you can't just push through it. Plus it has been snowing so there is over a foot of snow to go through.
Time is about 7:30 am.
Local police come. Real pleasant, considering it is snowing, slippery, a line of traffic. He helps me shovel the Jeep and gets the traffic around the Jeep so we can push it 10 feet back down the ramp, so he can put his car behind it with lights and get traffic moving around us.
He asks if I want a tow, AAA. I tell him I have Triple A. He says he'll make the call for me, if He can have my card. I go to get my card and realize I can't see! One of my lens has fallen out while we were pushing the Jeep!
I know the card is the gold one in my wallet, so I find it by color and give it to him and then spend 10 minutes in a foot of snow and somehow find the lost lens in one piece.
The officer lets me know that AAA is on the way and he will stay there because he think the situation could be hazardous.
About 30 minutes later a "real" AAA Flat bed shows up. Logo on the side, driver with official looking jacket, etc. The Syracuse Triple A has its own trucks and drivers!
Time is about 8:00 am.
We are discussing the best way to load the Jeep, since we are in the intersection, when a second AAA tow truck show up. Wow! What service! Two truck - two official looking guys. This is great!
So he'll stop traffic with his truck and lights, so the flat bed can back in.
All goes just like clock work. Less than 5 minutes.
HERE IS WHERE IT ALL STARTS TO GO DOWNHILL!
Driver asks, "Where do you want it towed?" Now BOTH drivers are standing right there.
I tell them, Trapasso's Garage, Fulton (NY), which is located directly in front of the Fulton State Police Barracks.
Driver says he is not really familiar with Fulton. Do I know the street address? No I do not, but is is in Fulton, right next to the State Police Barracks.
I tell him, pull out to your left and go down the ramp, take 481 North to Fulton. Get to near the center of town and I'm not sure if it is the 3rd light or the 4th light, but you'll see a company like Hutamaka on the left, a wendys, Take a right. And go until you see the State Police Barracks.
He then asks, are you going to ride with me?
I replied that the officer has been kind enough to drive me the mile to where I work, and that my wife had already called the garage, they've worked on the Jeep before and already were getting a starter and some other possible needed parts to have on hand, so if that was indeed the cause they could get it right in and back to me.
He says, OK. I'll call dispatch and get the street address.
Both tow trucks pull away. The officer waits until they clear the scene. Motions me to get in the car and drives me to work. I thank him for everything.
The garage where I wanted the Jeep taken is 14.9 miles North of where it broke down. Even in the bad weather, he should be there in 30 minutes, heck even give him an hour in case he stops for coffee or something.
Time is about 8:15 am.
At 1:00 pm my wife calls me (She had been home all morning waiting for the weather to clear so she could put in a half days work - my job, I'm considered "essential staff" so I get docked a day even when they are closed, if I don't show up) Anyway, 1:00 PM. She tells me she called the garage to make arrangements to pay and pick up the Jeep and they tell her, Jeep isn't there! Never showed up!
1:05 PM I call AAA."Hey, I had a road side emergency tow this morning at about 8:00 am and the garage tells me, the Jeep hasn't gotten there yet. What happened?"
They go through all the stuff, name, etc to bring up the computer screen (Also I am calling the LOCAL Syracuse AAA office, not a 800 anywhere number)
"Well, it says here you didn't tell the driver where you wanted it taken"
OK - so my bloods beginning to boil, and I say, No, I told the driver EXACTLY where to take it. I told BOTH drivers where I Wanted it taken. I did not have the EXACT street address, but the driver said he would call dispatch and get the address.
"Well where did you want it taken?" I told him exactly what I told the other two drivers. And I ask, by the way, where is the Jeep.
"Oh, it's here in our yard."
We go back and forth a little bit, no swearing or anything, just disbelief that it was not delivered.
"Well it says in the drivers report, you didn't give him your phone number so we had no way to get in touch with you to find out where you wanted it, so we off loaded it."
I asked him if he had his computer screen up in front of him and he told me yes, he did. OK. Let's check something, is my address correct? I give him my address. Then I ask him - Now, where is says phone number, you do have a phone number listed there for me, don't you?
Silence.
"We didn't know your work number?"
I said, my wife has been home all morning. She has made arrangements with the garage. They are waiting for the Jeep.
"Well sir it says in the drivers report you left the scene before the truck left so the driver did not know where to take the Jeep.
Oh-Boy, can blood really boil! I review with him that the Officer and I stayed until the truck left he scene.
"Oh, the officer was there too? Let me put you on hold.
Back off hold 10 minutes or so later. "We'll get it there today sir."
Unaccepatable! I've made arrangements with some people I know that are coming in to Syracuse to shop. They were/are going to pick the Jeep up and drop it off so I can get home. I live 30 miles from where I work. The garage said they can fix it by the time the close today at 5:00 pm. THey are not open this weekend. So if you put it on a truck now (It is about 1:30 by now), and truck it, it will be there in an hour, plenty of time for them to fix it and for me to get home. You do understand the problem? No Jeep. No way to get home?
"Let me put you on hold" (Another 10 minutes or so)
While on hold, I look up the address, phone number of the garage. Call the garage and talk with them. Yes they will work on my Jeep right way because they know I need it.
The AAA guy comes back on the line. I give him the name of the garage, the address of the garage and the phone number of the garage.
"Sir, all our trucks are busy now"
I'll tell you what. Don't use one of your trucks. Call a tow company. Get one of their trucks there NOW and get that Jeep on the road, so I have a way to get home tonight! And YOU will pick up the cost!
(On hold again)
"Sir, we have it logged in for pick up by 2:08 pm toady.
I figure OK, even if they leave by 2:30, get there by 3:30 the guys at the garage should be able to get it done by 5:00 pm.
I then stay on the line and tell him to add a note, that is is a formal complaint, that the service has been rotten. (I left out the part where he told me that since I was at work I was safe and secure and they had to do their assistance first before they could take care of my problem - the problem they created when THEIR driver decided he didn't want to go 15 miles North - I need to find out if those guys get paid by the call, that would explain why he dumped my Jeep, so he could hit some local tows!)
So we end up, I remind him 2:08. You have my work number, I expect a call at 2:10 for you to updated me on the status of this situation. Hang up.
So I'm working away not realizing the time and see that is is 4:00 PM.
Call the garage. "Hows the Jeep?" "What Jeep?" "The White 1990 Wrangler Triple A dropped off, probably 30 minutes, an hour ago." "Hold on." "Sir, I checked our lot, our side lot and inside all the bays, there are no Jeeps here. Let me get you the owner.
The owner comes on, he knows from my wife's call and my previous call the situation. He tells me, if it shows up - yeah he was suppose to close at 5, but if it gets there by 5:00 pm he'll stay and work on it. I thank him.
4:10 PM Call Triple A "I have a problem, my Jeep was supposed to be taken to a specific garage today at 9:00 am, it's not there yet -" "What's you name, etc....again""OH, yes sir, I have the information right here, You didn't give the driver a place to take it so they took it to our Taft Road Offices in Syracuse, do you want it to go someplace?"
I briefly explain, heatedly, how their driver lied for some reason, the conversation with the person I had a 1:00 pm about the Jeep and how it was suppose to be on a truck at 2:08, and how if it is still on their lot, They have a real problem, because I don't have a way to get home.
"Hmmm sir, I think I better have you speak with a supervisor.
Supervisor comes on line.
I briefly explain the entire story you've read so far, hitting only the high points, like the driver's incompetence, lying, no call back at 2:10, so we could have dealt with the situation then.
"She puts me on hold"
"Sir, I show here that the transport is at the lot and your Jeep is being taken to the garage."
She does not yet understand the situation. So I have to spell it out for her. Had the Jeep been taken directly to the garage in the morning. I would have a ride home. Had the Jeep been taken at 2:08, I would have a ride home. But since the Jeep is now going to arrive AFTER the garage is closed, I have TWO problems that they have caused. 1. I have no ride home.
- I have no way to get to work on Monday, because they will need to fix the Jeep on Monday, and I don't want to loose a days pay because of all their screw up and incompetence all day long.
She puts me on hold.
While on hold, I start making phone calls on another line, and after 5 or so calls find a friend who would be able to get me.
15 minutes later she gets back on the line, And I tell her, while she had me on hold I found a way to get home. She told me she had been working on that - I told her that is the first time today anyone had tried to fix the situation. But - I explain to her the second situation. No way to get to work. And I suggest to her that I think Triple A can provide for me a car Sunday night, preferably a 4WD or All-wheel drive as snow squalls are predicted, so I can drive to work on Monday, make arrangements to get my Jeep and then drop the car off Monday night.She asks if I have a cell phone and I give her my number. She says she will call me back. I told her that I won't be home until 8:00 pm because of the arrangements, so you call my cell up to then and my home after that.
Then I think to ask. When they drop the Jeep off, they will secure the Jeep. I mean the garage will be closed.
"Oh, yes" If there is a drop box the driver always puts the keys in it.
So----On my way home I ask if we can make a 10 minute detour to the garage.
Guess what? Garage is closed! Guess what? The Jeep doors are open and the keys are in the ignition. Along with the gas cap key and the back compartment key.
And of course, oh, yeah, even at night, I can see it. They have a drop box right by the door!!!
They haven't called me yet about a car for work on Monday either. Think I should hold my breath?
Thanks for letting me rant - but I do want to get the message out, that the Syracuse Branch of the Triple A, on this instance has been totally incompetent. I plan to write a formal complaint (Won't help me, might the next person) and find out what other agency's you can write to to report how I was treated by Triple A that day.
Like I said before - I've used Triple A in the past, and every other time it was an independent tow that Triple A contracts with and they have ALWAYS been on time, polite and helpful.
This is the first time that the Syracuse Triple A, which keeps its own fleet of trucks and drivers responded, and the response, the lying by the driver, the lack of concern and slow/no action is unbelievable.
But I'm thinking, we have a car in our driveway that is fully licensed and insured, and plated, but has slipping clutch that we plan to get fixed after the holiday bills.
What do you think? Should I call up Triple A on Monday at about 5 am and tell them I need a tow, and give the the address of my jobsite and then ride in with the driver?
Hope you all have pleasant experiences, and I hope that my complaining to Triple A and appropriate agencies will make your next experience better!.....lou