You Can’t Spell Ha Ha Ha Without AAA.

AAA wants your moneyI have been a member of AAA (the American Automobile Association) since 1997. To my knowledge, I have used there services maybe three times over those 17 years. This past weekend I attempted to use their service for what will be the last time of a relationship that is about to end in an ugly divorce.

I wanted to get a dead battery jumped.

But I was not present with the dead car, so AAA said they were unable to provide the service. It is my car. I paid for it. it is in my name. And the battery was dead. And I pay for AAA to provide emergency road service. But I was not with the car, so I was sh*t out of luck.

Mind you, if I were in a complete stranger’s car in Bangor, Maine, and the battery went dead, AAA would have showed up to jump the battery. It doesn’t have to be my car… I just have to be there.

Anyway, I got really angry (shocker) and finally hang up on the unhelpful customer service rep and go to the AAA website, where there is NO mention in the membership agreement of me having to be present with the dead car. So I call them back… and I wait 19 minutes (yeah, I was that mad) for a customer service rep to answer the phone. And I explain in great detail how aggravated I am as a long-standing member of AAA that they are not supporting me with the services I paid for in my hour of need.

This time, the customer service rep agreed with me and offered to talk to a supervisor to get approval.  And I was placed on hold again.  After 10 minutes of additional holding (I was losing interest by now), I got a text from my car that a good Samaritan jumped the battery and AAA was no longer needed.

I could not agree more:  AAA IS NO LONGER NEEDED.

Thanks for nothing AAA! It was a great relationship so long as I didn’t need you. I’m gonna miss sending you my annual membership fee.

P.S. I wanted to be fair and objective, so I checked a few sources.  Consumer Affairs gives AAA a 1 star “Overall Satisfaction Rating”… the AAA Complaints Facebook page includes hundreds of consumer complaints… and the Customer Service Scoreboard gives AAA a rating of 2, categorizing its customer service and response as “disappointing.”

P.S.S. Be forewarned AARP, I am going in alphabetical order…

Jim Sweeney

CEO & COO

Jim is a veteran of the agency industry and the founder of Sweeney. He is uncommonly passionate about the idea of creating and implementing insanely great marketing campaigns that achieve insanely great results. He pioneered the full-service, full-circle agency model and continues to forge new ideas in an ever-changing industry. And he is accessible to everyone about anything, seemingly all the time, serving as a mentor to all agency personnel and clients.