Dear AAA

February 16, 2012

Automobile Club of California
P.O. Box 25001
Santa Ana, CA 92799-5001

To Whom it May Concern:

Today I placed a call for roadside assistance following my car not starting, at 4:40 p.m. After an initial 20 minute wait with no dispatcher assistance, I vacated the car and decided to walk home, mercifully it was within a reasonable distance.

During the 20 minute walk, I called again and continued to wait on hold for an operator or dispatcher to receive the call. There was no answer.

After 40 minutes waiting on hold at this point, I made it home, hung up, and dialed again. After being on hold waiting for a dispatcher an additional 10 minutes, I opted to go online and try the method mentioned in the hold message to receive roadside assistance. After a few minutes of simply locating the “roadside assistance” page which required some navigation of the website, I gave up that method and opted to download the application to my phone for assistance. Miraculously, it worked and a driver contacted me to meet me at my vehicle.

I would like to point out how extremely dissatisfied I am with the lack of service provided today. For a company that touts itself on customer satisfaction, it was entirely unacceptable to wait on hold for nearly an hour without any customer service agents picking up the line.

I am extremely grateful that this happened in a place where it was feasible for me to find alternative means home and back again, while also owning a smart phone to ultimately come to my aid. It is regrettable that not everyone is likely to be in a position such as that, in a remote or unfavorable area.

When my membership comes up this summer I will seriously be considering its renewal. I hope you seriously look into what obstructions might have prevented my call and possibly others today during the evening hours from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. I would appreciate a follow up phone call with any answers as to why this occurred and ultimately ruined my plans for the evening and inconvenienced other people in an effort to help me.

Very truly yours,

Erin Haselton

sent via US Mail February 17, 2012.